Blue Jays rumors: Yovani Gallardo

It has been a slow winter for Blue Jays rumors. I thought Alex kept a lid on rumors, but Shapiro and Atkins are masters of the art. But there is this:

#BlueJays have shown interest in Yovani Gallardo throughout free agency per source. Sides in contact this week.

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) January 14, 2016

Mark Shapiro said (on Bob McCown's show) that Gallardo was 'the kind of guy that would make us better.' And said they did have the 'flexibility' to get enough money to sign him. Flexibility being a synonym for cash is one of those 'only in the baseball world' things.

I have my doubts that it could happen, but I wouldn't complain. He's been over 180 innings a season for the last 7 years. But then his strikeout numbers have dropped each of the last 3 year, going from 9.0 to 7.2 to 6.8 to 5.9 strikeouts per 9 innings. He ready needs to stop that trend, but he's been able to keep his ERA down. The last year two season's he's had ERA's of 3.51 and 3.42 and FIP's of 3.94 and 4.00. He's had at least 30 starts a year for the past 7 years.

The Jays would have to give up a draft pick to sign him. Our minor league system is pretty bare of real prospects, after the deadline trades. I would have thought Shapiro would want every draft pick he could get.

MLB Trade Rumors, back in November,  figured that Gallardo would 4 years and $52 million. I'd think that, if we are giving up a draft pick, we should give him 4 years. Gallardo turns 30 next month. 4 years would get him up to age 33.

Let's have a poll.