Blue Jays Rumors

Blue Jays Agree To Sign David Dellucci

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 10, 2009 at 3:53pm CDT

ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports that the Blue Jays have agreed to sign David Dellucci. The Indians released Dellucci last Monday after he started the season hitting .275/.333/.350. He will report to Triple A and will likely be promoted to the majors soon. The Blue Jays, who obtain Dellucci for the major league minimum, will probably use him as a left fielder and DH against right-handed pitching.

The Rangers also offered Dellucci a minor league deal.

Jesse Litsch To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 9, 2009 at 4:34pm CDT

The Blue Jays have lost another starter. The AP reports that Jesse Litsch will undergo Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow. Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum is coming back from the same surgery while Dustin McGowan is recovering from shoulder surgery. Litsch hit the DL with forearm tightness after two April starts, but was expected back this month.

Last year the 24-year-old pitched to an ERA of 3.58 in 176 innings. So far in 2009 the Jays have pitched well behind Roy Halladay, as Brian Tallet, Scott Richmond, Ricky Romero, Casey Janssen and others have impressed.

No One’s Calling Toronto About Halladay

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 8, 2009 at 2:54pm CDT

Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reported yesterday that no one's calling the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay.

"We haven't gotten one call," Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said.

It's not for a lack of interest- Halladay became the first ten-game winner in the majors yesterday and he leads the AL in innings pitched and strikeout to walk ratio. He's been a top-five Cy Young finisher each of the last three years and while he makes a lot of money, he's hardly overpaid at $14.25MM this year and $15.75MM next. Ricciardi's not fielding calls, because the Jays are 32-27, just two games back of the Yankees in the AL East. Ricciardi believes the Jays need Halladay for them to win.

"We're not going to be a playoff team without Roy Halladay."

Ricciardi repeated that he does not expect to trade Halladay and plans to work on an extension with him after the season.

Dellucci Would Return To Rangers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 8, 2009 at 1:59pm CDT

According to ESPN.com's Buster Olney, the recently-released David Dellucci is interested in playing for the Texas Rangers again. He could return to Texas, where he played two seasons, if they offer him the major league minimum. The Indians are paying the rest of his salary.

The Blue Jays have also expressed interest in Dellucci, according to Olney's sources.

Draft Updates: Jays, Twins, White Sox

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 4, 2009 at 11:30am CDT

Let's take a look at what the Jays, Twins and White Sox are saying about the draft:

MLB.com's Jordan Bastian says James Paxton is an "intriguing possibility" for the Jays with their 20th pick, but says his agent, Scott Boras, probably takes the Jays "out of the mix." Drew Storen and Chad Jenkins could be options for Toronto, which has five of the first 104 picks.
As MLB.com's Kelly Thesier reports, the Twins are expected to draft a young arm with the 22nd pick in the draft.
The White Sox, who follow the Twins at 23rd overall, have five of the first 102 picks. Last year's first round pick, Gordon Beckham, is about to debut for the Sox. This time around MLB.com's Scott Merkin suggests we shouldn't be surprised if they go for a "leadoff-type athletic outfielder."

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo has all three teams taking high schoolers in his latest mock draft. He has outfielder Everett Williams going to the Jays, pitcher Matt Hobgood going to the Twins and outfielder Michael Trout going to the White Sox.

Odds And Ends: Eyre, Michael Taylor, Borkowski

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 3, 2009 at 9:52am CDT

Tonight all eyes will be on Randy Johnson as he goes for his 300th win. Here are some links to keep you going until then…

Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the Phillies are in no hurry to deal prospect Michael Taylor, who's slugging over .600 at Double A. Taylor understands that, as a corner outfielder, there's not much room for him in Philly. Could Taylor be a trade chip as the Phillies look to add pitching?
Andy Martino of the Inquirer reports that Scott Eyre says he's "more than 90 percent" sure he'll retire after this year. Eyre, 37, has pitched for five teams in 13 seasons.
Roy Halladay threw 133 pitches last night and ESPN.com's Rob Neyer hopes for Halladay's sake that it isn't the beginning of a trend though he doesn't criticize Cito Gaston's decision to let Doc pitch.
Baseball America has more minor league transactions. Dave Borkowski was released by the Astros after he was designated for assignment.
John Fay of the Cincinnati Inquirer revisits the Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez deal and asks Reds fans whether they like the deal for their team.

Rosenthal On A’s, Hart, Byrd

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 2, 2009 at 12:10pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that now is not the time for the A's to shop their veteran hitters. Here are the details and some other rumors from his column:

Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi and Orlando Cabrera have low trade value because they're hitting poorly so Rosenthal says it wouldn't make sense to trade the veterans away now. Instead, the A's could hold onto Holliday and obtain compensation picks or deal him if he keeps hitting better.
Orlando Hudson wanted to join the Mets this offseason, but he understands why Luis Castillo's manning second base for them.
Rosenthal wonders why AL teams aren't going after Jake Fox as a DH.
The two clubs that called the Brewers on the weekend to see if Milwaukee really was making Corey Hart available heard that he is not on the block.
Paul Byrd has yet to hear from anyone.
Mark Mulder could be ready to return after the All-Star Break.
Delmon Young "surfaced on the Braves' radar," but just briefly. An unnamed GM said acquiring Young would be a bad move when free agent hitters could be just as productive.
The Blue Jays are more likely to pursue a left-handed slugger than a number two starter.

No Regrets For Jays On Snider Situation

By Steve Adams | May 31, 2009 at 2:44pm CDT

It's become a trend in baseball to hold top prospects back at the beginning of the season. We've seen the Rays do this with David Price, and the same situation would have occurred with Evan Longoria had it not been for injuries on the big league club. The Orioles finally just called up Matt Wieters this weekend, and the Brewers employed this method with Ryan Braun back in 2007.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has a different outlook on the situation, and says that he has no regrets in making the decision to give Toronto's prized outfield prospect Travis Snider a shot on the big league club to start the season:

"I don't get caught up in the whole, 'Oh, we better hold this guy back, because we control him' [attitude]. I think what you want to do is take your best players and, if they have to go back down, they go back down. You can still get that time back a couple months down the road."

Snider certainly earned his way onto the club, hitting .381 while clubbing four home runs and driving in 10 runs through 22 games this Spring, but has gone into a deep slump after a hot start. In the month of May, Snider had posted a line of .213/.237/.243 and 11 strikeouts with just one walk.

Baltimore's Andy MacPhail commented on his own situation with Wieters, using Snider's struggles to support his decision to keep Wieters in the minors:

"We think Wieters is ready," MacPhail was quoted as saying in the Toronto Sun. "We don't want to be like Toronto with Snider and return the player to the Minors."

Did Ricciardi rush Snider to the Majors? What would the MLBTR readers have done in that situation, given Snider's strong Spring Training performance?

Jays Could Seek Another Bat

By Nat Boyle | May 31, 2009 at 11:54am CDT

Blue Jays beat writer Jordan Bastian chatted with J.P. Ricciardi about the trade deadline.

"While that's still two months down the road, Ricciardi did say that he'd "owe it to the players" to pursue help at the deadline if the club was still performing this well."

According to Bastian, Ricciardi isn't concerned with pitching and would seek "'another thumper' for the middle of the lineup" depending on who's available and how much ownership is willing to expand payroll.

Odds And Ends: Rangers, Brewers, O’Dowd

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | May 30, 2009 at 9:26am CDT

A few links for Saturday morning…

Nolan Ryan could buy into the Texas Rangers according to this MLB.com article by T.R. Sullivan.
ESPN.com's Buster Olney points out that the Rangers have the resources to "out-bid others for the likes of Erik Bedard" if they decide to trade for pitching help.
Brewers GM Doug Melvin said once again that he's not looking outside the organization for second base help, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Melvin said he's happy with Craig Counsell at second in the absence of Rickie Weeks.
Now that the Phillies hope to acquire an impact pitcher, Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog.com wonders whether the Mets might decide to get in the Phillies' way and go after an arm, too.
As Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe reports, the Red Sox aren't about to implement a six-man rotation. The Sox will still have arms to spare so we'll continue to hear Brad Penny's name in trade rumors.
Dave Krieger of the Denver Post says the next four months will be a "referendum" on Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd and his front office.
As MLB.com's John Schlegel reports Stephen Strasburg struck out 15 in his most recent start, walking no one and allowing two earned runs on eight hits.
Check out a discussion I had about the Jays and other MLB teams on TorontoSportsMedia.com.
Newsday's Ken Davidoff likes the Lance Broadway–Ramon Castro swap for the Mets.
Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle takes a look at Ed Wade's Kaz Matsui signing and doesn't like what he sees.

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