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Friday Bantering: trade rumors and Roy Halladay job hunting (or is that hinting)

By Tom Dakers
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

Some links for a Friday:

Jon Heyman tells us that the Blue Jays are more focused on finding another starting pitcher than another reliever:

Papelbon is said to have talked hopefully of a trade to Toronto in recent days. But word is, despite Papelbon's sterling 1.01 ERA and the Jays' apparent need, the Jays are more focused on a starter and turned off by Papelbon's $13-million vesting option for next year. The Jays are also apparently insistent on the Phillies significantly paying down the money left while declining to offer much in the way of prospect value.

I'm all for not offering much in the way of prospects for Papelbon. If we can get him cheap, great, if we can't, I can live without him.

Dan Szymborski, at ESPN, has a list of 25 best pitchers under 25, and there are 3 Blue Jays on the list. Aaron Sanchez is number 22, Daniel Norris #16 and Marcus Stroman #8. About Sanchez he said:

Five years out from high school now, Sanchez still remains a work in progress. All of Sanchez's pitches share the same filthy, late movement, and he's already a favorite of those making baseball GIFs. But his command over his pitches remains sporadic and unless you're facing a lineup of full of Jeff Francoeurs due to a mad scientific experiment in human cloning, that's an issue of real concern. Still, Sanchez's upside is crazy.

That's pretty fair.

Shi Davidi asked R.A. Dickey what last night's conversation with home plate umpire Mark Wegner was about:

"It depends on the guy, sometimes it's an unwritten rule where if the catcher doesn't catch it, it looks badly on the umpire if he calls it a strike," said Dickey. "It's one of those baseball etiquette things that a lot of guys don't care about, if it's a strike it's a strike, regardless of if it goes off his facemask or not. But [Wegner] admitted that he probably missed it, and that he would try to lock in, and that's all you can hope for. He was very professional about it."

If an umpire won't call a strike because the catcher missed it, isn't he saying that he really isn't doing his job? It is nice that admitted that he missed that particular pitch.

I think he missed more than that one call:

RA zone

Jerry Crasnick, at ESPN, has a nice profile about Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson. I'll admit, I'm not big on the leadership thing. A team wins and you said their best player is a leader, a team doesn't win and you say the best player isn't a leader. Isn't it more likely that a team wins because it is good and a team doesn't win because it is isn't good?

Do you think we might have an opening:

Minor Leaguer has a question for you:

To be filed under "no surprise":

Tonight's Lineup, no Martin, I wonder if he is nursing an injury of some sort:

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