Veron Wells?

Jon Heyman wrote a piece saying that the Jays have listened to offers for Vernon Wells. Before you all start talking about how he would be such a great acquisition, let's look at a few things.

Vernon is on a 7 year/$126mm contract. His salary in '08 was only $0.5mm. He also received one of the three $8.5mm installments he gets from his signing bonus. In other words, he still is owed a lot of money.

Vernon is 30, and is signed for 6 more years. That means we would be getting him for the declining years of his career.

Buster Olney recently wrote an article on Wells. He are some of the quotes he had from talent evaluators (GMs, assistant GMs, and scouts).

"Vernon Wells can be a joy to watch when playing inspired baseball. However, I can't get over how many at-bats he throws away chasing high fastballs or breaking balls off the plate, even in fastball counts, almost like he occasionally lacks any semblance of patience or ability to slow down the game."

"The reality is, he's still a very good player and performs at a high level, but there's still a sense of underachievement there based on his abilities and his seemingly inconsistent focus."

"...there's clearly no question about his tools. He remains one of the more physically talented outfielders in the game and gets tremendous reads and jumps in center field, though he did appear to lose a step or two this past season. "

"Has a little length to his swing, but has good bat speed. Not a pure hitter, but he is such a good athlete."

"Though the back end of his contract is sure to weigh down his trade value significantly, Wells could conceivably be a classic change-of-scenery guy who really wakes up when he finds himself in a larger, more pressurized market, though at age 30, his window is much smaller than it used to be."

"...he tends to cruise through part of the schedule. You don't get 100 percent of Vernon Wells every day, for that reason. He paces himself."

"Bill James Handbook projections for Wells in 2009: 139 games, .281 BA, .336 OBP, .817 OPS, 23 homers, 85 RBIs, 43 walks and 70 strikeouts."

I don't like what I hear in these quotes. Sure, the comment that he could be better with a change of scnerey and a more competitive team is positive, but sounds like he doesn't always give his best, he's slowing down in the field, he's an underperformer, and he has no patience at the plate.

Wells has never had an OBP above .360, and only played in 108 games this past year. With his contract, his age, and his poor qualities above, he isn't worth the risk of giving up young players for him.