Baseball Blogs Weigh In: A’s, Royals, Phillies, Napoli

Six years and one day ago, Roy Halladay agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Blue Jays worth $40MM. The deal did not kick in until the 2008 season and bought out three free agent years. Halladay only pitched two of those three years in Toronto before being traded to the Phillies prior to the 2010 season. All told, the Jays paid Doc approximately $76MM for over 2,000 innings of 3.43 ERA ball. Here's the latest from around the web…

• The Todd Van Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan interviewed several members of the Athletics bullpen, including Brian Fuentes and Grant Balfour.
• El Maquino says the Royals are copying the Rays with their recent contract extensions.
• Redleg Nation is comfortable with a two or three extension for Brandon Phillips.
• Baseball Time In Arlington wrote about Mike Napoli and his lack of a contract extension.
• Baseball GMs invented some extensions for various players.
• Disciples of Uecker says the Brewers have no reason to trade Logan Schafer right now.
• Brotherly Glove makes a case for the Phillies to keep Joe Blanton.
• Phillies Nation, meanwhile, muses about a deal sending Blanton to the Angels.
• Swingin' A's wrote about Yoenis Cespedes and the Athletics' recent history of risky moves.
• AL Eastbound & Down looks at expectations for Brett Lawrie.
• SaberGM analyzed the Tigers' second base situation.
• Chicken Friars wrote about two similar players who ended up in very different places.
• Through The Fence Baseball wonders what Padres ownership is trying to tell fans.
• Sports of Boston plays the what-if game with Jacoby Ellsbury and Curtis Granderson.
• Wahoo's on First looked back at the 2007 Cleveland Indians.
• I-70 Baseball thinks Luke Hochevar may be better than we realize.
• The Eye in the Skydone wrote about Brett Cecil's missing velocity.
• The Battlin' Bucco says the Pirates should free Starling Marte.
• SB Nation Chicago previewed the Cubs season.
• Rising Apple thinks the Mets need a center fielder, specifically Matt Angle.
• Why Won't The Tigers Hire Me? looks ahead to some potential July sellers.
• 85% Sports scores Sandy Alderson's time as Mets GM.
• M.C. Antil says Mat Gamel still has a long way to go.
• Infield Shift listed the 2012 Spring Training All-Stars.
• Cleveland Indians Perspective listed the Indians' top 75 prospects.

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