<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Blue Jays are six signatures away from maintaining an impressive streak. By signing outfielder Reed Johnson to a one-year contract on Wednesday, Toronto began chipping away at its arbitration-eligible players. Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has never gone to arbitration with one of his players, and the club has avoided the hearings altogether since 1997. Johnson penned his name on a 2008 contract worth $3.275 with Toronto, which gave the outfielder a slight raise over his salary a year ago. Remaining on Toronto's to-do list are right fielder Alex Rios, infielder Marco Scutaro and pitchers Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, Brian Tallet and Gustavo Chacin. Each of those six is eligible for arbitration and has until his respective hearing between Feb. 1 and Feb. 21 to settle on a contract. Players and teams will exchange salary figures later this month. Johnson, who was sidelined for three months last season following major back surgery in April, decided to forgo the arbitration process in favor of signing a new contract. The 31-year-old left fielder made $3.075 million in 2007, when he hit .236 with two home runs and 14 RBIs in an injury-shortened campaign.</div> http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=tor Huge fan of Reed Johnson. Glad we signed him for another year.
