Buh-Bye Barajas

Rod Barajas is not, and never will be a Blue Jay.

In an unexpected move that may or may not have been prompted by the MLB players union, Barajas failed to show up for his physical yesterday, causing the tentative deal between him and the Blue Jays to fall through. The problem of course is that the $5.25 million two year deal Barajas originally agreed to play for is not only a step down from the money the Rangers were paying him last season, but it's also below the market average for mediocre .250 catchers of his calibre, and there's no way any players union is going to approve of a deal that lowers the benchmark, especially when it comes to mediocre players. But you didn't hear that from us.

We really don't mean to complain, because Barajas' balk forced GM J.P Ricciardi to turn around and sign our old friend Greg Zaun for $7.25 million, a good million more than the Jays were willing to go pre-Barajas. So does that mean we owe Barajas some sort of "thank you" for making Zaun a Blue Jay again?

No, because reneging on an agreed contract makes you a douche, and that's the truth.

Jason