
Only in the wonderful world of Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi. Who knows what went down with Barajas, who fired his agent rather than sign a deal that would have called for a $200,000 per year pay cut. (Richard Griffin, of course, has his standard answer: Blame the union.)
Getting Zaun back is a temporary relief, but not jump-for-joy stuff. Getting Vernon Wells signed will be jump-for-joy stuff. Oh, and as for the hypothesis that all the free-agent signings this off-season are going to drive up what Wells can pull down, don't make too much of it. There weren't that many high-end free agents this year, so it's was seller's market. The free-agent class for '07-08 potentially includes two other top centre-fielders, Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones.
As for Zaun, he's a good pickup so long as the Jays can keep him around 100-110 games behind the plate, and find a credible backup. He's due to turn 36 in April, which is usually past the best-before date for a catcher, even one who just had the best offensive season of his career.
Anyways, to Jays fans Zaun's like this century's Ernie Whitt -- humble guy, decent hitter, worked hard, made an effort to know the local sportswriters' names, but not good enough of a hitter or durable enough to be more than a semi-regular. Like Whitt, his below-average arm probably cost him some seasons at the start of his career, since a weak-armed catcher has a tougher time winning over managers and GMs, unless he can hit like Mike Piazza.
Batter's Box has a good discussion going on the Jays' catching issue, with one contributor saying the payroll is around $80 million. The Jays would have to be creative to squeeze in another starter and a middle infielder -- and come up cash to re-sign Wells. Or is that just a dream?
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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