Halladay remains a Blue Jay after all

After weeks of speculation and rumours that Roy Halladay's career in Toronto would be over, the Blue Jays have decided to keep their ace in the fold for at least the remainder of this season with the intention of contending in 2010. For a while Halladay seemed all but destined to punch his ticket to another city, with J.P. Ricciardi fielding proposals for the 6 time all-star, but instead, he is staying with the only organization he's known.

On one hand, I'm extremely glad that J.P. Ricciardi didn't trade Halladay just for the sake of making a deal. Taking anything less than market value would have hampered a team that would surely be in the dumps with the loss of the 2003 CY Young Award winner. But on the contrary, trading arguably the best pitcher in baseball really would have netted a slew of prospects that could have aided this team down the road. And that is the distinction that continues to fail to be made. Are the Jays rebuilding with an eye to the future? Or are they contending for a title?

Ricciardi has indicated that because he wasn't "wowed" and "moved" by any offers, the team is keeping Halladay with the intention of contending in 2010. I don't believe Toronto has the personnel to be a factor late into the season next year, because it'll be mostly the same lineup coming back (Vernon Wells, Alex Rios and Lyle Overbay are all bums) Trading Doc is still a possibility in the off-season or at the trade deadline in 2010, because his value will still be sky high (he is, after all, the best pitcher in baseball)

Because Halladay is such a class act, it's really disappointing that the bulletproof Ricciardi managed to bungle his status through the media, further isolating the team's best player.

How is it that Ricciardi still has a job?

Rolen traded; Encarnacion, prospects to Toronto

In what appeared to be a rather curious move by General Manager J.P. Ricciardi (because it now appears all system go toward contending again in 2010), 3rd basemen Scott Rolen has been shipped out of town to Cincinnati in exchange for 3rd baseman Edwin Encarnacion and two pitching prospects.

Rolen wanted to skip town for "personal reasons" related to the 34 wanting to be closer to home so Ricciardi appeased Rolen who was with the Jays for a season and a half. He was playing quite well this season, filling in as the cleanup hitter, putting up 8 homers and 43 RBI. Rolen's exceptional glove will be sorely missed in the Jays infield.

It'll be obvious how important defensively he is to the team because the 26 year old Encarnacion is terrible at fielding his position. His numbers at the plate this year are rather pedestrian (5 home runs, 16 RBI with a measly .209 average), but if he can stay healthy does have upside and some pop in his bat, having knocked out 26 homers last year.

The two pitching prospects coming back are Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart. The 26 year old Roenicke bounced back and forth from the Reds to their AAA team in Louisville, posting a 2.70 ERA in 11 games with Cincy. The right hander has good numbers in 4 seasons in the Reds minor league system, going 12-4 with a 2.89 ERA. He'll be slotted into the Jays bullpen, and to make room the Blue Jays pen, the club has announced that RHP Jeremy Accardo has been sent back down to AAA Las Vegas.

The true blue chip prospect coming back is Stewart, selected in the 3rd round in 2008. In three levels of the Reds farm system this year, the 22 year old has gone 4-1 with a 1.67 ERA over 23 games, including 14 starts. He's got a plus fastball that tops out at around 96 MPH, and is expected to make a push for the Jays rotation in a couple of years, if not earlier.

Rolen will be missed, particularly his stellar play this season after an injury riddled 2008 campaign. Considering the fact he wanted out, the Jays have acquired a pretty decent package back for him. Ricciardi has stated that both pitchers were guys the team has been interested in acquiring before, and Encarnacion could prove to be a pretty good pickup that might ultimately be moved to the outfield to offset his poor defensive skills.

David Purcey's control problems persist in AAA

It's hard to imagine with all the injuries to the Blue Jays starting rotation that David Purcey has been buried in AAA since the end of April. While he has pitched fairly well since the demotion, going 5-4 with a 4.31 ERA, Purcey is still battling command issues.

Purcey pitched Thursday night in Vegas, picking up the win after giving up just 1 run in 6 frames, allowing just 2 hits while fanning 6 batters. However, the 27 year old lefty was still unable to pitch in the strike zone consistently, walking three batters.

In fact, in Purcey's last 9 starts, the least amount of walks he's allowed in one start has been 2, with 6 being his worst output. Curiously, on the other end of the spectrum, Purcey has racked up 9 strikeouts in 3 of those contests. His results are a marked improvement over his 5 starts with Toronto this season, where he walked 18 hitters in 25.2 innings, posting a poor 7.01 ERA.

Purcey is still a pitcher worth watching for the Jays. I would suspect the best case scenario is a September promotion, barring more freak injuries to the starting staff. However, he was a 1st round draft pick in 2004, so the club likely would've expected him to be a mainstay with the team by now. He certainly is at a career crossroads, and could possibly find himself pitching in a different uniform should he not improve his command.

Jays prospect explodes for 7 RBI in one game

Blue Jays prospect Brian Dopirak has risen through the ranks in his time in the Toronto system. Considered a late bloomer at 25, Dopirak scorched at the ball with class AA New Hampshire this season, where he put up 19 HR and 68 RBI in 87 games. He was promptly summoned to AAA Las Vegas two weeks ago and hit for a great average, but only had 3 RBI to show for it.

That was until Wednesday night, where he racked up 7 RBI with grand slam and a 3 run bomb. In 13 games, Dopirak has also hit for a sterling .340 batting average.

A Cubs 2nd round pick in 2002, Dopirak, who splits his time between designated hitter and 1st base, fell out of favour after struggling in Chicago's system, so the Jays scooped him up last year. All he did for the Blue Jays affiliate single A Dunedin was blast 27 HR and 88 RBI with a .308 average.

Dopirak has been mentioned a couple of times here for his potential to finally put it all together and be a shrewd pickup by the organization, and he hasn't disappointed. Should the Jays trade Lyle Overbay at the deadline, there is a chance he'd get the call up to the big club.

Hey Red Sox, trade for John McDonald!

I have mentioned it several times on this blog before Mr. Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, and I'll continue to bother you until you do something about it: TRADE FOR JOHN MCDONALD!

Never has it been more apparent that your club is in desperate need for a shortstop that can field his position well than Tuesday night. Up 2 in the 9th, incumbent Nick Green committed two costly errors, allowing the A's to tie it, and they eventually went on to win in extra innings. He now has 11 errors on the season. And I know you are big on Jed Lowrie, but he just came off the disabled list. He might still take a while to get into his groove, or worse yet, find himself back on the DL, so why not acquire McDonald as insurance?

Call J.P. Ricciardi and inquire about trading for slick fielding Johnny Mac. It'll be worth your time. He could provide dynamite defense at short, which is what you need. Since your team clearly has enough big bats to withstand his light hitting, he can be penciled in at the bottom of the order. He'll come relatively cheap, and his contract expires at the end of the season.

This makes perfect sense Mr. Epstein. If you can pull it off, it might prove to be a wily transaction come playoff time, when defense is at a huge premium.

Obviously he is incredibly loved here, and would be sorely missed by all the fans of the team, including myself. But this is about business, and you are in the business of winning World Championships.

And we apparently are not.

SO TRADE FOR JOHN MCDONALD!

Halladay likely won't be a Doctor "Phil"

It appears as though Roy Halladay will not be donning a Phillies uniform after all with Philadelphia and Cleveland striking a deal for Cliff Lee Wednesday afternoon, making it increasingly likely Halladay will remain a Blue Jay heading into 2010. The deal still could go through, because the players the Jays believed to want (Kyle Drabek, J.A. Happ, Dominic Brown) did not head to Cleveland in the Lee acquisition.

Halladay may have been distracted Wednesday (and who could blame him?) in what might still have been his last start with the only organization he's known, allowing a season high 11 hits while coming out on the losing end of a 3-2 contest. Halladay has now just 1 win in his last 7 starts, but that's more to do with the Jays anemic run support (averaging 2.5 runs in those 7 games) than a reflection of how he's pitched.

My position all along is that the Jays will not deal Halladay, and it appears likely they won't. J.P. Ricciardi has indicated they now might go all in for 2010 to try to win. Although, that could be posturing in order to get someone to "wow" him with a substantial trade offer. If there is one thing we know about Ricciardi, it's that we can't trust him. So he might be finalizing a deal to move Doc Halladay after all.

Stay tuned.

Downs coughs up another one

In hindsight, I was obviously a bit too hasty last night in declaring that Scott Downs had shaken off his recent woes. Because after one solid outing Monday, in which he retired the side in the 8th inning of a blow out ball game, Downs reverted back to the reliever that has struggled mightily in the past week, but not without a high degree of drama.

Downs nearly made a phenomenal turnaround in the 9th inning after a messy beginning to a 3-3 ball game. He allowed a base hit to open the frame, then issued a walk. Downs mishandled a sacrifice bunt, allowing the bases to be juiced with nobody out. Undeterred, the Jays closer retired the next two batters, setting the stage with Ichiro Suzuki. He had Ichiro right where he wanted him with two strikes, however he couldn't escape the large jam he'd created when the American League leader in hits poked the game winning RBI single to centre.

Downs (1-3) takes his 3rd loss in his past five appearances to go along with his two blown saves in that span.

Yikes.