Jake Peavy
Rumors

Yesterday brought word that the Blue Jays are willing to listen to offers for ace Roy Halladay. Today there's plenty of reaction and speculation.  Let's take a look.

• An intial report has the Phillies as the "leaders" for Halladay, but that is likely only based on their obvious interest in acquiring a pitcher...any pitcher.  What can the Phillies really offer the Blue Jays?  Shortstop Jason Donald is considered their best prospect and after that they have a few 50-100 range ranked prospects, but not the haul that the Jays are likely looking for.
• Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated notes that the Jays were interested in Donald last year. 
• Heyman speculates about how impressive the Giants roster would be if Halladay were added.  That would give them four former Cy Young award winners AND Matt Cain.  Certainly Barry Zito and Randy Johnson are not the same pitchers, but they're pretty good for #4 and #5 pitchers. 
• While the White Sox would not trade Gordon Beckham for Jake Peavy Heyman says they'd consider moving the prospect for Halladay.  I don't entirely understand this unless they actually like that Halladay is only signed through 2010 while Peavy is under contract through 2013.
• The Cardinals seem unlikely to have the prospects to get a trade for Halladay done.
• Phillies general manager Rubin Amaro Jr. said that the Phillies do have the financial flexibility to add an ace pitcher like Halladay. 
• Joel Sherman of The New York Post confirms the sentiment that the Phillies are in the lead for Halladay and notes that the Rangers and Cardinals could be players as well (as we indicated yesterday).  
• In his discussion with Sherman Blue Jays general manager JP Riccardi noted that discussions with other teams has been very preliminary and while they're always interested in teams' best prospect, if they got a shortstop out of the deal, that would be preferable.  However, Halladay does have a no trade clause and has already provided Riccardi with a list of teams that he is not interested in playing for.  The Jays are able to afford Halladay for 2010 if they need to, so Riccardi is trying to give the impression that they are not desperate to move their star pitcher.  He does not, however, think they'd be able to resign him after 2010. 
• Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has given no indication that the team is interested in acquiring Halladay.  That's a bit of a misnomer.  I'm sure they're very interested, but just not for the price tag that it will realistically take to get him.
• Lyle Weber of mlb.com throws out major leaguers Erick Aybar, Joe Saunders or Ervin Santana and minor leaguers Brandon Wood, Sean O'Sullivan and Jordan Walden as possible pieces to group together in a package offer for Halladay.  It seems unlikely that the Jays would be interested in Aybar or Saunders, but Santana could get their attention along with Wood.

Toronto general manager JP Riccardi has said that he is willing to listen to offers for Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay. The impetus for such an openness to trading a pitcher like Halladay is due to the Blue Jays struggles this season (a respectable 43-41, but fourth place and seven games back in the AL East) along with the remainder of the $14.25M that Halladay is owed for 2009 and the $15.75M that he is due for 2010. Halladay does have a full no trade clause, but unless he takes a Jake Peavy-like approach, it seems unlikely he'd restrict a trade.

The more interesting question is what it would really take to pry Halladay away from the Blue Jays. Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins? Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury from the Red Sox? In reality, neither team would do a deal such as that, but the example illustrates just how talented Halladay can be. It seems unlikely that the Blue Jays would settle for what the Twins got in return for Johan Santana, the only other pitcher who really fits in Halladay's class in terms of effectiveness and consistency. What would the Blue Jays need to let Halladay go?

The American League seems like an unlikely destination for Halladay. The Blue Jays are probably hesitant to trade him within the AL East (it wouldn't really help that fourth place standing) and no team in the AL Central requires the kind of firepower Halladay brings to win the division. The only reasonable destination in the American League would be Texas. They certainly have the talent within their farm system to get Halladay and a player of his talent level may be the only type of player the Rangers would be willing to part with some of their top prospects.

The NL East is similar to the AL Central in that it's anyone's division to win (save the Nationals). The Phillies would love to add Halladay (or anyone else who can throw above 88), but lack much in their farm system to acquire him. Florida certainly has the talent to interest the Blue Jays as mentioned above, but probably is not interested in adding payroll. The Cardinals seem like a possibility with respect to adding payroll and have some prospects the Blue Jays could be interested in.

Buster Olney of espn.com gave us updates today about the various pitchers that are available and the teams going after them in his latest post.

The most obvious player is the Phillies who were looking for pitching at the start of the month when Chan Ho Park and Jaime Moyer were not pitching well.  Now that Brett Myers needs hip surgery (is this anecdotal, or are we seeing more hip surgeries recently?  Chase Utley, Mike Lowell, A-Rod and now Myers...) the Phillies border on desperate. 

Pedro Martinez doesn't seem to make much sense for Citizens Bank Ballpark and he'd like tax an already overworked bullpen with five and six inning starts. Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt are options, but both the Padres and Astros are expected to ask for significant compensation something the Phillies might not be able to afford.  Erik Bedard is another option, but the Mariners gave us so much (Adam Jones and Chris Tillman) they may try to ask for something similar in return which might not be worth it. 

That leaves the most logical option and the one that has been frequently mentioned already: Brad Penny of the Red Sox.  Boston is a good match for the Phillies because they're rumored to be interested in shortstop Jason Donald.  The Red Sox have been rumored to be interested in Jack Wilson as well becuase of the difficulty they've had at shortstop this year, but Donald may be more appealing.

Jayson Stark has a new column up on espn.com with a number of good rumors in it.

• The Padres are still interested in trading Jake Peavy despite their recent success. Clearly they don't believe they can sustain it. As far as Peavy is concerned the pecking order of teams he'd accept a trade to is: Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Cardinals and Astros. Everyone is familiar with the Cubs attempts to get Peavy and word is that the Padres are reluctant to trade within their division, removing the Dodgers and giants. Peavy's friend, Roy Oswalt, has done his best to entice management to make a trade, but Peavy's hefty contract is keeping the Astros away.
• Speaking of Oswalt, a few scouts who Stark talked to said that he had "lost his edge" and could probably benefit from a change in scenery. Rumor has it that the Phillies have already inquired to Oswalt's availability.
• Philadelphia's interest/need for a pitcher is well known. Earlier in the week there were rumors that the Phillies were interested in Brad Penny of the Red Sox. Stark reports that they've also had some inquiry into the following guys: Oswalt, Peavy, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Doug Davis, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Penny, Chris Young and Jason Marquis.
• If and when the Phillies do acquire a pitcher, they'll likely have to give up one of the following prospects whom clubs are rumored to be interested: "Lou Marson, infielder Jason Donald and pitcher Carlos Carrasco -- plus catcher Travis D'Arnaud, shortstop Freddy Galvis, pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Dominic Brown."
• The Braves want to take Mark DeRosa off the Indians hands, but seem unlikely to trade some of their young starting pitching to do so.
• Rumors about Jeff Francoeur's availability and who's interested in him are all over the map, but Stark reports that the Braves are "mostly listening" at this point.
• The Mets do not appear to interested in a quick trade to replace Carlos Delgado at first.
• Jonathan Sanchez is available from the Giants...for the right bat. They've already inquired, unsuccessfully, to obtain Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and Carlos Lee.

Jon Heyman of si.com has a new post up

• Heyman opines that the Padres could get more for Adrian Gonzalez right now than the Rangers did for Mark Teixeira did two years ago. That's quite a claim, but perhaps all in vain: Padres general manager Kevin Towers when asked about trading A-Gone, "Not at this point in time." The impetus for such a suggestion is to continue to rebuild a club that has already been decimated by ownerships mandate to lower payroll.
• Towers is, however, continuing to look for a home for Jake Peavy. However, Towers is still looking for a suitor. The Cubs do not seem very interested. The Dodgers would love him, but the Padres do not want to trade within the division. The Brewers might not have the young arms the Padres are looking for or the willingness to take on the $60M owed to Peavy.
• Apparently the Angels offer to CC Sabathia last winter was $141M which makes the Yankees $161M offer more reasonable.

Peter Gammons of espn.com broke down the early trade market in his latest column.

• The Nationals will likely try to move Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns and are looking for bullpen help.
• Nick Johnson for Manny Delcarmen was floated between the Nats and Red Sox, but Boston wants to wait and watch David Ortiz's progression.
• Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee are not available according to Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, though he did field one inquiry about Martinez which he quickly declined.
• With Jhonny Peralta moving to third base, that opens up the possibility to trade Mark DeRosa Shapiro conceded.
• The Cardinals tried to entice the Red Sox with Khalil Greene, but Boston wasn't interested.
• The As and Padres face dilemmas when it comes to trading their superstars, Matt Holliday and Jake Peavy, respectively. Holliday is a rent-a-player and Peavy's huge contract makes him difficult to trade. But, more than anything, Gammons cites the differences in the Rangers trading Mark Teixeira with 1.5 years left vs. when the Braves traded him with just 3 months left. The haul brought in by the Rangers was significantly greater. If the As and Padres wait too long, they may not get much at all.

Jake Peavy has enacted his no trade clause and rejected a deal that would have sent him to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for four players. "As of right now, this is the best place for us to be. We made that decision for the time being," Peavy said before Thursday night's game against San Francisco. The deal would have sent Peavy to Chicago and prospects Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda and two other prospects to San Diego.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that he would not have gone to the White Sox either.

For a recap of Peavy's press conference, click here.

White Sox general manager Kenny Williams is undeterred by Peavy's rejection and says that the club will continue to compete to win a championship.

11:23 PM: Corey Brock and Scott Merkin of mlb.com are reporting that top prospect pitcher Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard are part of the deal.

Jake Peavy, the subject of countless trade rumors over the winter, has finally been traded to Chicago...but the White Sox, not the Cubs as was long thought. While the five player trade has been agreed upon by the Padres and White Sox, Peavy has a full no-trade clause and must approve the deal.

Jon Heyman of si.com confirms the deal.

Peavy reportedly met with Padres manager Bud Black late Wednesday night to discuss his feelings on being dealt to Chicago and Peavy also put in a call to reliever Scott Linebrink to gauge his opinion of the White Sox.

The Padres had set out to lower their payroll after the conclusion of the 2008 season and most figured that Peavy, due $11M in 2009, would be traded to help that process. No deal was completed over the off season and the Padres went into 2009 with a $45M payroll, $5M more than the $40M dictated by ownership.

There has been plenty of reaction to the news that Manny Ramirez tested positive for a performance enhancing drug yesterday:

• Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald writes that Manny's stupidity got him caught.
• John Harper of the New York Daily News thinks Ramirez should not get into the Hall of Fame.
• George Vecsey of the New York Times notes that upcoming Hall of Fame ceremonies will lack cache without big stars like Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez in them.
• Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times points out that Ramirez will lose $7.7M because of the suspension.
• Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune wonders if the Dodgers now have enough money to trade for Jake Peavy after the money they save on Ramirez suspension.
• Bill Plaschke of the LA Times thinks that the Dodgers should cut Manny.
• TJ Simers of the LA Times believes Ramirez has some 'splainin' to do.
• Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post does not believe Ramirez.
• Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle says we shouldn't over look the other bad guys in the Ramirez case.
• Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register does not think anyone should be surprised by the suspension. Lance Berkman wasn't surprised.
• Eric Neal of espn.com thinks that Dodgers fans will get angry with Manny in the coming days.
• Peter Gammons of espn.com points out the danger any future employer of Ramirez takes on because Manny is one failed drug test away from missing 2/3 of the season.

Let's take a spin around the baseball rumors today:

• Tom Glavine is expected to make a decision in the next day or two on whether to accept the Braves offer.  Mark Bowman of mlb.com reports that Glavine was scheduled to meet with Braves general manager Frank Wren today.
• The Yankees will not void Alex Rodriguez's contract because he admitted to steroid use in 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers.
• The Royals have not ruled out adding more players via free agency, but Royals general manager Dayton Moore noted that to add players, they'd have to subtract payroll in the process.
• Dan Uggla had his arbitration hearing today.  A decision is expected Thursday or Friday.
• Despite earlier rumors that the Diamondbacks are interested in bringing Juan Cruz back, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic believes that the team is unlikely to bring Cruz back because they would not get a compensation pick unless he signs with another team.
• The Blue Jays signed Kevin Millar.
• Jake Peavy says that he's happy to be staying in San Diego.
• Giants general manager Brian Sabean doesn't envision a scenario where he would trade Jonathan Sanchez.
• Brian Roberts is still trying to work out a long term extension with the Orioles.