Jays sign Wells for 7 years/$126M

[mweir145]

Maybe Wells is not just about money? I know he lives in Arlington, Texas. Maybe he just doesn't enjoy playing for Toronto. I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn down this offer but accept a similar offer from a different team (when he's a FA).

I speculated that earlier. If you're not going to sign this deal from Toronto, I think that definitely points to a lack of interest in staying around.

[bdrotoronto]

The offer sounds consistent with the Jays stated intention to try to sign Wells before January 1, or else try to trade him afterwards.

Clearly this offer 'shows' they're serious (mostly it's just using the $ they were targeting for Lilly/Meche), and for public consumption it looks good in terms of showing they made a solid attempt to keep him around. Wells is a solid player, but I agree with weir, he's not worth more than $18M/year, and the Jays have never even been in a September playoff race in all the years he's been here. The Jays don't really improve on any of their recent teams by signing him. The fact Wells isn't jumping at so much money pretty much just suggests what most people assume, i.e. he doesn't really care one way or another if he's back here.

I think this offer is one the Jays had to make in terms of covering themselves PR-wise, but I don't think it'll be so bad off if Wells turns them down and then they can pour all that money around different parts of the team that need work in coming years (e.g. middle relief, SS, C, power OF, SP depth..) I doubt they can get "fair" value in return for him in a trade, but if they can get something coming close then that would be a very good start too.

[The Cow]

Wells needs to sign this deal fast. I don't think Wells is as good as he was last year meaning he is likely to have a worse '07 than '06 which should hurt his value.

The Cow

[Lofunzo]

I think this offer is one the Jays had to make in terms of covering themselves PR-wise.

I disagree. This is a fair offer. More than fair, IMHO. If they were only concerned with PR, they would have offered him less $$ or years.

[The Miner Part 2]

I think this offer is one the Jays had to make in terms of covering themselves PR-wise.

I disagree. This is a fair offer. More than fair, IMHO. If they were only concerned with PR, they would have offered him less $$ or years.

yea, it's hard to call the 6th highest contract of all time a PR stunt.

[bdrotoronto]

I think this offer is one the Jays had to make in terms of covering themselves PR-wise.

I disagree. This is a fair offer. More than fair, IMHO. If they were only concerned with PR, they would have offered him less $$ or years.

yea, it's hard to call the 6th highest contract of all time a PR stunt.

Valid, but I have a feeling they're making this offer on the assumption he is not going to accept it. Otherwise there would've been no reason to suggest beforehand that they intend to try to trade him if he's not signed by the end of the month.

[mweir145]

I think this offer is one the Jays had to make in terms of covering themselves PR-wise.

I disagree. This is a fair offer. More than fair, IMHO. If they were only concerned with PR, they would have offered him less $$ or years.

yea, it's hard to call the 6th highest contract of all time a PR stunt.

Valid, but I have a feeling they're making this offer on the assumption he is not going to accept it. Otherwise there would've been no reason to suggest beforehand that they intend to try to trade him if he's not signed by the end of the month.

I'd have to agree with bdro. The Jays always look at the PR-side of things when dealing with players, and I'm assuming this situation was no different. This figure was leaked from the front office for a reason. If they had assumed that Vernon wouldn't sign their deal, then this would have been the perfect thing to do before trading him. It's a public statement to say that if things don't work out, it wasn't our fault for losing the franchise player.

It's never an accident that these numbers turn up in the sports pages. When they do, it's usually a sign of posturing from one side or the other, not true deal-making. Look at how much we were offering. Look how much we care. Look how serious we are about winning.

[HOOTIE]

Wells is a great player, but i am not a huge fan of the 100 million dollar contract. Of all of the above mentioned contracts (signed before this year) only Jeter has not disappointed his team. A-Rod was traded. And the Rockies and Red Sox have tried to Helton and Manny.

Arod has had 2 mvps since his deal, and has played great except for 1 year. Manny has played great since his deal, and won a ring. Jeter has played good since his deal, but not like Arod or Manny. And NY has 6 years of no rings since his deal (the curse of Jeter).

[AcidRock23]

I just got the new SI which has an article about baseball's crazy contract binge which speculates that Wells could get up to 150 million..

[GotowarMissAgnes]

According to another report on Yahoo!, it is a seven year deal worth $126 million US. If signed, the contract would be the sixth-richest in baseball history, behind only Alex Rodriguez ($252 million for 10 years), Derek Jeter ($189 million for 10 years), Manny Ramirez ($160 million for eight years), Todd Helton ($141.5 million for 11 years) and Alfonso Soriano ($136 million, eight years).

No Pujols? Depending on how you look at it, that can be good or bad.

Hasn't been a free agent, so his contract is just 7 years 100 million signed before 2004 season. That is an incredibly huge bargain for the Cards given the current salary trends.