<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>TORONTO (AP) -- First baseman Lyle Overbay and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a $24 million, four-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, a team official said Sunday.Overbay hit .312 with 22 home runs, a team-high 46 doubles and 92 RBIs with Toronto last season after being acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers.The team official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not announced.Overbay, who avoided arbitration with the deal, gets a $3.8 million signing bonus, $400,000 this year, $5.8 million in 2008 and $7 million in each of the following two seasons. He would have been eligible for free agency after the 2008 season.The left-handed hitter leads the majors with a total of 133 doubles since 2003.Toronto acquired Overbay and right-hander Ty Taubenheim from Milwaukee in exchange for Dave Bush, Gabe Gross and Zach Jackson. Overbay made $2.5 million last season. He turns 30 later this month.He becomes the latest Blue Jays to sign a multiyear contract. Vernon Wells agreed to a $126 million, seven-year contract extension in December, the sixth-largest deal in baseball history.</div>
The First Year was just buying out arbitration so its closer to a 3/21 extension. I think that'll be a good deal for them though as Overbay is a pretty good hitter and they got him fairly cheaply IMO.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Jan 14 2007, 08:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The First Year was just buying out arbitration so its closer to a 3/21 extension. I think that'll be a good deal for them though as Overbay is a pretty good hitter and they got him fairly cheaply IMO.</div>Agreed. If he were a Free Agent, he'd be getting a lot more. So it's a good deal for the Jays.
