As welcome as the Blue Jays' sudden notion of signing Vernon Wells to a long-term deal through 2014 is, make no mistake about it, this is president Paul Godfrey's baby. Wells and Roy Halladay are the twin faces of the franchise in public. That has added value to a former politician. It's not the same for baseball-first GM J.P. Ricciardi.
"Any decision you make, the hardest thing to do is not have your emotions involved," Ricciardi said cryptically to Yahoo!Sports.com on Tuesday.
Ricciardi's emotions with regard to Wells have always been on the side of letting him walk at the end of his current contract. Either that or deal him for value. But Godfrey is the one who responds to his emotions like a fan.
...Now, it's all about Wells and how much Godfrey feels he is worth to the franchise as both an on-field talent and as an off-field ambassador. The guy can play. But history says that despite his five-tool skills, Wells is not one of J.P.'s guys, just as Delgado was not a part of Ricciardi's five, er, seven-year solution.
If this Wells seven-year extension is done, it will be in spite of Ricciardi. Make no mistake, even though the Jays' reported opening salvo of $126 million (plus $5.6 million for '07) is, as Wells told the Star's Allan Ryan, "in the ballpark," it will not be enough, as currently written, to keep him in the ballpark. Wells needs the Jays to offer more per year, through 2014, than the Cubs are paying Alfonso Soriano. That simple.
That $136 million Soriano jackpot was the guiding light when I suggested, on the final day of the winter meetings, that the Jays should offer Wells a contract for eight years of $138.6 million, including $5.6 million remaining on the final year of his current pact. It wasn't a number pulled out of a hat.
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For the Jays, this isn't the same scenario as when they decided to jettison Delgado. Since then, the club has increased payroll by almost 100 per cent, it owns the Rogers Centre and the Canadian dollar has risen more than 25 cents against its U.S. counterpart. This is a brave new world, flush with cash and cross-marketing opportunities for owner Ted Rogers. Wells is the first mega free agent of this new Jays era. It's possible they might sign him, but this was clearly not the way they envisioned the winter unfolding.And please don't compare this to the A's losing Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and the big three starters, including, this year, Barry Zito. There was never any emotion in A's scenarios. That was pure Moneyball.
This is not Moneyball. There has never been a chapter dealing with "replacement value" for fan favourites, which is the difference between A's and Jays and why on most nights you can fire a cannon through the Oakland Coliseum and not hit anyone.
The Jays are doing the right thing with Wells, but it might be too little, too late. Place the odds at 30-70 that the Jays, with a late start, can have a deal done by the spring.
Now:
4. From Carlos Delgado to Vernon Wells: passing an albatross baton.
When Ricciardi first arrived, he sneered at Delgado's four-year, $68 million contract negotiated by the previous regime, labelling it an "albatross" around the team's neck. But in the 2006 off-season, after exhausting all trade possibilities for Wells, Ricciardi oversaw the signing of a $126 million, seven-year deal for the centre fielder.
You know, a lot of the media eulogizing going on about JP Ricciardi's tenure as the Toronto Blue Jays general manager has focused on his strained relationship with the media. How his "arrogance extended to reporters and columnists". Or how he was "brash, cocky and always ready to talk". But when you read things like this, you kind of get why he thought guys like Richard Griffin were douchebags. You can't browbeat a guy for not wanting to make a deal, then 3 years later pretend he did. Unless, of course, you're a bitter member of the Toronto media riding a 48 hour hate-boner.
