Beeston: Doc "not inclined to sign with us"
Blue Jays president and CEO Paul Beeston told the New York Post that Halladay is planning on testing free agency next offseason, removing the possibility of signing an extension with Toronto. Halladay has made it no secret that he wants an opportunity to win a World Series soon.
"We would like to sign him, he is an original Blue Jay and we have never had a pitcher as good as him," Beeston told the Post. "But he is not inclined to sign with us."
On Friday, MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reported that the Blue Jays contacted the Cubs to discuss a potential trade involving Halladay. Toronto went as far as informing Chicago that it wants to trade Halladay this offseason.
When reached for comment on Friday night, Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos declined comment.
The Yankees and Dodgers are rumored to have serious interest in Halladay. The Red Sox and Phillies have been mentioned as having varying degrees of interest as well. A deal with the Cubs does not appear realistic at the moment, considering Halladay is owed $15.75 million in 2010 and Toronto has asked for a package of Chicago's top prospects.
Anthopoulos has indicated that he would not hesitate to trade one of his players within the AL East, if it made sense -- something former Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi was not willing to do while shopping Halladay last season. As a general philosophy, Anthopoulos is also willing to consider giving a team a window to negotiate an extension with a Jays player in trade talks, if it means the return is significantly greater.
--Jordan Bastian
Not like this wasn't expected, but at least it's official and out in the open now. I look forward to seeing what we can get for Doc in return. And here's hoping Doc goes to a contender and gets a chance at some post season ball!
Maybe he'll finally get the full respect he deserves playing in a big market American market.
Report any abuse or spam
May the best offer win.
Report any abuse or spam
Memo To Paul Beeston
It's well past time for The Jays to re-build the fan base which has been deteriorating for a number of years. IMO, the reason the base is deteriorating is because baseball isn't played in school, like it used to be. Baseball is no longer a sport at many schools and minor league baseball in the Province of Ontario hardly exists anymore. Kids who play become fans and so do their parents. If you want to build the fan base, you have to get kids playing baseball again.
One way to do this, is for the Jays to become seriously involved in establishing a metro league for kids baseball, and throw some reasonable resources at it.
Start different leagues for different age groups with a minimum of 10-20 teams per age group in various schools, hire some former Jays to become roving instructors (like Alomar, White, Stieb, etc. etc.), guys with names who will attract the kids to play. Maybe hire a guy like Ernie Whitt to run the entire program and other former Jays players to run each age group league.
Get current players involved on a consistent basis. Provide equipment for the kids who can't afford it, find sponsors for uniforms, etc. etc. Put some serious effort into it and make baseball, THE GAME for kids in Toronto and once established in Toronto, take the program across Southern Ontario and ultimately across Canada..
Hold tournaments with the finals being played in the Rogers Center and winners being introduced to Jays fans, I mean really get involved and develop the fan base. Forget about some of the stale, old baseball promotions like bubble heads, etc., etc. and spend some of your marketing funds really building a long term fan base.
Report any abuse or spam
now there is one of the best ideas I ever seen posted on this site, hopefully the powers to be read this and start it asap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report any abuse or spam
My Least Valuable Players and other 2009 'anti-award' winners.-Joe Posnanski>INSIDE BASEBALL
Vernon Wells wins the 2009 LVP Award. You know, Wells was a good player in 2008 and he was a good player in 2006 so perhaps he's going to have the even-odd thing that Bret Saberhagen had going for a while.
But in 2009, he was brutal. He posted an 88 OPS+ which is bad enough, but it was only that good because he had a good last three weeks. He was hitting .247/.300/.389 on Sept. 5.
And he was entirely unplayable in center field the whole year. He was a remarkable minus-30 defender on the John Dewan plus/minus and an equally horrific minus-18.2 UZR. I don't think it was quite as bad a year as Betancourt's, but I do think it's more or less a toss-up. I like Cocoa Pebbles more than Cocoa Krispies, but they are close enough.
But, if the MVP involves intangibles, well, the LVP must have them too. And what puts Wells over the top is that he is due to make $12.5 million next year, $23 million the next year, $21 million the next year, $21 million the year after that AND $21 million more the year after that. I mean you want to talk about looking into the abyss, well, here it is.
Sure, you might argue that the LVP should be a pure, "Worst player" award, but I don't think so. The Royals could release Betancourt tomorrow or during spring training or mid-season or whenever and it would not kill them financially. They won't release him because they think he's good. But they could. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are BURIED under mounds and mounds of Wellsian Debt.
You would have to think that he's done as a center fielder, but he certainly could become a viable hitter again (though he turns 31 in December and that's older than most baseball people want to accept). But with about $100 million due in the next five years, whew...
R
Report any abuse or spam
Anyone looking to find financial information on various teams can find it at this site: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/20/baseball-values-09_all_slide_2.html
Report any abuse or spam