Big news, in case the home opener wasn't exciting enough on its own: the Blue Jays just announced that they have signed Alex Rios and Aaron Hill to contract extensions.
Rios will be a Blue Jay through 2014.
Hill's signing was a surprising twist. His contract takes him through 2011, and also contains three club options that could keep him in Toronto until 2014 as well.
Here's the bluejays.com story on the extensions.
- Alex Rios: six years, $64 million.
- Aaron Hill: four years, $12 million, with three club options in addition.
EDIT, 4:25 pm: At the conclusion of the guaranteed portion of Hill's contract, the Jays must choose whether to extend him for one, two or three more seasons, each at $8 million per. On the surface, this looks similar to the deal Jamie Shields signed this offseason.
Apparently, there are no opt-out clauses in either contract.
Sounds like a pretty good deal for the club.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080404151759874