J.P. Ricciardi is not happy with Rod Barajas:
Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi claimed Wednesday that Rangers catcher Rod Barajas backed out of a deal with Toronto after signing a terms sheet with the team.
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Ricciardi said he's never experienced anything like it in his career. The Blue Jays planned on having Barajas and his family fly to Toronto for a news conference on Tuesday.
"If your word doesn't mean anything any more, and your signature don't mean anything, what kind of world do we live in?" Ricciardi said. "It's all right. It worked out for the better. If he feels uncomfortable, we don't want him here. I was disappointed in the fact that the player would go back on his word and a new agent just came in and said we have no deal."
Barajas at first was represented by Gregg Clifton and Terry Bross, then switched to Dan Lozano, who had represented Barajas previously. Ricciardi said Lozano wanted to reopen negotiations, but the Blue Jays wanted no part of it.
"The original two agents agreed, and they did a great job - a super job," Ricciardi said. "Your word is supposed to mean something. What does that say to the agents you just did a deal with? You're going to get a new agent and start renegotiating?"
Clifton did not return a call seeking comment. Lozano denied Ricciardi's assertion about the negotiations.
"When I spoke to J.P., I was still in the information-gathering mode," Lozano said. "I never at that point said I wanted to reopen negotiations. I simply informed J.P. that I represented Rod Barajas again, and told him that I had to call the union to get the union involved. J.P.'s response to me was: 'I'm calling the commissioner's office.'
"After gathering information from Rod Barajas, it is of my opinion that there were things that were not done properly. But I'm not going to comment on those. I don't think that J.P. has the right to judge Rod Barajas' character, since he has never spoken to Rod Barajas.