A day after saying it’s unlikely Roy Halladay will be traded, Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi told ESPN that talks to deal the ace would pick up next week.
“But we’re getting really close to sitting down and telling teams, ‘This is what it’s going to take,'” Ricciardi told the Web site. “I’d say going into Monday, we’ll pretty much have our cards on the table.”
SI.com reports the Brewers may have moved to the forefront, with “word … going around baseball circles that Milwaukee could build a good package.”
Ricciardi also set a July 28 deadline yesterday, but that now appears to be flexible.
“Look, if we’re on the precipice of getting something done and we have to go into the 29th, we’re not going to draw a line in the sand,” Ricciardi said. “But if we’re still at this stage on the 28th, then we’re not going to trade Roy Halladay.”
Ricciardi said that four teams are serious bidders, while “a couple” of others are “on the periphery.” According to ESPN, the Mets and Yankees are not on either list.
Jayson Stark writes, “It’s believed that the Philadelphia Phillies continue to top that list, with the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox still involved at various levels, and the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox continuing to check in.”
Of the Rays, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes, “It’s very, very unlikely that the Rays will land Halladay, because of their financial constraints and because of how they carefully tend to their lifeblood — their prospects. But if the moons and the stars aligned and the Rays actually were able to conclude a Halladay deal, he could be a leader for Tampa Bay’s young rotation and improve the Rays’ chances for winning in 2009.”
