Blue Jays waiting on Burnett
The Toronto Blue Jays are in a holding pattern when it comes to negotiations with free-agent pitcher A.J. Burnett. The club still hasn’t made a formal offer to Burnett, preferring to wait to see what type of contracts it’s up against.
It’s believed that the Blue Jays are prepared to offer a four-year, $54 million deal for Burnett, but that’s a deal that would easily be topped by the likes of the Yankees — one of the pitcher’s suitors.
“We’re going to let him go out and see what’s out there,” Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Toronto Star. “That’s what he wants to do – see what teams are interested, see what’s available and, at that point, come back to us and see if we’re even going to be in the ballpark.”
Ricciardi add that, if the Jays fall short in their quest to re-sign Burnett, the team might not be in the mix for any other free-agent starters. Toronto had been rumored to have interest in Brad Penny, Ryan Dempster and Derek Lowe.
“No, I don’t think there’s anything out there that we can get involved in at this point that makes any sense for us,” Ricciardi told the Star.
–JB
Major League Bastian 
I’m beginning to come around on the idea that the Jays should re-tool this offseason as GS has been stating for a while now. Especially Since the Jays don’t appear to be active in the trade market either.
What i’d like them to still try and do is dump Ryan and trade one of Overbay, Wells (as much as I like him) or Rios for something nice in return. It would be great if they can get a shortstop in return.
In 2010 the Jays will have Marcum back and that sets up for a pretty good rotation with Janssen having a full year under his belt and McGowan hopefully staying healthy.
At mininum and omitting any injuries they’ll have
Halladay, McGowan, Marcum, Litch and Purcey, with at the very least Cecil knocking on the door.
I don’t know about anyone else but I think Petrolia winning the mvp is a fixed vote. He did not deserve the award, in my opinion. He is a nice player but his numbers were ordinary. How long has it been since we’ve seen an mvp with only 83 rbi’s and 17 hr.’s. It appears all the Boston lobbying on his behalf paid dividends, pathetic.
Sort of sounds, reading between the lines, from JB’s post that if the Jays don’t sign Burnett at a reasonable price, we will see a rebuild. Well, it appears the Yanks are going to offer AJ $80 million over 5 years. I for one think they’re crazy to go 5 years with AJ turning 32 in January; but the Yanks can afford to pay him for that last two years if he crumbles. I am also somewhat surprised the offer only averages 16 mill per year. I get the feeling the Yanks believe AJ wants to play in Yankee stadium and be part of a winning team. Can’t say as I blame him.
I for one, hope he signs with the Yanks. At that level of income, I do not believe it would be a prudent signing for the Jays, because I’m of the opinion unless Rogers is prepared to throw another 35 to 45 mill into the jar, we won’t compete next year, even if we do sign him.
If I was JP, I’d be on the phone to Brian Cashman right now, trying to work out a deal to trade Wells, the Yanks are looking for an upgrade at CF and we can’t afford Vernon Wells at 23 mill per year in 2010. We could probably get something in return from the Yanks who are hungry to win if we trade now., If we don’t-mark my words-we will take a huge hit on Vernons contract and get nothing back.
I guess we have to re-tool if we want to compete in the future.Trade Wells,BJ,Overbay,Rolen,And I hate to say this Doooooo,,, Sorry can’t say it,Forget AJ.if JP TRADES FOR GOOD PROSPECTS,Not POOR ones just to make a trade,We have some good players that can help other teams so we should get some good young players back.
If JP goes this route and does a good job you won’t here me complain about him next year.
Now where is plus lol.
Garry-lol-I’ll say it
Trade Ryan and Rolen next spring after they prove they’re over injuries. Trade Wells, Overbay, Halliday, Downs, Barajas, Bautista, Scutaro and Macdonald now.
I can’t see JP rebuilding at this point . He’s got 1, 2 at the most, years left, and I’m sure he wants to take a last desperate attempt to make the playoffs. Problem is if he doesn’t have enough money to spend on AJ, he probably doesn’t have enough for Penny, Lowe or Dempster either (unless he can dump Ryan’s salary maybe). And there are other gaps, like a power DH I’m sure he wants to explore also, to try to improve the team next year.
To be honest, with the young quality pitchers they have, the rotation might not be so bad next year. Consider this possibility: Halladay, McGowan (in April), Downs, Janssen, and Litsch (Purcey, Cecil, Mills?) might not be so bad. Question is which offense is going to show up next year: 07 version or 08 version? My guess is somewhere in between and that won’t be enough (but will make for a fun season nonetheless).
I don’t think Rogers is in the mood for rebuilding as long as attendance and ratings continue to be pretty good. Rogers more interested in plastering its logo everywhere and promoting its company via Jays, as it is in winning or even in making a few bucks profit off the actual club. If the Jays were to absolutely stink for a couple of years, I don’t think that the Toronto fan base would support them very much. Less attendance and ratings means less visibility for Rogers. That being the case I think we will continue to see a similar budget structure and similar type of team being fielded year after year for some time. A team that has an outside shot, and that needs to catch some kind of lightning in a bottle to succeed in their division. And that lightning in a bottle – when things all come together at the same time, will happen. Question is, when, and will it be with this group?
you know ,maybe its time for baseball to have a salary cap!!its kinda rediculous that the yankees have so much to spend,i mean,theres 3 quality starters,and they could end up getting all 3,plus 1 or more of the big name hitters!doesn’t seem fair!!