Baseball Deals

A number of reported deals to comment on this morning.

First Paul Konerko re-signs with the White Sox for $60 million over 5-years. You can hardly call this move surpising. Konerko was the one star Kenny Williams had to have. The dollars and years sound just about right (Konerko will just be 34 at the end of the contract). It was a nice touch by Konerko that he got to dis Baltimore (they offered more money) before re-signing.

Supposedly Brian Giles will re-sign with the Padres for 3-years, $30 million. This is a bit of a surprise.

The two-time All-Star will earn $9 million per season from 2006-08, with a $9 million option for 2009 that could raise the value of the deal to $36 million over four years. The club has a $3 million buyout for 2009.

Giles had turned down much more money from the Blue jays and Yankees to say with San Diego. This seems to be a deal with the idea of "how many yachts can you ski behind" at its core. Giles is happy in San Diego. The deal has ramifications though. The Yankees still need a centerfielder (although for the life of me - I never saw how Giles would help with that need) and Toronto still needs a big bat for the line-up. Will Jeromy Burnitz be the boobie prize here? Burnitz is the poor man's Brian Giles (but between us - I think Burnitz is about cooked and I think Giles was/is a steroids guy). Maybe Nomar emerges as the big winner of this signing? Do the Yankees turn to Preston Wilson?

It has been reported that Kyle "Anger Management" Farnsworth has agreed to sign with the Yankees to be Mariano Rivera's understudy. To paraphrase Dennis Eckersley - New York is agreat town to be a drunk in.

It has also been rumored that Rafael Furcal will sign with the Cubs. If true - then that takes the Cubs out of the running for Johnny Damon and it would leave Chipper Jones wondering why he restructured his deal. My guess is that this is not a done deal and that the Braves will pony up the dollars to keep Furcal.