ESPN Reports...

[REDPepper]

BJ Ryan has come to a 5 year, 47 million dollar deal with the toronto blue jays... well at least we get to beat him more often :)

[Spaceman Spiff]

redpepper bro, i know you're new here, but post the link, then the article and make the title of the thread so everyone knows what the story is.

that said, way to go, o's. not only did you let him go, but he went to the team we constantly try to fight to stay out of next to last.

[aejm1400]

Here, let me help out with that:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2236893

NEW YORK -- B.J. Ryan and the Toronto Blue Jays have reached a preliminary agreement on a $47 million, five-year contract, a high-ranking baseball official told The Associated Press Friday.


Ryan, a left-hander who turns 30 next month, is getting the largest deal given to a reliever, topping the $39.99 million, four-year contract Mariano Rivera had with the New York Yankees from 2001-04. Rivera just completed the first season of a $21 million, two-year deal with the Yankees.


The baseball official spoke on condition of anonymity because Toronto had not yet announced the agreement.


"We're still talking to him," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "To me, this whole thing is premature."


Ricciardi said he did not anticipate any announcements during the weekend. Pat Rooney, the head of the Chicago office of Ryan's agent group, declined comment. Rooney's partner, John Courtright, is negotiating the deal.


Ryan's agreement with Toronto was first reported by the New York Daily News on its Web site.


Ryan had 36 saves in 41 chances last season for the Baltimore Orioles and went 1-4 with a 2.43 ERA. He had a $2.6 million base salary, earned $200,000 in performance bonuses based on games finished and $25,000 for making the AL All-Star team.


After he became a free agent, the Yankees inquired whether he would want to become Rivera's setup man, but Ryan chose to remain in the closer's role.


Ryan's contract might have repercussions on Billy Wagner's negotiations with Philadelphia and the New York Mets. Wagner earned $33 million over four years in a contract he agreed to with Houston before the 2002 season.


The Mets have offered just over $30 million for three years, a deal that contains a 2009 option that could raise the value to $40 million. The Phillies also are trying to re-sign him. ot make an announcement until next week.

[jwebst1]

and the 3 year 18 mill deal we offered him was supposed to knock his socks off.........

[Voice of Reason]

There's no reason a team should give this kind of money to a releif pitcher, especially in a market like Toronto. I don't have a problem that we didn't match Toronto's offer, but I do have a problem that we passed on resigning Ryan to a 3-year, $15 million contract last offseason.

[galentjm]

There's no reason a team should give this kind of money to a releif pitcher, especially in a market like Toronto. I don't have a problem that we didn't match Toronto's offer, but I do have a problem that we passed on resigning Ryan to a 3-year, $15 million contract last offseason.

Couldn't agree with you more. I thought some team would be stupid enough to give BJ 4 yrs $30 million, but this is just ridiculous. Toronto is obviously banking on the belief that Ryan is the next great closer, with which I'm not sure I agree. He's a nice pitcher and peformed well last season but there is no way you can convince me that a guy that has exactly one full season as a closer under his belt deserves to be paid considerably more than Mariano Rivera.

I would have been extremely disappointed had the O's decided to match such an insane offer. Voice said it, the O's erred by not signing him last year, but perhaps they wanted to see how he handled to closing duties before showing him the money.

[autographcollector]

Just another step by Angelos to make his team inferior to the Nats :-) I like it. Let the pitching go. He will probably re-sign the Aruban Donut.

[galentjm]

Just another step by Angelos to make his team inferior to the Nats :-) I like it. Let the pitching go. He will probably re-sign the Aruban Donut.

If the O's signed Ryan to a contract of that size, the O's would have just spent the majority of their free agent money on a closer with exactly one full season under his belt, not to mention they would be hard pressed to acquire a top flight pitcher and/or a big bat for the lineup. Essentially the O's would be sending out the same flawed team as last year (thankfully without Sosa or Raffy).

The simple fact is that the O's are not the yankees. They do not have the financial flexibility to drop almost $50 million on a closer. The team has greater needs, and I think in a few years the Jays will regret making this deal.

[TheDoyler23]

And the Darren Driefort/Troy Glaus bad contract award goes to...

[aejm1400]

As much as a team may want a player, why is there always a team that needs to set the market at a rediculous $ amount so early in the offseason. Looks like we won't be getting a great closer this year and will have to hope Ray will be better sooner than later.

[GOSKINS_08]

I liked BJ he was a pretty realiable closer.To bad we lose him.

[Spaceman Spiff]

As much as a team may want a player, why is there always a team that needs to set the market at a rediculous $ amount so early in the offseason. Looks like we won't be getting a great closer this year and will have to hope Ray will be better sooner than later.


My thoughts exactly in addition to the fact that the Blow Jays are paying way too much for him.

Wagner is going to be asking for a ton now.

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

The Blue Jays are a bunch of idiots, and there are a lot of teams that are furious right now. Every decent free agent out there is going to ask for the moon now. This affects the O's plans big time. Forget about Millwood, he is a Boras client. They're going to ask for $10+M per year now. Byrd's 2 year, $10-13M offer we gave him may need to be bumped up to 3 years, $20M. I would expect that a lot more trades will happen now, and teams looking to rebuild, thanks to the Marlins, can now expect to get a ton back in return. This is perfect for Angelos because now he can claim poverty again and he can't afford any FAs at these prices. I read somewhere that the Cubs are offering Furcal 6 years, $100M, but a lot of that is incentives. This is insane. Furcal can't hold Tejada's jock, yet he's getting $30+M more.