Blue Jays signed outfielder Alex Rios to a six-year, $64 million contract extension through 2012. No mention was made of the reported option for a seventh year. Rios was probably going to get about $18 million for his final two years of arbitration, so the Jays are buying out his first four years of free agency for about $46 million. It's a big commitment to a player who doesn't qualify as a superstar, but Rios is a well above average regular and he's likely to age well.
Blue Jays signed second baseman Aaron Hill to a four-year, $12 million contract with club options for 2012, 2013 and 2014. He's practically the new Tim Wakefield. It's odd that Hill would give the team options for each of his first three years of free agency, especially when he's only being guaranteed $12 million. Now he may not control his own destiny until his age-33 season.
Source: Rotoworld
Nice to see a couple of these guys given contracts and it looks like we have a core for a while now. I'm just not sure if it's the right core that can win a world series.
KCollins1304 wrote:That looks like a really bad deal for Hill, why would he give up three years of FA?
It's not really so bad for him. The main deal is $3M/year for 4 years. But the option the team can exercise after year 4 is a choice among 1 yr/$8M, 2 yr/$16M, or 3 yr/$26M. So in other words much more $/yr than the main contract. The only way the team would exercise the option at that point is if Hill is worth more than $8M/yr by that time. I guess it's possible Hill is selling himself short, but not really based on the current going rate, and there's certainly a chance the option never gets excercised and Hill becomes a FA after the 4 years anyway.
You've got a diamond, You've got nine men You've got a hat and a bat, And that's not all..
KCollins1304 wrote:That looks like a really bad deal for Hill, why would he give up three years of FA?
It's not really so bad for him. The main deal is $3M/year for 4 years. But the option the team can exercise after year 4 is a choice among 1 yr/$8M, 2 yr/$16M, or 3 yr/$26M. So in other words much more $/yr than the main contract. The only way the team would exercise the option at that point is if Hill is worth more than $8M/yr by that time. I guess it's possible Hill is selling himself short, but not really based on the current going rate, and there's certainly a chance the option never gets exercised and Hill becomes a FA after the 4 years anyway.
Oh I took it to mean they had an option decision at the end of each year. It's not quite as bad as I initially thought.
These are much better deals than I think anybody could have expected for the team. They are both likely the best defenders in the league at their positions, and Aaron Hill is seemingly in the midst of breaking out offensively.
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by sportsguy138 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:16 pm 
