That should land Adrian Beltre in Boston, and if he’s signing this early, and Scott Boras is his agent, you better believe the ante is closer to 10 million (still a cut) than the 5 million that was talked about for a Phillies fee based on Beltre’s propensity for injury in recent times.

The Red Sox still have an outfield hole, and the likes of a Jason Bay or Matt Holliday would run 50-80 mil on top of that.  And publicly at least, that seems Theo’s intention.

That’s a lot of money to be shelled out even before extendng Halladay beyond this final contract year.

If the Red Sox are out of it, the Yanks don’t have to drive the price up a much to keep him off the BoSox.  That doesn’t mean the Yanks wouldn’t
be a serious player, but it makes it less critical.  And as much as the publc thinks the Yanks spend at will, they do have budget constraints that are only particularly flexible when the Red Sox are involved.

As for the Angels, for what it’s worth, yesterday, Mike Scoscia said he’s rather have John Lackey than  Jason Bay.  And its not s if Vlad Guerrero doesn’t have to be relaced, let alone Chone Figgins, but if the Angels are stll hot to trot to keep Lackey, which I’m guessing they can if they want, Halladay may not be quite as doable.

Not that you couldn’t build just as effective a case on why Halladay isn’t headed to the Phillies, but at the very least, they remain as good  trading partner as there is out there for the Toronto club.   You have to at least try to make this work.  Not even trying off the excuse of the budget being maxed just doesn’t cut it.

David Murphy mentioned today that Mike Gonzalez is a god fit for the Phils on paper.  Unfortunately, that’s true of a lot of other clubs.  My guess is he’s headed to the Yankees.

3 years at 28 mil with an option for a 4th year seems like a bit much for Wolf no?>>

You would think so, wouldn’t you?

Here’s from the LA Times after the Wolf signing on why the Dodgers, on a short term basis were not into keeping Wolf…

<<The Dodgers didn’t offer Wolf arbitration out of fear that he would accept it and earn a $15-million salary reward in the process. Wolf’s deal with the Brewers is worth almost $30 million, according to sources.
Colletti said the Dodgers’ negotiations with Wolf never advanced past preliminary stages. “They told us what their interest was and what they needed in terms of finances,” Colletti said. “It wasn’t something we were comfortable doing.”
Colletti said Wolf’s agent, Arn Tellem, called him this morning to offer him one last chance to re-sign his client. “That’s not us,” Colletti said he told Tellem. “That’s not our interest level.”..

Randy Wolf at 15 million dollars.  That’s what Halladay makes currently.  That’s around, lowside, what Cliff Lee figures to make long term after next year.  That’s Sabathia, and Johann bread. 

Intelligent life would project the club winning in an arbitrations case where Randy Wolf asked for 15 mil.  But apparently, the club was afraid they might lose at that figure.  I guess in today’s market, lefthanded starter and all,  bad economy be damned, the market has spoken and validated that Wofie’s market value is the near 30 mil for 3.  At least there was viable competition here, its not like the Rangers bidding against themselves for ARod, or the Nats bidding against themselves for IRod.  All I can say is that it will be more than interesting to see how Tim Linecum’s future with the Giants maps out if arbitration still scares management as much as it did in this case of a hardly pitching rich, divorce aside,  money machine like the Dodgers.

the wheels continue to turn on the bat pursuit, albeit slowly. GM Frank Wren and his men are working it a bit, in addition to the primary focus (trading pitching). The Braves tried to add a valuable bench piece in Ross Gload, but the 1B/pinch-hit specialist (he led majors with 21 pinch hits in 2009 for Florida) has opted to sign with the already bench-loaded Phillies, even though he could’ve gotten more playing time at 1B with the Braves.

hearing phillies joining the fray for halladay. angels, yanks, red sox believed in, as well.

Attaway, Ruben.  Give it a shot, and see what happens.  
   

- Jayson Stark

The really compelling thing about Randy Wolf’s situation is what Los Angeles does to counter his loss.  It’s not like Wolf is an ace, but he’s a dependable middle guy, formerly in a rotation that wasn’t exactly deep, or experienced.  The name Vicente Padilla is sill floating around the free agent list.

I don’t see a strong appeal to Jason Marquis, but the Phils supposedly have an interest in him.

<<I wish Ross Gload was a right-handed bat, but whatever.>>

I think that’s to have a choice between Fransisco and Gload. 

Good fit for both sides. I like that Brewers team. Already picked up Carlos Gomez and upgraded internally at SS with Alcides Escobar…