TORONTO (AP) -When Rod Barajas became available, Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi put aside a past disagreement and got the free-agent catcher.
“In life, all of us need to go forward,” Ricciardi said Friday, one day after signing Barajas to a one-year, $1.2 million deal. “There’s nothing to be gained by going backwards.”
Ricciardi was far less cordial last offseason after Barajas walked away from a more lucrative Toronto offer.
In November 2006, Barajas’ representatives signed a letter of agreement for a $5.25 million, two-year contract with the Blue Jays, a deal negotiated by agents Gregg Clifton and Terry Bross. Barajas probably would have gotten a starting job under that contract, which was contingent on him taking a physical.
But Barajas refused to take his physical and switched back to agent Dan Lozano, who had represented him previously.
“Where I come from, your word means something and your handshake means something,” Ricciardi said at the time. “And we had more than a handshake.”
Ricciardi said Lozano asked to reopen negotiations, but the team wanted no part of it and decided to keep incumbent Gregg Zaun, giving him a $7.25 million, two-year contract.
Barajas later signed a $2.5 million, one-year contract with Philadelphia but ended up losing playing time to Carlos Ruiz.
After an injury-plagued season that saw Barajas hit .230 with four homers and 10 RBIs in 48 games, the Phillies declined their $5 million option for 2007, opting instead for a $500,000 buyout.
Given a second chance at Barajas, Ricciardi didn’t balk. The deal includes a team option for 2009.
“The ultimate goal, and all of us have to ask ourselves all the time, is does this make our team better?,” Ricciardi said. “When you keep asking yourself that question, and the answer is yes. You talk to the manager and you talk to the coaches and everybody is in favor of doing it, it’s your job and your obligation to try and get the best players here.”
The 32-year-old Barajas is a .239 career hitter with 62 homers and 235 RBIs in nine big league seasons with Arizona, Texas and Philadelphia. He gives Toronto a defensive upgrade over Zaun, who missed time last year with a broken thumb.
“If Zaunie goes down for 90 days again, we feel like we’re covered,” Ricciardi said. “Rod’s a good player, we’ve always liked him.”
Like him or not, Ricciardi kept things businesslike in a Thursday night phone conversation with his new catcher.
“We had a nice conversation,” Ricciardi said. “Maybe during the year we’ll have a laugh about something as we get to know each other a little better.”
The Barajas deal represents the end of Ricciardi’s roster tinkering.
“I just don’t see anything that we’ve had our fingers on that is going to really lead to anything,” Ricciardi said. “Any of the tweaking we do will be in regards to where guys fit as far as roles and building up as much depth as we can in the starting rotation.”
Closer B.J. Ryan, who sustained a season-ending elbow injury last April, is set to resume throwing from a mound within days. If Ryan is ready by opening day, Jeremy Accardo is expected to move back into the setup role while right-hander Casey Janssen would return to the starting rotation.
“Obviously we’re not going to really know about B.J. until we see him in March when he’s 10, closer to 11 months post-op and have a better idea of where he stands,” Ricciardi said.
Ricciardi said he has held “productive” talks on a long-term contract extension for with outfielder Alex Rios, Toronto’s only remaining arbitration-eligible player.
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