The latest in the Vernon Wells saga...
Clearly it is not as easy as it looks, leaving the employ of a major-league ballclub to become a baseball columnist. Ask Keith Law.
In last night's blog posting on ESPN.com, Law, a former Jays special assistant to GM J.P. Ricciardi, officially became persona non grata with his former front office mates, stirring the pot surrounding the uncertain future of Vernon Wells in Toronto.
"Vernon Wells has told Blue Jays' management that he has no intention of signing a contract extension to stay in Toronto," Law wrote online. "He and his family would like to move closer to his home in Texas, and he has become increasingly disenchanted in Toronto as he has faced public criticism from general manager J.P. Ricciardi."
There is nothing new in that scenario put forth by Law, other than the fact he claimed the Gold Glove centre fielder and team's MVP had already spoken to Ricciardi and let him know that his future lay elsewhere after 2007. We have often written in this space that there exists a strong chance that if the Jays find they cannot extend Wells by the coming off-season, that there is an opportunity for Ricciardi to look for a deal that will help the Jays both immediately in '07 and into the future.
But that is far different than writing that the man has already spoken and the die is cast.
"The conversation never happened," Wells said, curtly, following last night's game. "It's a complete fabrication."
The general manager, the man who had proudly hired Law as one of his first moves upon landing his first posting as GM back in the winter of 2001-02, was even stronger in his denial.
"He's become a writer," Ricciardi said of the Harvard-educated Law. "It doesn't take long. Keith Law is officially an idiot."