THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays declined to offer right-hander Josh Towers a contract for the 2008 season ahead of Wednesday’s midnight deadline, hours after the San Francisco Giants shut the door on a proposed Alex Rios-for-Tim Lincecum deal.
Each of the club’s seven other players eligible for arbitration — Rios, Marco Scutaro, Reed Johnson, Scott Downs, Brian Tallet, Jason Frasor and Gustavo Chacin — were tendered contract offers. Players who are non-tendered become free agents.
The decision to non-tender Towers doesn’t necessarily mean his days with the Blue Jays are through. The team can still negotiate with him and they would consider bringing him back at a reduced price to compete for a job and provide depth.
He’s expected to opt for a fresh start.
Towers is coming off a US$5.2-million, two-year deal during which he pitched poorly. He was 5-10 with a 5.38 ERA last season after going 2-10 with an 8.42 ERA in a disastrous 2006. That followed a terrific 2005 in which he was 13-12 with a 3.71 ERA over 208 2-3 innings.
Earlier, the proposed blockbuster with the Giants lingering since the winter meetings was finally settled when San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean said he wouldn’t part with either Lincecum or Matt Cain after he signed free agent outfielder Aaron Rowand to a five-year deal.
The Blue Jays had tabled the Rios-Lincecum proposal and had left the offer on the table for Sabean to ponder, but he was unwilling to give up a top-notch young arm like Lincecum, even for two-time all-star outfielder Rios.
"With this move, we will no longer listen to any offers for (Matt) Cain and Lincecum," Sabean said. "We know the value of both individuals, believe me, maybe more so now that we’ve gone through this exercise. They might be the hottest two names in baseball".
The Blue Jays now plan to scan the non-tendered list hoping to find a potential backup catcher. General manager J.P. Ricciardi said he hoped to have someone in place by week’s end, with Sal Fasano being an option if nothing better turns up.
