Maura Johnston says that the Daily News says that the Blue Jays say they’ve signed reliever B.J. Ryan (above) to a 5 year, $47 million deal.
I say that Billy Wagner’s price just went up.
Proper links to follow when I’m not standing in front of a record store.
(Update : the Daily News item is here. Writes Bill Madden,
The Toronto Blue Jays, with a payroll surplus of $25-30 million for next year, have made a bold statement that they intend to be big players in the AL East by signing lefty free agent reliever B.J. Ryan to a five-year $47 million contract, the Daily News has learned.
With the signing of the hard-throwing Ryan, the Blue Jays appear poised to now deal their previous closer, Miguel Batista. They have reportedly had discussions with the Texas Rangers about an exchange of Batista for outfielder Kevin Mench. The Blue Jays were also pursuing righty free agent starter A.J. Burnett and were said to have also offered him a five-year deal. It was unclear if the Ryan signing would now preclude them from continuing their efforts to land Burnett.
Trevor Hoffmans and Kyle Farnsworths agents must also be doing jigs right now.
“when I’m not standing in front of a record store.”
Picking up the god-fearin’ Page France biz…no doubt.
actually, just getting some fresh air before Shawn McMillen (http://emperorjones.com/mcmillen.html) goes on. Also picked up the Reigning Sound live CD on Todd-o-phonic Todd’s Telstar label, which should make for a happy drive…back to the same record store. I’d go somewhere else, but gas is expensive.