Around The AL East: Blue Jays

The Jays are hoping to keep their streak regarding arbitration intact, and they moved along in that regard by signing left fielder Reed Johnson to a one-year, $3,275,000 contract.

In six seasons with the Jays, general manager J.P. Ricciardi has never gone to arbitration with a player. The franchise hasn't had to go through that process since 1997.

Johnson received a raise from 2007, when he earned $3,075,000, despite the fact he missed three months following back surgery and upon his return never came close to finding his form.

In 2007, Johnson hit .236 (79-for-275) with two homers and 14 RBIs. His baserunning also appeared to be affected by his recovery from surgery.

Johnson's slow recovery and subpar performance was one of the reasons the Jays were eager to re-sign veteran outfielder Matt Stairs and why they intend to go with a platoon of Johnson and Stairs in left in 2008.

The Jays can only hope that the offseason has given Johnson the time to fully recover so that he can return to his 2006 form. That year, he hit a career-high .319 with 34 doubles, 12 homers and 49 RBIs in 461 at-bats. He also had a .390 on-base percentage.


NOTES, QUOTES
—RHP Shawn Camp, who has a 5.27 career ERA in parts of four seasons with Kansas City and Tampa Bay, agreed to a minor league deal with the Blue Jays, who invited him to spring training.

—The Jays lost out on acquiring a candidate for their rotation when free agent RHP Matt Clement signed with St. Louis. Clement was one of the top free agents targeted by GM J.P. Ricciardi. The battle for the fifth spot in the Jays rotation now appears to be between RHP Jesse Litsch, RHP Casey Janssen and LHP Gustavo Chacin.

—Incumbent LHP Brian Tallet will have competition for his spot in the bullpen now that the Jays have signed LHP John Parrish to a minor league contract with an invitation to their major league spring training. Parrish, 30, was a combined 2-2 with a 5.71 ERA in 53 appearances with Baltimore and Seattle last season. In 2007, Tallet was 2-4 with a 3.47 ERA in 48 appearances. Tallet, however, fared better against right-handed hitters (.194 average) than left-handers (.247).

—The Jays added potential depth to their bullpen by signing RHP Lance Carter and LHP Ryan Ketchner to minor league contracts. Both are expected to wind up with Class AAA Syracuse.

—Manager John Gibbons is encouraged by the recovery of his closer, LHP B.J. Ryan, who underwent ligament transfer surgery May 10. "All reports that we have with B.J. are very encouraging," Gibbons said. "He should be ready to go at spring training. At the same time, we are going to proceed cautiously with him. If that means we hold him back at the start of the season for three or four weeks, we're prepared to do that, especially with the season (Jeremy) Accardo had as his replacement."

—The other Jays who are arbitration-eligible are LHP Scott Downs, LHP Gustavo Chacin, LHP Brian Tallet, INF Marco Scutaro, RHP Jason Frasor and RF Alex Rios.


BY THE NUMBERS: 134—Stolen bases allowed by the Jays in 2007.


QUOTE TO NOTE: "We haven't had an everyday shortstop in a long time. When you have an opportunity to plug a guy like that into your lineup, you can't hesitate. You've got to pull the trigger. I think this gets us a little closer." —LF Reed Johnson on the signing of SS David Eckstein