Friday, November 30, 2007

Looking for High Quality CanCon (Celine and Nickelback need not apply)

Let us begin by acknowledging two things:
And yet, heading into the Winter Meetings in Nashville, there are rumblings that both Erik Bedard and Jason Bay may be available for the right price. So would either of them be a fit for the Jays?

The O's are apparently looking for two young Major League ready players and a prospect for Bedard, which might be a bit too much to hand over to a division rival, while the Bucs might be ready to unload Bay and build around some of their own young prospects.

With so much emphasis being placed on teams pursuing Johan Santana this winter, Bedard's price might go up when teams fall out of that race. Still, we're guessing that it wouldn't take as much to pry him out of Baltimore, nor will he cost anything near the $25 million over five years that Santana is seeking. A quick look at their numbers, and it is hard to find why the gap between the two would be so great. (Bedard: 3.16 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 221 Ks versus 57 BBs; Santana: 3.33 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 235 Ks versus 52 BBs.)

Bay might come cheap, but he's 29 and coming off an awful 2007 season that was eerily similar to Vernon's (.746 OPS, 21 HRs, 84 RsBI, 4 SBs). The question with Bay is whether if that was a harbinger of things to come, or if his knee injuries held him back that much.

Maybe the most important question is whether if we'd give a flying fadoo about either of these guys if they didn't have a maple leaf on their passport.

Where's Corey Koskie these days?

3 comments:

Dex said...

I'd certainly target Bedard. I think the Jays need a lefty in the 3 slot, and a rotation of Halladay/Burnett/Bedard/McGowan/Marcum would be a monster against hitters.

Bay, less so. He's an excellent LF, and I think will bounce back closer to his career average next year. But he's a righthanded bat, and would need a multiyear contract. I say you only go after Bay if your intention is to move Lind in another trade.

saskislander said...

I am reading the BosYork RedYanks are looking to acquite Santanna from Minny. Why can't JP get in on that action?

halejon said...

Who the heck are we going to trade for these guys? I didn't like the sound of the price for Bay being "outrageous", and a lot of our young guys aren't worth much right now. Joe Sheehan suggested Lind/Purcey/League for Tejada and I would think Bedard would be worth significantly more.