The Blue Jays signed BJ Ryan to a contract worth $9.4/year. Which isn't a huge surprise.

The Blue Jays signed BJ Ryan to a contract for 5 years. Which is a huge surprise.

Or is it?

Bill Madden of the New York Daily News is reporting that the Blue Jays have signed LH reliever B.J. Ryan to a five year, $47 million contract.

Originally, Sportsnet published a denial from J.P. Ricciardi that the deal had been done, however they are now confirming the signing, but not the money.

The Carlos Delgado trade has been finalized. The Jim Thome trade awaits medical concurrence and the Bud Selig seal of approval. Frank Thomas is a free agent and quite possibly headed for a new home. But, Jeff Bagwell remains in Houston.

So, on this frigid Friday, what is happening in the world of baseball?

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

So there I was, thinking my work was done. I could put the 2005 Blue Jays aside, polish off my piece on the 1920 Season (appearing December 1 at a Batter's Box near you!), and get cracking at last on the long-delayed Lobby of Numbers.

And then Mike Green, pondering the eternal mystery of the Blue Jays W-L record in relation to their runs scored and allowed, made a most excellent suggestion:

All these deals, Beckett to Boston, Delgado to the Mets, await a doctor's concurrence. The Winter Meetings are about 2 weeks away, and the moves are beginning to be made. So, Bauxites, what do you think?

Here we look at what the Blue Jays did in those 47 games decided by a single run. Seeing as how they lost 31 of these games, there are a lot of painful memories in here. Viewer Discretion Advised. But it's always a good day when I get to be the Dude's Advocate!

We'll have a quick recap of all 47 games, data tables of how the hitters and pitchers performed, and a few random observations.

Maybe I've been watching too much "CSI" (Las Vegas, if you must know), but I'm treating you to yet another forensic examination of the evidence left behind by the 2005 Blue Jays.

In the midst of the weekend's free-form discussion, Bauxite Grasshopper spoke out against trading future stars for instant help, following the principle that the Blue Jays aren't going to win the World Series in 2006.

I'm not picking on you, Grasshopper - I think it's probably a widespread assumption.

Should it be?

Giving most major league teams millions of dollars to play with and a list of available free agents is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. (Thank you, P.J. O'Rourke.)

So the madness is beginning...

Imagine you were a scout for a major league team last winter and your general manager calls you to ask about Josh Towers. Your team has a chance to trade for Towers and the GM wants to know what you think. You say Towers is a #5 pitcher and he is not even guaranteed a rotation spot with the Jays in 2005, you suggest to the GM that he should turn down the deal. Next day the GM is back on the phone, the Jays have sweetened the deal and now they are ready to give up Alex Rios. You tell the GM to jump at the deal, you saw Rios at New Haven in 2003 and you think he is primed for a breakout season. Fast forward to today, do you still have a job?

If you want to be a scout you better have an opinion and you better be right more than you are wrong or you could be facing the wrath of your GM, if you are still working for him.

Hey, a real move! The Mets traded Mike Cameron to the Padres for Xavier Nady, pending physicals.

Another off-season, another NFH Challenge!

Here's what Kingsley had to say in the Josh Towers signing thread:

This contract was a nothing more than a loyalty reward for what will undoubtably go down in the books as Towers' career year. His numbers were an abberration... counting on Josh to keep it together over another season, to count on 'it' not vanishing...well, friends, that's too many what-if's for me.
...
Josh will be nothing more than the long righty out of the 'pen come mid-season.

(Read the whole post here.)

Lots of things to challenge in there, aren't there?

The Canadian baseball team had a good and bad Olympic experience in 2004. The bad part was losing in the semi-finals to a strong Cuba team, having led late in the game. The Canadians did not expect to be playing Cuba in the semis but Australia pulled out a round robin win that helped them avoid Canada and place Cuba in the way of the Canadians. On the good side the team did make it to the semi-finals and many players still talk of qualifying for the Olympics, and the bus ride back to the hotel singing Oh Canada, as the highlight of their season. Now the Canadians get to start down the Olympic road again, the road to China in 2008 starts today in Arizona as Canada faces Nicaragua. The top four teams, out of six in this tournament, advance to the Americas Olympic qualifier next August in Havana. Last week in Arizona I talked with three of the Canadian hopefuls about their seasons.

The Globe And Mail and TSN are both reporting that Batter's Box favourite Josh Towers has signed a two-year deal with the Jays.

It's reportedly a $5.2 million contract in total, with $2.3M due in 2006 and $2.9M in 2007. Hopefully the groundball-inducing Josh will have the same fine defence behind him over the next two years that he enjoyed in his breakout 2005, in which he earned just $358,000 for posting a 120 ERA+ in nearly 210 innings.

Congratulations, Josh!

Yeah, so it's been a few weeks since the last Photo of the Week, but I have a doctor's note: a window slammed shut on the middle finger of my right hand, which made typing exceptionally slow and painful, and then a few days later I injured my back picking baby Theo up. So I've been better.

Here's one of our two Golden Guys: