Today's Roy Halladay rumors are more a rehash of what's gone on the last week. Tom Verducci at SI.com says that the Phillies badly want Doc.
"They've been very aggressive," one baseball source said about the Phillies' pursuit of Halladay. "They're putting together a package, even if they need another team. They're trying to find the players [on other teams] the Blue Jays want to get it done."
I think they could make the trade tomorrow is they offered Drabek, Taylor and Brown. But there isn't much incentive to do that yet. Why blow other offers out of the water when you don't know if there has been other offers.
The LA Times talks about the Angel's interest in Doc:
There were reports late Wednesday night that the Angels offered pitcher Joe Saunders, shortstop Erick Aybar and top outfield prospect Peter Bourjos to the Blue Jays for Halladay.
But at least two sources familiar with the Angels' thinking shot down that rumor.
The trouble is every team has 'sources' that will shoot down every rumor. Some sources will just want to mess with reporters and others will want to make it look like the team isn't as interested in a trade as they are, hoping to be in position for a better deal.
The Blue Jays have targeted Saunders, catcher Mike Napoli and Bourjos, among others.
Reagins said it's "possible" a deal for Halladay could be expanded to include other Blue Jays coming to Anaheim.
"We've talked about a lot of things," Reagins said of his discussions with Toronto. "They have a lot of pieces that are attractive."
I don't know why the Jays would 'target' Saunders, in particular. Angels have better young pitchers.
I wonder who the other 'attractive' pieces the Angels are talking about?
Over at Sportsnet, it sounds like the TV booth makeover won't end with Buck Martinez:
Sportsnet's three-headed team of analysts – Pat Tabler, Rance Mulliniks and Darrin Fletcher – are without contracts, and don't be surprised if some or all don't get new ones.
It would be nice if they would settle on one guy. Alan Ashby is great on the radio, I'd be happy if they picked him. Though perhaps any of the three they have would improve with Bucks help. I often thought that Jamie didn't seem to have the skill to keep the color guy in line. Sometimes Rance would have a good point but then would drive it into the ground going on and on about it, I would think Buck would be smarter better at it. Maybe Rance and the others felt with Jamie they had to fill more air with talk.
But then I wouldn't mind if they brought in someone more experienced.
Richard Griffin at the Star has a piece about Alex Anthopoulos' performance at his first winter meeting:
It came immediately following the Rule 5 draft Thursday morning, the one rookie Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos skipped to catch an earlier flight home. His former boss, Omar Minaya, asked how the kid was doing.
Given an uncertain answer, the former Expos GM, now with the Mets laughed. "He's going to be alright," he said. "He's a good kid, he just has to learn to slow down."
I'm getting that feeling myself, that he is going to have to take a breath every now and then and relax. Beyond that, I get a bad feeling when other baseball people call our GM a kid.
Griffin compares Alex and JP:
However, in terms of solid information, there's no comparison. Whenever the former GM did make himself available, J.P. was glib and quotable, always with an opinion on what else was going on, especially in the big picture.
At least once per day, Ricciardi would toss a bone to the media wolfpack that could be used as barter in the ever-voracious press room. We miss him for that.
There is no doubt, Anthopoulos will find his own level. Right now he's trying his best to be the anti-J.P., especially in the wake of the media circus around the Roy Halladay trade deadline.
Alex, when I've heard him interviewed, seems like he wants to fill time without saying anything much. Sort of like a politician that wants to take up time so no more questions can be asked, while not saying anything of substance. You hear a bunch of buzz words with nothing that you can point to as information. But Griffin's likely right, he'll figure out how to talk to the press.
I like reading Griffin a lot more when he's not spending all his time trying to get someone fired.