Five years ago today, the Blue Jays signed closer B.J. Ryan to a five-year, $47MM deal, the largest ever for a reliever (the contract was later matched in total by Joe Nathan). Ryan gave the Jays two solid seasons, earning his release in '09. Today's links:
- White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez has until Wednesday to decide whether to choose arbitration over a $1.1MM salary for 2011, reports Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune. Even as a first timer Ramirez would certainly beat that, so look for him to choose arbitration unless a multiyear deal can be hammered out. The Sox have four other arbitration eligible players: John Danks, Carlos Quentin, Tony Pena, and Bobby Jenks.
- Carl Crawford's agents at Legacy Sports are sending interested teams iPads with pro-Crawford videos preloaded, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.
- Versatile free agent Bill Hall is in play for eight teams, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown. The Rockies are one interested club, tweets Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. The Yankees may be another, based on a Ken Rosenthal report from earlier this month. Renck believes the Rockies will have interest in Ryan Theriot if he's non-tendered, as well.
- Tsuyoshi Nishioka sounds eager to sign with the Twins, based on press conference quotes passed along by Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
- Scott Boras has a proposal to replace the Rule 5 draft, and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports provides the details. Also, Rosenthal previews the rest of the offseason.
Free iPad with loaded material? hahaha. Because sending a link to a youtube channel would make you look bad.
Did they get them at TJ Maxx?
As with many things said by Scott Boras this reply will have to start with me saying Boras has gotta be kidding.
It’d take me a while to explain but basically I’d see this happening: 1) Back up players would be less likely to get guaranteed deals, can’t waste a spot for them on the roster if you need to protect a prospect. 2a) Prospect rich teams are seemingly penalized if they want their farm intact as they’d have to match the posting price. 2b) Basically it would force prospect rich teams to sell or trade several prospects, basically it would hurt them in trade negotiations. 3) Teams like the Marlins and Pirates have shown through revenue sharing that they’re not always interested in signing big free agents.
3b) Teams like the Marlins often sell/trade their best players before signing a big free agent, but just enough so as to ensure them they’ll win 60-70 games per season, while looking “good” on paper and having another player to trade come July 31.
My slow pitch softball team is very interested in signing Crawford. Can I get a free iPad?
You willing to offer $100 million. They’ll get you all the iPads you need.
Thanks for bringing up old wounds Tim!
Hey my softball team is interested. Can I get the Crawford IPad.
Sorry Bryan, we are going to do some major battle for him. I got some cap room. But I would have to DFA my wife to get the roster spot.
I’m guessing you need to sleep on the couch a lot.
Well if he didn’t before…he will NOW!!
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We can only offer Double Doubles at every game, and that may be stretching it.
Kenny Powers should take notes from Crawford. If you want to land a free agent deal, you send ipads with pre-loaded videos. You don’t send DVDs in a clear case.
So…does the iPad come with any games pre-loaded? Maybe Angry Birds or that Zombies vs. Flowers game! Is it the WiFi or 3G version? How much memory does it have? Come on, report the important details!
Seriously though, is Crawford campaigning for the Heisman? Why does he need to “sell” himself? I think it’s pretty obvious that he damn good. I wonder if my Astros got an iPad..? Lord knows Uncle Drayton wouldn’t have bought one on his own! Have you seen how expensive they are?
Borass is an idiot. The only ones coming out ahead in this proposal are the agents.