Newf
12-07-2009, 01:44 AM
from tsn.ca
Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will be a busy man when baseball's Winter Meetings officially begin in Indianapolis on Monday.
At the top of his list (and the lists of many people who follow the Jays) will be the question of whether Anthopoulos can work out a deal for pitcher Roy Halladay, who only has one year left on his contract and doesn't seem to want to re-sign with the club.
There has been plenty of interest in Halladay, as there should be. The 32-year old went 17-10 last season with a 2.79 ERA. He threw a league-leading nine complete games and racked up an impressive 239 innings pitched.
Halladay has a 148-76 career record with a 3.43 ERA. He won the American League Cy Young award in 2003 and has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting four other times.
Any deal that the Jays might complete for ‘Doc' would fill some holes not only on the Major League roster but also in their farm system that Baseball America recently ranked as the third worst in all of baseball.
While Halladay would be the biggest domino to fall, it's not like Anthopoulos doesn't have other items to attend to.
Here are some other positions that that the Jays will look at:
Catcher: The Jays have offered Rod Barajas arbitration and they seem fully prepared for him to leave via free agency. J.P. Arencibia, who is the organization's top catching prospect, had a tough season with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s in 2009, hitting .236 with a .284 on-base percentage in 466 at-bats. While the soon-to-be 24-year-old clubbed 21 home runs, he posted an over-4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
With Arencibia not yet ready to take over the full-time job this season, the Jays have been linked to the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chris Snyder and the Pirates' Ryan Doumit, and while they still haven't made a deal, it's clearly on their minds.
Shortstop: Despite re-signing John MacDonald and Alex Gonzalez in less than a 24-hour period recently, the Jays are clearly looking for a long-term solution for the middle part of the left side of their infield.
Corner Outfielder: If the season were to begin right now, the Jays would be looking at an outfield of Vernon Wells in centre along with two of Travis Snider, Adam Lind or Jose Bautista manning the corners.
Lind doesn't seem to be an option in the outfield long-term, as the 26-year old played 95 games last season at designated hitter, and there has already been some talk this off-season that the club would like to shift him to first base.
Pitching: This is sort of obvious. Regardless of whether you're the World Champion New York Yankees or the MLB doormat Washington Nationals, teams are always looking at having arms, and the Jays are no different.
While Toronto hopes that a Halladay deal will go a long way to fill some of their needs, Anthopoulos has said that he is also willing to build his team through trades.
Below is a list of players that the Jays could look to move:
Lyle Overbay: The first baseman, who will turn 33 in January, hit .265 with 16 home runs and a .372 on-base percentage in 2009, but was routinely given a seat on the bench when opposing teams started left-handed pitchers.
As mentioned before, the Jays would love to move Overbay – who was reportedly going to Arizona in the Snyder trade that fell through – to make room at first for Lind.
Overbay is in the final year of his contract that will see him make $7 million in 2010. In this economic climate, that might be a lot for many teams to take on, unless the Jays are getting close to that amount of money back, or are willing to eat some contract.
Edwin Encarnacion: The third baseman was acquired in the Scott Rolen deal but already this off-season, the Jays were reportedly interested in bringing in Brandon Phillips to play third if the Reds shopped him. While nothing came of that particular rumour, it seems to say that if the Jays could drop his one-year, $4.75 million contract, they would be more than happy to do so.
Scott Downs: While the left-handed closer's name hasn't really been thrown around in rumours, he could have value even though the relief pitching market is flooded with players if the Jays were to make him available.
In 2009, Downs had a 1-3 record with nine saves. In 46 innings he struck out 43 hitters while only walking 13. He posted a solid 3.09 ERA. Downs is entering the final year of his contract and will be paid $4 million in 2010. Jason Frasor performed well as the closer when Downs was injured, which is another reason why Downs could be on the market.
Jeremy Accardo: I'm not sure what the market would be, but the way the club handled him last season, it appears that he's fallen out of favour with the organization.
After he saved 30 games in 2007 and posted a 2.14 ERA, Accardo blew out his arm in May of 2008 and underwent surgery. He was ready to return in 2009 but was sent to start the season in Triple-A where he stayed for most of the season, despite posting good numbers in Las Vegas.
He's arbitration eligible and he likely won't make a ton of money next season. Accardo has a track record that teams might find appealing, and if the Jays are unwilling to let him pitch for whatever reason, they might as well maximize Accardo's value by dealing him away.
It's unclear what moves, if any, Anthopoulos will be able to make at the Winter Meetings, but the young Jays GM looks like he could be the centre of attention.
Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will be a busy man when baseball's Winter Meetings officially begin in Indianapolis on Monday.
At the top of his list (and the lists of many people who follow the Jays) will be the question of whether Anthopoulos can work out a deal for pitcher Roy Halladay, who only has one year left on his contract and doesn't seem to want to re-sign with the club.
There has been plenty of interest in Halladay, as there should be. The 32-year old went 17-10 last season with a 2.79 ERA. He threw a league-leading nine complete games and racked up an impressive 239 innings pitched.
Halladay has a 148-76 career record with a 3.43 ERA. He won the American League Cy Young award in 2003 and has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting four other times.
Any deal that the Jays might complete for ‘Doc' would fill some holes not only on the Major League roster but also in their farm system that Baseball America recently ranked as the third worst in all of baseball.
While Halladay would be the biggest domino to fall, it's not like Anthopoulos doesn't have other items to attend to.
Here are some other positions that that the Jays will look at:
Catcher: The Jays have offered Rod Barajas arbitration and they seem fully prepared for him to leave via free agency. J.P. Arencibia, who is the organization's top catching prospect, had a tough season with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s in 2009, hitting .236 with a .284 on-base percentage in 466 at-bats. While the soon-to-be 24-year-old clubbed 21 home runs, he posted an over-4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
With Arencibia not yet ready to take over the full-time job this season, the Jays have been linked to the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chris Snyder and the Pirates' Ryan Doumit, and while they still haven't made a deal, it's clearly on their minds.
Shortstop: Despite re-signing John MacDonald and Alex Gonzalez in less than a 24-hour period recently, the Jays are clearly looking for a long-term solution for the middle part of the left side of their infield.
Corner Outfielder: If the season were to begin right now, the Jays would be looking at an outfield of Vernon Wells in centre along with two of Travis Snider, Adam Lind or Jose Bautista manning the corners.
Lind doesn't seem to be an option in the outfield long-term, as the 26-year old played 95 games last season at designated hitter, and there has already been some talk this off-season that the club would like to shift him to first base.
Pitching: This is sort of obvious. Regardless of whether you're the World Champion New York Yankees or the MLB doormat Washington Nationals, teams are always looking at having arms, and the Jays are no different.
While Toronto hopes that a Halladay deal will go a long way to fill some of their needs, Anthopoulos has said that he is also willing to build his team through trades.
Below is a list of players that the Jays could look to move:
Lyle Overbay: The first baseman, who will turn 33 in January, hit .265 with 16 home runs and a .372 on-base percentage in 2009, but was routinely given a seat on the bench when opposing teams started left-handed pitchers.
As mentioned before, the Jays would love to move Overbay – who was reportedly going to Arizona in the Snyder trade that fell through – to make room at first for Lind.
Overbay is in the final year of his contract that will see him make $7 million in 2010. In this economic climate, that might be a lot for many teams to take on, unless the Jays are getting close to that amount of money back, or are willing to eat some contract.
Edwin Encarnacion: The third baseman was acquired in the Scott Rolen deal but already this off-season, the Jays were reportedly interested in bringing in Brandon Phillips to play third if the Reds shopped him. While nothing came of that particular rumour, it seems to say that if the Jays could drop his one-year, $4.75 million contract, they would be more than happy to do so.
Scott Downs: While the left-handed closer's name hasn't really been thrown around in rumours, he could have value even though the relief pitching market is flooded with players if the Jays were to make him available.
In 2009, Downs had a 1-3 record with nine saves. In 46 innings he struck out 43 hitters while only walking 13. He posted a solid 3.09 ERA. Downs is entering the final year of his contract and will be paid $4 million in 2010. Jason Frasor performed well as the closer when Downs was injured, which is another reason why Downs could be on the market.
Jeremy Accardo: I'm not sure what the market would be, but the way the club handled him last season, it appears that he's fallen out of favour with the organization.
After he saved 30 games in 2007 and posted a 2.14 ERA, Accardo blew out his arm in May of 2008 and underwent surgery. He was ready to return in 2009 but was sent to start the season in Triple-A where he stayed for most of the season, despite posting good numbers in Las Vegas.
He's arbitration eligible and he likely won't make a ton of money next season. Accardo has a track record that teams might find appealing, and if the Jays are unwilling to let him pitch for whatever reason, they might as well maximize Accardo's value by dealing him away.
It's unclear what moves, if any, Anthopoulos will be able to make at the Winter Meetings, but the young Jays GM looks like he could be the centre of attention.