This morning's LA Times and the Toronto Star have the Angels interested in Roy Halladay. The Times says that the Angels tried to trade for him at the deadline but that JP Riccardi wanted Erick Aybar in the deal and the Angels didn't want to trade Aybar. JP also wanted either Joe Saunders or Jered Weaver and outfield prospect Peter Bourjos. Bourjos, a 10th round draft pick in 2005 has had a pretty non-spectacular minor league career, but can play CF and steal bases. He played Double-A last year and looks at least a year from being major league ready.
I don't know, without Aybar that doesn't look like a great package for Doc, I'd imagine the Angels wouldn't mind giving away Brandon Wood. If you believed Wood could play short and you got one of Saunder/Weaver/Erwin Santana and a good prospect or 2, you might be getting somewhere.
But what really caught my attention was the last couple of paragraphs in the Star story:
Also, lurking in the background, is the issue of free agency. The Jays have said they will not be off-season spenders. But there is a school of thought that the Jays could be surprise suitors for Trail, B.C. all-star left-fielder Jason Bay.
Bay has already refused a four-year, $60 million (U.S.) offer from his current club, the Boston Red Sox. If the Jays are willing to go to five years for the 31-year-old, he might be the signing to assuage fan anger at the loss of Halladay.
Is there anyone out there that thinks giving Jason Bay a 5 year $75 million plus contract won't turn out to be a terrible mistake? Here we want to trade away our 32 year old ace but sign a 31 year old LF so we can have 3 guys that can only play LF. I guess we think this is poker, three of a kind beats ace high. If you think Bay's defense was bad this year in a tiny LF in Boston, imagine him at 37 playing in a larger LF in Toronto. The only way signing Bay makes any sense at all is if we are keeping Doc and making a run at it this year.
Not that I think taking a run at it this year is that bad of a move, I can't imagine the Red Sox looking as bad as they look going into next season ever again. They are aging badly in a number of spots. If you are thinking wild card, could there be a better moment? But an outfield of Bay, Wells and Snider might be a hard thing to watch for 162 games. Signing Bay for 5 years would mean seeing those three in the outfield together for a long time.