The Winter Meetings start tomorrow in Indianapolis. The Jays have 3 large holes to fill and the most talked about trade piece in the game. Their needs, not that they are a secret:
- Catcher: they have decided they don't want to go with JP Arencibia and Raul Chavez. I know JP didn't have a very good year last year in Vegas but I'm not against the idea of throwing him against the wall and seeing if he sticks. Let's face it, last year Rod Barajas got on base at a .258 clip, it's not like the bar is all that high. I'd bet a buck 50 that Mr. Cibia would would match Rod's .403 slugging average from last year. But it looks like they want to pickup someone else, which is fine too.
- Outfield: the idea of a Lind, Wells, Snider outfield doesn't sit well with those of us that like to see balls caught. The team is talking about a right fielder, I'd hope they get someone that could leadoff as we don't seem to have a leadoff hitter on the roster. I still like the idea of a CFer and move Wells over. We'll see I guess.
- Starting Pitcher: Without Doc we'd have roughly 15 young good arms but it would be good to have someone at the top of the rotation that could eat up innings.
Will all these things happen this week. Oh, I'd doubt it. My read on things is that the Roy Halladay deal will happen before anything else, unless some deal comes up for Lyle Overbay. Can we fill all three holes trading Halladay? I doubt it somehow. The closest would likely be if we got Hughes, Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero, which would be an amazing trade, but I think we'd still need a catcher for this coming year. I'd expect they'd want Montero to have a season in Triple-A before moving up to the bigs. Apparently the Yankees do want Roy.
I think the only way we get a package like that is if we get the Red Sox and the bidding against each other. Best chance of that happening is this week while they all are in a hotel together.
Anyway. what do you think will happen this week?