Blue Jays ink Miguel Batista

TORONTO, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The Toronto Blue Jays have signed righthander Miguel Batista to a three-year contract worth $13.1 million.

Batista will earn $3.6 million in 2004, $4.75 million in 2005, and $4.75 million in 2006

General Manager J.P. Ricciardi negotiated with Batista's agent, Martin Arburua, on Thursday. They reached an agreement before leaving for the winter meetings in New Orleans.

"We didn't want to have to come down here and have this keep lingering and lingering and have other teams get more involved," said Ricciardi. "So we just wanted to put a deadline on it and tell him that we could come here and try to address that position or we could put it to bed."

Batista, 32, spent the last three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched a career-high 193 1/3 innings last season and went 10-9 with a 3.54 ERA in 36 games, including 29 starts.

Batista has a career record of 42-50 with a 4.39 ERA. He also has pitched for five other teams.