What Was That All About?

The old baseball ticker has been humming with teams either declining to pick up player options for next year or picking them up. David Ortiz got his extension but not a contract. Edgar Renteria became the second straight World Series MVP to be sent packing right after getting the hardware. Adrian Beltre declined his option to become a free agent. And on an on the wheel spins. Just about the strangest story though comes out of Toronto.

This Fan has been quite complimentary so far of the Blue Jays' new general manager.* It seems the new guy has a lot on the ball and he made a fine managerial selection among many of the other moves he has made. But the story today was a little reminder that nobody is perfect.

*(Posnanski asterisk): You will probably notice that this Fan never types the Blue Jays' general manager's name. That's because it's impossible to remember and even if you could remember it, you can't spell it. So, he is either AA or that Blue Jays GM.

It seems that the Rockies traded catcher, Miguel Olivo, to the Blue Jays for the old player to be named later. The Rockies didn't want to pick up Olivo's $2.5 million option. It seems that the market for catchers is pretty soft these days with not a whole lot of money to be made. The only problem with this deal was that the Blue Jays had to pick up Olivo's option before a time deadline. At the last minute, they decided to decline the option and just pay Olivo his $500,000 buyout. Whuh?

So the Blue Jays will lose a player and now they are out $500,000 and ended up with nothing? Do they get a compensation pick? Perhaps. This Fan would imagine that Olivo is a Type B or something which will net the Jays a pick. Okay. The Fan feels a lot better now. So, then. If you boil it all down, the Blue Jays gave up a player and paid $500,000 for a draft pick. Better be a heck of a pick, eh?

**Update: Mr. Neyer wrote today that this was a brilliant move. Well...okay...we'll go with that then.