Bill Madden of the New York Daily News is reporting that the Blue Jays have signed LH reliever B.J. Ryan to a five year, $47 million contract.

Originally, Sportsnet published a denial from J.P. Ricciardi that the deal had been done, however they are now confirming the signing, but not the money.

The Globe And Mail and TSN are both reporting that Batter's Box favourite Josh Towers has signed a two-year deal with the Jays.

It's reportedly a $5.2 million contract in total, with $2.3M due in 2006 and $2.9M in 2007. Hopefully the groundball-inducing Josh will have the same fine defence behind him over the next two years that he enjoyed in his breakout 2005, in which he earned just $358,000 for posting a 120 ERA+ in nearly 210 innings.

Congratulations, Josh!

Shortstop John McDonald was re-acquired by the Jays for cash considerations from the Tigers. McDonald is a capable late inning defensive replacement, and will provide depth in the event of a trade. Thanks to Dave, Hoju and Hugh for letting us know.

Vernon Wells and Orlando Hudson were awarded Gold Gloves today. For Wells it is his second Gold Glove while Orlando Hudson wins for the first time.

Tim McCleary's contract which expires in December, will not be renewed, according to the Toronto Sun. Thanks to Brent S for the heads-up.

Reports indicate that New York Yankees bench coach Joe Girardi has agreed in principle to become the Florida Marlins' new manager.

The Blue Jays announced that Frank Menechino and Ken Huckaby have elected to become a free agents after declining assignments to Triple-A Syracuse.

Additionally, the Jays have outrighted Jason Arnold and Raul Tablado to Syracuse.

As pointed out by King Ryan, Baseball Reference now has 2005 stats available. Yes, I'm excited by this. Yes, I am a geek.

On Sunday morning, Tom Cheek lost his long struggle with cancer.

(As in Junior Griffey and Jason Giambi)

When we asked a while back, Bauxites said the winners of the AL and NL Comeback Players of the Year would be Jason Giambi (53%) and Ken Griffey Jr. (73%).

Kudos, everyone. The Batter's Box Interactive Magazine community was right on both counts.