Bob Elliot, not quite a Hall of Famer for the second year in a row, (which is really too bad, I thought he'd have it this year) comes through with an actual rumor of an offer from the Angels for Roy Halladay. The offer is lefty pitcher Joe Saunders, shortstop Erick Aybar and center fielder Peter Bourjos. You can click on their names to get more information about each, but here is a little:
- Aybar is 26, hit .312/.353/.423 last year with 5 homers and 14 steals, though he was caught 7 times so his base stealing was kind of a break even thing. He had a UZR/150 of 7.6 so he's decent defensively. His WAR value was 3.8, he's just coming up to his prime years and he has 3 seasons left before he can be a free agent. He'd fill the leadoff role for the team too.
- Saunders is 28 and had a 16-7 record and a 4.60 ERA in 2009 after a 17-6 and 3.41 ERA in 2008. He doesn't strike out many, 4.9/ 9 last year, so I'd be worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up that win/loss record, but he's been a good pitcher up till now. He has three more seasons before he can become a free agent.
- Peter Bourjos is 23 and played Double-A ball last year. He hit .281/.354/.423 in Arkansas last year. He stole 32 bases last year, and 50 the year before. He has a good reputation for defense and would allow the Jays to mover Vernon Wells to a corner spot in the outfield.
The deal would give us a surplus of shortstops but Alex Gonzalez' contract isn't a bad one, I'm sure Alex could find a deal out there so him somewhere. I think I'd rather have Jesus Montero, as I think he could be a terrific batter, but I'm not sure the Yankees would part with him. We could do a lot worse than this deal.
I am guessing that this deal isn't that close to happening, Jordan Bastian has twittered that Alex Anthopoulos said that a deal is unlikely to happen during the meetings, but if the deal is on the table that's a good thing.