Rios signs one-year contract with Jays

ORONTO -- A long-term contract will have to wait for now. On Tuesday, the Blue Jays were content with settling on a one-year pact with Alex Rios, who agreed to a $4.835 million salary for the 2008 season.

With Rios' contract completed, the Blue Jays have managed to avoid arbitration with each of their eligible players this offseason. Rios' new deal represents a $2.3 million raise over his salary last year, when the right fielder emerged as a potent weapon on offense.

The signing does not mean that the Blue Jays have reconsidered negotiating a multiyear deal with Rios, who isn't eligible to become a free agent until 2010. Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has indicated that the two sides will continue to discuss potentially striking a longer contract over the next two months.

"We've got all of Spring Training to continue to talk and we've got the course of the year to continue to talk," Ricciardi said recently. "But we don't like to talk to a player during the year and I'm sure a player doesn't really want to talk about it during the year.

"We've got all of February and all of March to try to work a long-term deal out and, if it doesn't come to fruition, we've got him for the next two years and we can continue to try to work on it. We're putting our best foot forward."

Rios, who turns 27 in February, posted a .297 average with 24 home runs, 43 doubles and 85 RBIs last season. He also served as Toronto's lone All-Star representative -- his second career selection -- in San Francisco, where he finished as the runner-up during the annual Home Run Derby.

After that showing, Rios was seeking $5.6 million in his second year of arbitration eligibility, and Toronto countered with an offer $4.535 million. Under the terms of his new contract, Rios was given a $3.5 million signing bonus and he has a base salary of $1.335 million. Rios could earn another $15,000 if he's named an All-Star again.

Since Ricciardi assumed general manager duties for Toronto prior to the 2002 season, the club hasn't gone to arbitration with a single player. In fact, the Blue Jays haven't gone to an arbitration hearing with a player since 1997.