December 13, 2006
The Rest of the Money
If you were wondering how the Jays were going to spend all the extra money they budgeted for the team, this may be the answer:
The Blue Jays apparently are serious about keeping budding superstar Vernon Wells in the fold.
Wells, who can become a free agent after next season, was offered a seven-year, $126 million extension by Toronto. No deal has been agreed to, however.
Wells, who will make $5.6 million next season, confirmed the offer in an interview with The Globe and Mail, but wouldn't confirm the amount.
That's $18 million a year to you and me. And that's a lot of money for someone whose career high in OPS is .909. He's basically played two very good seasons in his career and four okay ones. That's not a superstar to me. The Manny and A-Rod contracts look better every day, and Derek Jeter is downright cheap.
The question now is, does Wells take the offer and guarantee his security for the rest of his life, or does he try to have an even better year in 2007 and see what he can get on the open market?
Posted by David Pinto at
06:52 PM
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He'd be stupid to not take it. Next year he will be competing with a much better FA class. Andruw Jones alone will lower his asking price. In this market I'm sure he could do slightly better if a team went off the deep end but next year he'd probably do worse. The only way he wouldn't take this is if he doesn't want to play in Toronto.
What about Wells very good defense?
Jones is supposed to play great defense too. Ichiro's up for free agency, and so are Jermaine Dye and Torii Hunter. I still think Wells could end up getting a better deal next season, since he's the youngest and healthiest of the group, but I could understand taking the guaranteed cash.
If JP goes any higher, he has lost his mind. He spent his formative years as an exec under Billy Beane and you can be sure Billy Beane would never do this. Wells' trade value is very, very high, and JP needs to trade him for young pitching. If he doesn't, then he's obviously trying to beat the Yanks and Sox by outspending them/better free agent signings. That is a sure recipe for 3rd place for years to come.
Because he was an exec under Beane he's supposed to do everything in that style?
He should grab the deal and stay with Toronto, but then I'm a throw-back who still thinks that baseball is about loyalty and "root, root, root for the home team" (Toronto's not my home but it's a principle) and not about bounty hunters.
Unless a player is truly unhappy with his current team or, for some other family-type reason seeks to be elsewhere, he should try to stick with one team.
For background as to the current state of negotiations, click; http://www.blogging-baseball.com/2006/12/14/of-vernon-wells-offered-a-monster-re-signing-deal-by-toronto/
mark
be honest here - if YOU were looking for a job, wouldn't YOU go where you get paid best?
or where you think the perks and freebies and groupies are best?
please, this is NOT like sticking by your friends.
that said, 18 mill a year for 7 years is a whole LOTTA dough. which i personally would grab if i was vernon. unless he actually WANTS to play for a different team
vernon might actually want to win a ring someday, which is a great reason to get out of toronto.