Blue Jays Sign Stairs For Two Years

According to ESPN's Amy K. Nelson, the Blue Jays have signed Matt Stairs to a two-year, $3.5MM deal.  The price seems about right.  J.P. Ricciardi has predicted a quite offseason, so we may not see much else.

Nelson says the plan is for Stairs to mainly platoon with Adam Lind in left field.  That seems to leave Reed Johnson as a non-tender candidate.  The arbitration-eligible Johnson made $3.075MM in 2007 but his a miserable .236/.305/.320 in 275 ABs.  That was a far cry from his '06 performance of .317/.388/.477.  It should be noted that Johnson had back surgery in April, which probably explains the decline. 

Comments

[Guitar Hero]

This is a good price. I'm happy. But this might mean the end of Reed Johnson. There are zero free agents left on the team so this might be it. I'm still holding out hope for a trade for a SS though.

[Not Joe Morgan]

Great signing; they could have given him $3.5MM per and it still would have been solid. 14th highest isoP among hitters with 300+ PAs; very overlooked this season.

[BillyBeaneFanatic]

Very good signing by Ricciardi.

The Jays are about set for the 2008 season, unless they decide to FINALLY add a starting shortstop...

[ErroRod1985]

Nice move. He always seems to get a big hit or two a year against the Sox.

[BaseBallz]

It is really a shame the Jays didn't trade Johnson last season while his unrealistic stats boosted his trade value. So now there just going to non-tender him and replace him with a forty year old. Good signing Riccardi !

[Jays Believer 92,93]

God please make Matt Stairs produce... I don't really like the signing of Stairs because this year was probably a fluke year.
Also I think Johnson would of been better to keep because Johnson is younger, faster and has better defense then Stairs. It's good to hear we're going to keep Lind I think he has a bright future.

[Lindsay]

Excellent signing... From what Ricciardi is saying, it doesn't seem Johnson is in any trouble.

"'There's no reason why we wouldn't be able to bring him back,' Ricciardi said about Johnson, who is eligible for arbitration. 'He'd probably play more than Matt, so it wouldn't be a part-time role. He'd probably be in the lineup a little bit more than Matt would be, but it just gives us a chance to play Matt against some tough right-handers.'"

Personally, I think that's a very good platoon. Ricciardi has said that Lind will start '08 in AAA... But that depends on Johnson.

[cyberzero_jays]

I think this is a pretty good deal considering the fact that Reed Johnson is horrible. Even if '07 was a fluke year for Matt Stairs, it brings a veteran to teach Adam Lind. Personally, I think '06 for Johnson was fluke (and he was only playing half the time).
Adam Lind can come up now and adjust to the Majors and because if we take too long, Travis Snider will be here and we will have no place for Adam Lind (except DH, of course, but only if Frank Thomas is too old for our liking).

[Jays Believer 92,93]

Cyberzero_jays Reed Johson isn't horrible, he has great defense, average batting and good speed. 2006 wasn't really a fluke year. Johnson has batted around the .300 mark in his career before and his lowest average(excluding this year) is .269 For the veteran thing and Adam Lind isn't Reed an veteran? Hasn't he played 4 years in the Majors? Also the reason why we don't have room for Lind is because of the bench seat Stairs takes up, Stairs is a left handed batter and can play LF so that's half the reason why Lind is down in triple A.