Vernon Wells

He is a special player who utilizes every one of the 5 tools. He had a career year last season hitting in front of Troy Glaus and could this year hit in front of Thomas and Glaus. He is also the Jays most valuable trade chip and is being talked about A LOT this off-season. It's tough to say whether the team is better with or without him, however the Angels are trying to make that decision easier for Blue Jays management. It seems that for a big hitter such as Wells, Jones or Manny they are starting the package with Ervin Santana and Scot Shields, two inexpensive quality arms. The Angels may not be getting much action from these packages because it seems they are close to a 5 year, $50 million contract with Gary Matthews Jr. to play Centre Field.

Ricciardi and co. are afraid of how much Wells could cost in free agency next year or how much he could cost in an extension right now. I'm not convinced that he would get as much as thought in an open market after next season. As of right now, there would be 5 full-time centre fielders on next year's free agent market including three who are near the top of the class (Wells, A. Jones and Hunter), the other two being Mark Kotsay and Aaron Rowand. There would be more players for teams to spread their money around and therefore there may be less money for Wells. All that is important is that Ricciardi better make his decision soon and know that this decision, maybe more than any other, will be looked back upon the most.

• This isn't baseball related, however it is football related, there's a high schooler who is absolutely incredible. On this page, there are two videos of him, one of him hurdling an opposing player and the other of an incredible run where he just can't be tackled!
• Forget the Angels in the Wells sweepstakes. They have signed Gary Matthews Jr. to a 5 year, $50 million deal. This also impacts the Jays in compensation for Justin Speie, because Matthews is higher ranked than Speier, the Jays will now receive a sandwich pick along with a second rounder instead of the first rounder.