Yeah unfortunately the Blue Jays had to make this move, because the longer the season went the less they were going to get for Halladay and there is no way he was re-signing in Toronto at the end of the season to play a game of let’s try and overtake Tampa Bay to finish 3rd and out of the playoffs for the rest of his career.

In terms of the Phillies though, while they definitely got the best pitcher in baseball, I don’t really see how this changes their situation much from having Cliff Lee at the top of the rotation. Remember Cliff won both of their World Series games. The biggest problem with them is rotation depth and not that they lacked a true No. 1. Maybe Hamels gets back his mental edge, but I wouldn’t be willing to bet everything I had on it.

I think the real winner here has got to be the Mariners with the offseason they are having. You put Cliff Lee at No. 2 behind King Felix and they added Figgins (that could go either way) and are still in the market for players. Got to like their chances of finally overtaking the Angels especially after they lost Lackey to Boston.

Definitely have to love the way the Mariners look for 2010 after his trade. I’m thinking of doing a little blog post about the winners so far in the off-season, and I’d have to think the Mariners will be near the top of the pack.

The Phillies get the small improvement from Halladay in 2010, but for them, it’s much more about having an ace they’ll be sure they can keep after 2010 at a reasonable rate. When they heard Lee wanted Sabathia money, it made sense for them not to look at Lee as their long-term ace.

Yeah, the Yankees will absolutely be on that list too. I love the Granderson trade for them, he’s going to do incredible as a power-lefty in that lineup, plus all the speed he brings. Jackson’s absolutely ceiling may not be where Granderson is now, so giving him up should be well worth it.

In recent years I think the Jays definitely could have done great in most divisions outside of the AL East really. Maybe not in 2009, and certainly not ahead in 2010, but I think in 2006-2008, they’d have been right up at the top in a lot of divisions around baseball. They really put together some underrated teams, and managed to be winning around 86 games or so each of those years in the AL East, so who knows what they’d have done in say the AL Central or NL Central or West.

And hey, Halladay pitched a 1-hitter against the Yankees at the beginning of September!

The 2010 Toronto Blue Jays are looking like a sure thing for last place in the AL Central. Baltimore has been improving with leaps and bounds by signing Millwood and Atkins and the team is also showing interest in free agent Matt Holliday. This is more than I can say for the Blue Jays; the Jays did well in the trade with Roy going to the Philly’s, but this trade will not factor into the 2010 season. Their rotation is going to made up of injury recovering, third spot in the rotation pitchers, a sophomore who had a good 2009 season, and other “shaky” at-best arms. The Jay’s lack a true closer, a lead off hitter, and a fifth hitter to protect Adam Lind (if they bat him in the fourth spot). These are crucial positions to win ball games, and place a lot of pressure on Lind and Hill, something that the Jay’s franchise may want to think twice about burdening their young superstars with.

A few suggestions from an outside eye:

a) Move Lind to first base (unless he is absolutely treble at fielding ground balls) Lind is a left handed, young, power hitter, who wants to stay with the organization, this will prolong his career and allow the team to have a legitimate first base man. Why not?

b) Sign a DH, a 1 or 2 year bandage (Delgado or Thome) someone who can hit the long ball and take some pressure off of Lind and Hill offensively.

c) Bring in a veteran arm, an inning eater with a positive attitude (Eric Bedard) for example.

d) And if you really want to prove to the Jay’s fans that you are trying to compete, sign another outfielder, Xavier Nady, a guy who has the ability to hit 300.

And if the Jay’s can not at least try to accomplish some of the above tasks, don’t even think about raising ticket prices!!!!

Warmest regards,

A Huge Jay’s fan who is extremely disappointed with the efforts of the franchise to compete in the AL East!

If I were the Jays I would probably go after a guy like Ben Sheets. He’s not great and has pitched in the NL his entire career, but he’s a solid pitcher in the rotation and you know what you’re getting with him.

I can see the Jays being interested in Carlos Delgado. It’d be something to get the fans attention in what will otherwise be a dull season for casual fans. An innings-eating starter would help too, to take some pressure off the young arms, but they may be happy enough just to use Brian Tallet in a swingman role to do that.

I think the Jays top priorities are, and should be, adding to their new young core. They’ve got the makings of a devestating middle-of-the-lineup in a few years, with Lind, Hill, Snider and Wallace, plus hopefully some better output from Vernon Wells and the emergence of one of their catchers, Arencibia or D’Arnaud. The key to be should be adding to this core, and dealing guys like Overbay, Frasor, Downs and Encarnacion – all of which likely won’t be with the team to help when they’re ready to compete in 2012 or 2013 – or perhaps some of their excess starting pitching to land some good shortstop and center-field prospects, as these will remain holes down the road. Guys like OF Peter Bourjos from LAA and SS Reid Brignac from Tampa might all be targets, as they have big upsides, but also may be expendable by their current teams. If the Jays could add those parts somehow, which doesn’t seem impossible to me, they’d have the makings of a great team in a few years.