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The Toronto Blue Jays have been relatively secretive about the length and values of the contracts of their executive-types the past few years. No one really knows how long GM Alex Anthopoulos is signed for, and it was a guessing game as to the length of John Farrells pact when the subject of him moving to Boston was first broached after the 2011 season. Cots Baseball contracts (Baseball Prospectus) details something interesting about John Gibbons deal, which was first reported by Shi Davidi back in February. When he replaced Farrell, Gibbons signed a two-year deal with an option for 2015. But heres the interesting part, if Gibbons is not fired by January 1, his option year becomes guaranteed and he gets another option year for 2016. Gibbons absolutely deserves another "kick at the can" after the club was ravaged by injuries for the second year in a row. Still, you have to wonder if upper management did any serious thinking after the club struggled to reach 74 wins after such lofty pre-season expectations. There will be some serious heat on Gibbons and Anthopoulos if the Blue Jays stumble out of the gate in 2014. But at least in Gibbons case, it looks like he wont go into the new season as a lame duck manager. Its smart business and baseball sense to abide by the Blue Jayss policy of only giving five-year contracts to free agents, especially pitchers. You have to wonder, though, if the Jays are going to have to rethink that one after seeing 30-year-old lefty Jason Vargas sign a four-year deal worth $32 million with Kansas City. Vargas has a career record of 51-58 with a 4.30 ERA over eight seasons with four different teams so far. He only has two double-digit win seasons and peaked at 14 with Seattle. Its not so much the $8 million per season hes getting from the Royals but the four years. If Vargas can get four years, then what of the bigger names teams like the Blue Jays might be interested in, such as Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana and even Dan Haren. They all have more impressive resumes than Vargas. The Royals were rumoured to be interested in a trade for As 25-year-old lefty Brett Anderson before doing the deal with Vargas. The Jays have been rumoured to be talking to Oakland about Anderson, as well. Maybe there should be a buyer beware tag attached to that one. Though he has a world of potential, the 64" southpaw is only 26-29 over five injury-plagued seasons with the As. Anderson will be 26 in February and he still excites people because of his 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and his more than respectable career ERA of 3.81. He is a risk with potential upside to be sure. Talking Trade I loved the Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler trade between Detroit and Texas. Fielder had two decent seasons for the Tigers and helped get them to the playoffs twice. However, he had a miserable stretch of no playoff RBIs in 18 games. Kinsler was simply caught in a middle infield squeeze in Texas with the Rangers having a much younger Jurickson Profar ready to step in at second base with the outside chance the Rangers might bid for free agent Robby Cano. With that short right field porch at the Ballpark at Arlington, Fielder could easily rebound next season and hit 45 to 50 homers The Tigers are better off as well moving their two-time MVP Miguel Cabrera from third over to first to take some of the physical stress off his body. Braun on the Market? As impressive as it was that the Tigers could move Fielders huge contract that still has seven years and $168 million dollar left on it, this one would be even more impressive. Milwaukee is considering unloading Ryan Braun in the wake of his PED suspension with GM Doug Melvin claiming a couple of clubs have at least called him to talk about him. Braun is slightly older than Fielder at 30 and he is an MVP. But he has seven years and $127 million still owed to him, plus a mutual option for 2021. This contract is even more injurious to the Brewers than Alex Rodriguez is to the Yankees if Brauns production falls off dramatically once he starts playing clean. If the Brewers are committed to moving him, it will be interesting to see over the winter which team, if any, will be willing to take him on. Adidas Continental 80 NZ . But that changed when he committed a five-minute major penalty and helped pave the way for a comeback by the Philadelphia Flyers. Vincent Lecavalier scored at 2:45 of overtime and the Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 victory on Sunday. Buy NMD NZ . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-superst...tar-womens.html. Ashton scored a hat trick -- giving him 13 goals in 16 AHL games this season -- to power the Toronto Marlies to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Lake Erie Monsters in AHL action on Sunday. Adidas Prophere NZ . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. Superstar Shoes NZ . The post-season, Pierce said repeatedly, is no time to panic. And the Heat, apparently, are nothing to fear.LONDON, Ont. -- The Guelph Storm booked a ticket to the Memorial Cup final with a 6-3 win over the Val-dOr Foreurs on Monday. At 2-0, the Ontario Hockey League champions were assured a berth in Sundays championship game. The Storm conclude the round-robin Wednesday against the winless London Knights. The Foreurs and Western Hockey Leagues Edmonton Oil Kings were both 1-1 and meet Tuesday night. Kerby Rychel, Zach Mitchell, Jason Dickinson, Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter, and Tyler Bertuzzi all scored for the explosive Storm, who have 11 goals in two games in the tournament. Scott Kosmachuk had three assists for Guelph. Mitchell, Brock McGinn and captain Matt Finn each had two assists. Timotej Sille replied with a goal and an assist for Val-dOr. Anthony Beauregard and Randy Gazzola also scored for the Foreurs. Storm goalie Justin Nichols made 30 saves for the win. Val-dOr goalie Antoine Bibeau stopped 30 of 36 shots. He was replaced after two periods by Keven Bouchard, who turned away all 13 he faced. Storm defenceman Chadd Bauman was tossed from the game in the third period for knee-on-knee contact with Val-dOr defenceman Guillaume Gelinas. The Foreurs assistant captain favoured his left knee as he was helped from the ice. Guelph opened the tournament with a 5-2 win over the Oil Kings on Saturday. The Storm were the highestest scoring major junior team in Canada this season with 340 goals. They continue to demonstrate their speed that stretches a defence as well as a wealth of scoring talent, led by Rychel with three goals and an assist in the tournament. The Storm rattled off four unanswered goals, including three within the first six minutes, before the Foreurs could counter in the second. The team with the best record at the conclusion of the round robin gets the bye to the final. Its an advantage in winning the Cup, but less so than it once was. Since a day of rest between the semifinal and final was incorporated into the tournament format in 2007, the team with the bye hoisted the trophy four of seven years. The teams finishing second and third meeet in Fridays semifinal.dddddddddddd Two teams tied for third will require a tiebreaker game Thursday. So the host Knights need a win over Guelph on Wednesday or their tournament is over. The Storm eliminated the Knights in the second round of OHL playoffs on Apr. 11. The Memorial Cup went to a four-team tournament with the addition of a host club in 1983. When the semifinal and final were played on back-to-back days, the team with the bye won the Cup 17 of 24 years. The Guelph Storm are looking for their first Memorial Cup in their 23-year history. The Guelph Platers won the Cup in 1986 before relocating to Owen Sound, Ont. Bibeau stopped all 51 shots in Val-dOrs 1-0 win over the Knights to start the tournament, but he gave up three goals on the first seven shots he faced Monday. The Foreurs had just three days between winning Game 7 of their QMJHL final in Baie-Comeau, Que., and their first game in London. But even with two days of rest after their opener, Val-dOr wasnt as tenacious on the puck as the Storm and the defence around their own net was sloppy. Beauregard finished a tic-tac-toe passing play for a power-play goal during Baumans five-minute major midway through the third period. Guelphs Bertuzzi had time for two swings at a rebound and scored with seven seconds to go in the second period to make it 6-2. Fabbri took a backhand pass from Mitchell and whipped the puck by Bibeau at 16:04. Sille poked a loose puck by Nichols during a goal-mouth scramble at 12:55 to temporarily shrink Guelphs lead. Gazzolas wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle beat Nichols for a power-play goal at 11:59. Guelphs Suter batted a rebound into a backhand at 8:13. The Foreurs allowed Dickinson to buzz across the top of the offensive zone and into the slot, where his off-speed shot squeaked through Bibeaus pads at 5:50 of the first period. Mitchell beat Bibeau with a sharp-angled wrist shot four minutes into the game. Fabbri fed Rychel at the side of the net and the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect chipped the puck in 59 seconds into the game. ' ' '