Free Agency

night update: there's lots going on so why wait till the morning
first and foremost: This article claims that Wells has been offered a monster(!!!) 7 year package by the Blue Jays that would pretty much keep him around for life.

• The Braves have made both Marcus Giles and Chris Reitsma free agents. Giles would look good in a Jays uniform but I think it's unlikely. Reitsma could also be interesting, he's coming off surgery but if he's not too expensive he could be the setup man.
• Eric Gagne has signed with Texas. I'm happy he'll be able to continue his career but Texas reportedly gave him a guaranteed $8 million for next season. That's a lot for a guy with his arm trouble, of course he is a Boras client.
• The Jays signed both Matt Stairs and Jason Smith today. The interesting thing is that Stairs got a minor league deal(with $850,000 if he makes the team) and that Smith got a flat $500,000. So Stairs will have to play his way onto the team.
• Finally, Jason Jennings has been traded to Houston after their failure to re-sign Andy Pettitte, this trade will be analyzed here tomorrow!
  

Well first the good news, after this second wave of signings, the avg cost per VORP for both categories has gone down! So either general managers are getting smarter or the first round of prestige signings that increase ticket sales increased their contract cost. It seems as though some guys fell through the cracks because of other reasons than their offense...Aurilia, Durham, Dellucci, Lieberthal and even the Lofton signing. Keith Law actully talks about what a bargain Lofton is as compared to Mr. Matthews. The Dodgers signing of Luis Gonzalez seems like one that could really bite them certainly when you think of the players he is blocking at this point. You can take a look at the data here.