Buzz: The Blue Jays, Rios and Halladay
Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com quoted Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi as saying, though his team is not necessarily shopping RHP Roy Halladay, he is open to listening to offers.
According to Ken Davidoff in Newsday, who talked with Ricciardi, “Halladay is signed through next year, and there’s very little 
chance that he’ll stick with the Jays after that. Toronto is not going to make the playoffs this year. So, he’ll listen to offers.”
…in other words, i bet j.p.’s phone has not stopped ringing in the last 24 hours…
Yesterday, in a poll on MetsBlog.com, 54 percent of people who voted said they would trade Fernando Martinez, Wilmer Flores and Brad Holt for Halladay.
Davidoff expects the Mets and Yankees to engage the Jays regarding Halladay, though he believes there is little chance of either team making such an acquisition.
That said, last week, in a report for the Globe and Mail of Toronto, Jeff Blair said the Jays will essentially give away Alex Rios or Vernon Wells, so long as it saves them money to help re-sign Halladay.
The 28–year-old Rios is hitting .260 with 10 HR, and ended the last two seasons hitting roughly .290, with around 15 stolen bases, 15 HR, 80 RBI and 40 doubles.
…i have to think, if the Jays trade Halladay, they’ll just end up keeping rios, since the whole reason behind trading rios would be to help keep Halladay… that said, like several people e-mailed me saying yesterday, i wonder if the Mets would be more able to acquire Halladay if they were also willing to take on the five-year, $60 million left on rios’s contract… or, does that defeat the point for ricciardi…
By the way, according to Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies have already been in contact with the Blue Jays.
