With Yankees organizational meetings now over, the plans for the Yankees have become a little bit clearer than they were a mere few days ago. As expected, the Yankees plan on shedding some payroll this year, how much, is unknown at this time. While Buster Olney tweets that it should be between $190-$200 million, but it isn’t a hard number, obviously. Considering that Buster Olney’s blog always keeps us in the know, it has to be true. ESPN reports that the payroll could go as low as $185 million, though I doubt it will go that low. Time will tell…

Moving on to other news Olney has reported, it appears as if the Yankees don’t have Jason Bay or Matt Holliday at the top of their list, especially if they can resign Johnny Damon for about $7-8 million. I am glad that they are not going to spend a ton of money on either one of them, especially Matt Holliday, as I don’t think he’d be a great AL player, regardless of what Scott Boras tells you. In a minor note, Arn Tellem and Brian Cashman are to get together to talk about Hideki Matsui during winter meetings.

Moving on to plans not related to hitting the ball out of the yard. As you probably have heard, retaining Andy Pettitte is Cashman’s number one priority, which makes sense. If Pettitte retires, that would set a number of contingency plans in motion that would obviously bring in any combination of Ben Sheets, John Lackey, Aroldis Chapman or Roy Halladay. However, this is not to say that Lackey and Halladay aren’t on the Yankees radar, because they are.

In addition to previously mentioned pitchers, the Yankees are reportedly going to look into Rich Harden, Randy Wolf and Joel Piniero. I don’t know about you, but I would only entertain the possibility of one of those pitchers and that would be Rich Harden. Randy Wolf has spent his entire career in the NL, so I don’t want Denny Neagle, part two. Joel Piniero, while has pitched in the AL, finally had a good year after a five year slide, not exactly the guy I would go after. If they want to give Rich Harden a incentive laden deal, I wouldn’t be against it as his upside is pretty high.

So, obviously, the number one priority overall this offseason is pitching, if you haven’t picked up on that pattern yet. Going this route, obviously is the best way to go considering how past seasons have paid off when they have focused on pitching. I wonder if we’re going to see Lackey and Halladay in Pinstripes next year? I doubt it, but the thought is appealing, isn’t it?

Not anymore says Phil Rogers:

If Jake Peavy had said no thanks to the White Sox in July, general manager Ken Williams almost certainly would be in the middle of negotiations to bring Roy Halladay to Chicago.

And Kenny’s prediction for Baseball’s Winter Meetings that will be in Indianapolis next week:

“I think it will be busier after the meetings than during them,” Williams said Friday. “The only thing I know for sure is it will be cold.”

UPDATE: Gonzales on the Winter Meetings:

Look for Williams to wait as long as possible even though there aren’t many natural leadoff hitters available at a thrifty price. Free agent Coco Crisp remains an option, especially if Williams can move some salary.

In a shocking piece of news as the Yankees Organizational meetings come to an end, the Yankees will bid on Roy Halladay. Jon Heyman surmises that it will take some combination of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Jesus Montero, and Austin Jackson, which is another bit of shocking news, right?

Personally, I would start off with an offering of Phil Hughes (Sorry Zell!), Austin Jackson and maybe someone like Ian Kennedy. Personally, I believe Joba has a higher upside and I’d rather not potentially give up a bat like Montero’s. Ian Kennedy? That was more of a throw in, I still believe he has something to contribute to a major league team.

In reality, I know that won’t be the package that would win Roy Halladay’s services. I can see either Joba or Montero leaving, but both of them? Unlikely. The winter meetings in Indy begin on Monday and Halladay is likely to dominate meetings there, so let the fun begin!

Ugh, enough of all the (other) team’s free-agent signings. Let’s talk some Yankees. And according to this tweet from Jon Heyman, the Yankees decided yesterday at their organizational meetings that they will try and acquire Roy Halladay.

yankees decided they will bid on halladay. tor wants some combo of hughes, joba, a-jax and montero. redsox have best chance, tho

I like that the Yanks will try to get him, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable offering A-Jax or Jesus Montero, plus Joba and/or Hughes. If they could somehow work out a deal that doesn’t include Montero or A-Jax, get Halladay in pinstripes now, but it doesn’t seem like that will be likely. 

This video is serious, by the way… not like, from me… but someone actually made it… in real life…

…With only a few days left until the Winter Meetings (my favorite non-baseball season week of the year), nobody really has any idea what is going on with the Red Sox. Last year we all knew that they were going to go hard after the guy whose balls are in Leigh Teixeira’s handbag (obviously not hard enough) and that the Yanks were going to sign a fat guy. In the weeks since the end of the season, there have been rumors of everything from the Sox getting Roy Halladay for Buchholz and Casey Kelly (who is both a shortstop and starting pitcher), to them signing Matt Holiday instead of Jason Bay so that they could net an extra draft pick, to Theo giving up his first born, Mike Lowell and the souls of half the front office to get Hanley Ramirez back and end the curse of Nomar.

SCOOOOOOOOOOOOT

The most recent word with any certainty is that Marco Scutaro, a career utility player who managed to put in a career year last season in Toronto, wants to come to Boston and the team has sent Allard Baird to see him work out and requested his medical records. Of course, this wouldn’t have been necessary if the team (meaning Theo, who really has to prove his shit this offseason) hadn’t crapped the bed when they had a chance to resign Alex Gonzalez, who has been the closest thing to an actual shortstop that the Sox have had since Cabrera and his “off-field issues” departed after 2004. The most recent report is that Scutaro is about to sign a two year deal, with an option for a third, which should be just enough time to let Jose Iglesias (by all reports he does not have a large facial mole), the Sox wiz kid shortstop of the future, to season in the minors. With the option of Gonzalez off the table, this is the best move possible.

Contrary to popular opinion, this move does not take away the possibility of the return of Hanley. Scutaro is a much better defensive shortstop (and by much better I mean that Hanley sucks) and Ramirez could be an answer in the outfield if Bay doesn’t return.

Please come home.

The other thing we know is that the team is putting on the full court press to re sign Jason Bay, and that Matt Holliday is not really on the radar. Bay is the best fit, having proven that he can thrive in the atmosphere of Boston and the American League, which Holliday has yet to do. Holliday’s only AL experience to this point, in fact, was a disastrous experience with the A’s at the start of last season, where he hit .286 with 11 HR and 54 RBI in 93 games. When he returned to St. Louis, had Albert Pujols protecting him, and was in the more comfortable National League again, Holliday hit .353, with 13 HR and 55 RBI in Only 63 games. There will be competition for Bay’s services, though, seeing as he is the most complete, proven player on the market. He recently turned down the Sox 4 year, $60 Million offer, and is getting interest from the Yanks (who declined arbitration on John Damon and are in the market for a left fielder), Seattle (Bay’s adopted home town) and likely the Angels among others. I say Theo should give him the “FU J.D.” deal of five years and $80 million, just to show Drew that he doesn’t deserve to be the highest paid player on a perennial contender.

Mrs. About To Be Traded For A Power Hitter

Free agents aside, and there aren’t many other big name ones to speak of, the Sox look to be movers and shakers in the trading market. From using all of the blackmail materials that Theo has on Hoyer from their years together to get Adrian Gonzalez, to trying to pry Hanley Ramirez back from the Marlins to undo the trade that Theo would never have made had he not run away in a gorilla suit in the fall of 2006. These are all just ideas, and apparently the GMs get together at the meetings and just throw packages at each other (just like you and your buddies do in bars or in front of the TV at home). The Sox do have what seems to be the strongest trading chip of the offseason in Clay Buchholz, a young, cheap pitcher who is improving fast and the team still has control over for five seasons.

Hello, my name is Miguel and my wife kicked my ass.

The one idea I still don’t like is giving up Buchholz for Roy Halladay. Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the Majors and has been for a while, but he is 34, and will either be a one year loaner or a guy you have to give $20 million per to keep. This is the same argument I made when the Sox were thinking of trading Lester, Coco and Lowrie to the Twins for Johan Santana. Then as now, I said the only reason to make the deal is to keep him away from the Yanks. A much better path to follow is using that chip (Clay) to acquire a young power hitter in the way of a Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera (that is only possible thanks to the auto industry collapsing all over Detroit). Gonzalez is preferable since he doesn’t already have the big dollar deal, but aside from the drinking and getting his ass kicked by his wife, Cabrera is supposedly a great clubhouse guy who would be a prefect replacement for Ortiz at DH after his contract expires next fall. Cabrera isn’t as good defensively as Gonzalez, and would likely be more of a DH than a first baseman, but if Lars Anderson ever pans out in the minors we’ve got that covered.

Then again, I have no f#$%ing clue what is going to happen.

Go Sox.

76 days.

Done.

Yesterday the Yankees brass started their annual organizational meetings, while Joe Girardi would be in attendance today. Most likely the topics to dominate the meeting would be the budget for 2010, whether or not to re-sign either Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui (What, no Jose Molina love?) whether to go after free agents John Lackey or Matt Holliday and whether to go after Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay.

According to ESPN.com, The Boss has taken part in some of the meetings so far. I don’t know if it’s me, but in years past you would have figured that Big Stein would have been hot on Doc Halladay’s trail by now. Now, we have the Yankees trying to appear to be ‘fiscally responsible’ which is all good, but when the best pitcher in baseball becomes available, acting like you don’t care won’t win. However, the Yankees may come out of their meetings and go after him, which makes my above statement null and void.

The Winter Meetings in Indianapolis begin on Monday, so the outcome of organizational meetings might be obvious then. We’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s now the beginning of December and the Red Sox have yet to make a huge move this offseason. By this time in 2004 they’d already acquired Curt Schilling and in 2006 they’d traded for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.

This year’s big move? A trade for Jeremy Hermida. Yup, a trade for a fourth outfielder. Thing is, he’s your starting left fielder as the team is constructed today because you haven’t gotten the job done and re-signed Jason Bay. Way to go. It’s just a matter of time before the Yankees call him up, sign him, and deliver the Brinks truck to his front door.

Everything that I’m reading from the experts says that the Sox aren’t going to trade for a shortstop. The team is super high on the Cuban kid they signed Jose Iglesias. So much so that many have him penciled in as the starting shortstop as soon as the 2011 season. Why invest in a shortstop for 3-4 years when you truly only need one for one year?

In steps Dustin Pedroia saying that he’s more than happy to move to shortstop. A position he played while at Arizona State and played until moving to second because Hanley Ramirez was the shortstop of the future. It’s nice for him to offer but is the market really flooded with second basemen? I suppose Orlando Hudson, but being one of the top at his position it would take a 4-5 year deal to get him. You want that kind of logjam ahead of Iglesias? Didn’t think so.

So there’s rumors about the shortstop position, but really nothing being done. The other name mentioned is Marco Scutaro from Toronto but with him being offered arbitration it would be interesting to see if the Sox would be willing to give up the draft picks (even if they just got picks for Billy Wagner signing in Atlanta). It’ll probably be another one year shortstop. Lost in the whole mix is Jed Lowrie but many have speculated that he needs a solid season at Pawtucket under his belt to prove that he can stay healthy before he could think about taking the job at Fenway.

The Adrian Gonzalez trade rumors seem to have faded. With Jed Hoyer taking over in San Diego it seems that he wants to build around Gonzalez opposed to trading him and starting from scratch. That may change if ownership tells him different, but it’s looking like he’s staying put for now.

The other name that’s still being floated is Roy Halladay. Now, Halladay has said that he will approve a trade to the Yankees and rumor is that Phil Hughes and Joba could get it done. The Sox should be scared. If somehow Halladay ends up in New York, you can kiss the division good bye for the next five years. Here’s hoping that Theo goes over the top on this one. Having Halladay, Lester and Beckett in the front of the rotation is so good that me and Da Guy could be the four and five and the team could still probably win 96 games.

So here’s hoping that Theo gets on the horn and gets some of this business done. Bring back Bay. Trade for Halladay. If you’re worried about Mike Lowell’s health, sign a 1B or 3B as insurance. But do something for Christ’s sake, this cold stove is boring as shit.

I know it’s only beginning to get cold out and winter hasn’t even started yet, but I’m in a baseball mood. Deal with it. I can only take so much of the NBA and NHL before I start getting antsy again. Now is one of those times. Either way, the Red Sox will be headed back to spring training in about two and a half months. The thought of them returning to Fort Myers makes me all tingly inside. (Maybe I should get that checked out.) Regardless, here are some thoughts on the Sox and some things that have been going on with the team the last few weeks.

*  Theo Epstein, boy wonder and GM extraordinaire, has completely botched the shortstop situation once again. After bringing back Alex Gonzalez late last season (a fine move in my opinion), we have to deal with another gaping hole at the position as the clock winds down on 2009. Gonzo has better hands than anyone I’ve ever seen – and that includes George Costanza in that modeling episode of Seinfeld – and yet they let him walk again. So what if you didn’t want to fork over the $6 million his option called for? Pay him $3 million instead. That way he gets a good chunk of money and stays out of Toronto, where they landed him for a paltry $2.75 million. Now rumors are swirling that Dustin Pedroia is willing to shift to the position. The only time Pedroia and short should be in the same sentence is when we’re talking about his height. He’s an angry little elf!

*  And don’t even get me started on Marco Scutaro. He sounds like he should be in the World Explorer Hall of Fame with that name, along with the likes of Christopher Columbus, Francis Drake and whoever the hell else you’ve forgotten about since taking that world history class back in the fourth grade. What land did you discover, Marco? What’s that? The Land of Misfit Shortstops? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

*  What’s the fascination with Matt Holliday? It’s obvious he’s another one of Theo’s Pals, one of these ridiculous infatuations the GM has with slightly above average players. Edgar Renterria, Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew and now this guy. He’s good in the National League and he sucks in the AL. Plus he’s a lousy defensive outfielder. Remember that line drive he took off the nuts against the Dodgers in the NLDS? Yeah, that’s exactly the type of guy I want roaming around out in front of the Green Monster. Jason Bay please.

*  There have also been whispers of the Sox possibly making a push for Miguel Cabrera. A tremendous talent? He certainly is. An out-of-shape mess? Yup, he’s got the market cornered on that, too. He could lead the Sox in homeruns and most tequila shots at Sully’s Tap and neither would surprise me. I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole idea.

*  And finally, do the Sox have a realistic shot of landing Roy Halladay? They’d have to give up the farm to get him and, in all honesty, he’s getting up there in years and innings pitched. The Jays have run him into the ground the last few seasons and I don’t know how much he has left in the tank. With that said, he’d give the Sox the best rotation in baseball as soon as he suited up.

Check back periodically for more baseball updates.

This offseason Yankees fans are wondering how much they’d have to fork over for Doc Halladay or how many years and millions John Lackey would command. Though there is a dark horse candidate lurking in the background that many Yankees fans might not think is on the radar. According to Peter Gammons, the Yankees have not ruled out going after Ben Sheets, which in theory wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Pros

Upon mentioned his name, I know I invoke a few groans and rolls of the eyes, which is well deserved, in some cases. Though, the stats do not lie, in 8 active years, he has an ERA of 3.72 and 7.6 Ks per nine innings. Though, when healthy (and that’s a big IF) he can throw 200+ innings easily and even with injury riddled years, he provides 6+ innings in his starts. Think of this, Andy Pettitte re-signs, Roy Halladay doesn’t get traded and John Lackey goes elsewhere, you can slide Ben Sheets in as a 4th or 5th starter and move Joba or Phil to the bullpen or rotate their starts. With Ben not needing to be the #1 starter like he was in Milwaukee, he can relax and pitch his game. When healthy, Ben Sheets has the potential to be a front line starter.

Cons

Sheets missed all of last year due to rehabilitation of his surgically repaired elbow which he injured in 2008.  All the eye rolling and scoffing at him possibly signing is well deserved. The biggest con against him is his health. If you remove 2008 from his pitching records, from 2005 to 2007, his innings pitched were: 156.2, 106, 141.1. Not exactly stellar, more like Joba rules were in effect for him. Another big IF is whether or not he’d be able to pitch in a big city market like New York. Many pitchers have come and not lived up to their expectations or wilted under the pressure (See: Javy Vasquez, Kenny Rodgers, Jack McDowell, Randy Johnson, etc al).

Given his ability, I don’t think the Yankees would be too far off their rockers if they offered him a decent base salary heavy with incentives, similar to what Andy Pettitte received in 2009. Yes, he received a very nice 12.1 million from Milwaukee in 2008, however, Sheets has to know that after elbow surgery, his injury riddled past, that an incentive laden deal would be the best way to go. There won’t be many teams crazy enough to take a chance and offer $10+ million guaranteed a year for him due to his history.

Now, comparing this to his colleagues available this year, he would be a steal if he returned to form. John Lackey made $10 million in 2009 and will like be able to command close to $12 if not more and if the Yankees acquire Doc Halladay, it’s likely he’ll be signing a deal worth $15-23 million annually as well. While a signing like this may be the wild card out of the Lackey, Halladay, Sheets pool, it could turn out to be a great move.

Me? Hilariously predictable? Well, I never.

He’s one of exactly one people who can be hot while wearing those extra sleeve-under-the-sleeve things.

If you are a Jays fan and have not spent the last few months living on a mountain unable to contact civilization, then you should know that Roy Halladay wants to be traded.

Over the last season he has made no secret that he wants to pitch in the postseason. Now he has stated that he does not want to resign with the Jays after his contract ends in 2010, instead he will test free agency.

So this offseason he will be on the trade block again. Only it looks like they will trade him, unlike what happened in July.

His agent is also said to have said that if has not been traded by Spring Training he will remain a Jay til the end of his contract. He does not want a repeat of the media circus that happened last July.

Now people are saying that he finds a World Series more important than anything and that he is saying the Jays have no chance of winning next year.

Here is my opinions on that:
1. He wants to pitch in the postseason soon and he has also said that he would prefer it to be with the Jays.
2. In my opinion I think that he does deserve to win a World Series because he is one of the best pitchers in baseball and has an amazing work ethic.
3. The GM has stated that the Blue Jays are not looking to win next season but are rebuilding the team. Meaning that if Halladay wants to win soon it would be better for him to be traded.

Also it would probably be better for the Jays to trade him this offseason and get some young prospects over allowing him to go to free agency.

If he became a free agent the Jays would get 2 draft picks for him, based on the standings right now. But the thing about the draft picks is that there is no garauntee that the picks will sign. So I think that it would be better to trade him now and get some of the top prospects.

Roy Halladay is amazing and I would love for him to be back the Jays for 2010. If he does get traded I will still cheer for him because I do think he deserves a chance to win.

What do you think?

AJ Burnett has made his pitch for Roy Halladay to come to New York official now, not that the Yankees needed any goading to try to acquire him.

AJ, during his time in Toronto credited Doc Halladay for making him more of a consistent pitcher. Burnett also acknowledged that the two markets (Toronto vs New York) are completely different but thinks that Doc would have no problem adjusting to New York.

Considering Halladay’s time in Toronto, where he WAS the big dog and everything fell in line behind him, coming to New York should relieve such pressure from him. He could simply fall in line with AJ, CC and (possibly) Pettitte. However, if Pettitte decides to retire, acquisition of Halladay is a must, considering pitching depth behind AJ and CC is a little suspect without Andy.

The effect Halladay had on AJ in Toronto could easily be replicated on Joba and/or Phil (depends on who is left…) thus making either of them (or both) better pitchers and well worth the acquisition.

With winter meetings on Monday, one can only assume that the name of Roy Halladay will be brought up with a higher frequency, so stick close and Zell’s will have what you need.

That is the sound of the clock ticking for a trade to happen with Roy Halladay.

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports Halladay will refuse any trade that is brought to him after Spring Training.

Halladay’s message is perfectly clear: Move me now or not at all. Toronto is pushing for the move to happen before the deadline given to them by the ace.

Possible teams Halladay is willing to go to include the Yankees, Boston, Phillies, and Angels. No indications that he is willing to play for the Mets.

While Halladay loves Toronto and would prefer to stay there, he wants to be on a contending team next year. The Jays are not that team. They are forever in a state of a rebuilding.

So will a trade happen? Will we finally see, after two years of trade talks involving the veteran pitcher, him leave the Jays?

It is a good question. Toronto will be demanding top prospects and star players of other teams just for this one player. I’m not too sure it will happen. I think he will just leave as a free agent next year.

No matter what happens, Mets fans do not even dare to dream about him coming to Flushing New York. You’ll be setting yourself up for a bitter disappointment.

Both “Dick” Griffin and “Bobcat” McCown have been beating the same idiotic drum for months. That trading Roy Halladay at the deadline last season would not have fetched as much as trading him during the off season.

Oh really?

I wonder then how they will react to this: Halladay wants deal done by spring

One of Halladay’s agent’s partners, Jeff Barry, has told the Jays that if Roy is not moved by the start of spring training, he will not discuss ANY move for the rest of his last season in Toronto. And since he has a full no trade clause, his word is the law.

Let’s leave aside for the minute that this asshole Barry is a complete scum bag for spouting off about Hallady’s situation to begin with…although that is admittedly hard to do, given the harm it does to the Jays.

Let’s instead think about the implications of this for the Jays. The rest of baseball now know that the Jays, if they want to trade him, must do so this off season and cannot hold out the hope of waiting till next year’s trade deadline. Do you think that gives the Jays more leverage or less?

And all this on the very morning when “I don’t care about value” Mr. Griffin pens yet again another hapless article stating, “The Jays were better off trading in July. Not true.” This is the same dinosaur who is obliviously contemptuous of the entire concept of Moneyball, of course getting it entirely wrong in the process, thinking it’s about rating OBP over stolen bases when all it’s about is finding undervalued assets, be they high on base percentage players, defensive gems, or as Billy Beane has recently pointed out, scouts! – and what is Anthopoulous doing right now? That’s right, he’s hiring a boat load of scouts (and using Tom Tango as a consultant…this guy gets it). Spending money wisely, what a concept. Alex rocks.

And let’s not forget McCown. Just last week, he, along with Shannon (who has been a massive disappointment as a guest host – his television insights being obviated by his inane attempts at commentary on other topics he has zero knowledge of…god help me, I almost miss Kelly…almost) was also reiterating his own clueless opinion that trading Halladay now would definitely land the Jays more in return. Specifically he said, “we talked a lot about this…before the trade deadline that the one interesting phenomena of the off season is that GM’s forget how bad they actually are…a couple of things here and there and all of sudden the market expands.”

McCown’s contention is that there are a greater number of potential suitors for Halladay now than at the deadline, because some of these new teams are able to delude themselves into thinking they are actual contenders and as such, will be looking to aquire a final piece of the puzzle like Roy.

Well here’s the thing, that premise (more teams interested) may well be true, but it does not follow that the Jays return increases. While there may be a higher quantity of teams now, at the deadline the fewer number of teams were far more motivated. I’d much rather have three highly motivated teams like we did at the deadline (Phillies, RedSox, Dodgers) than 8 only somewhat motivated teams now. And that is the position the Jays find themselves in. Plus of course to say nothing of the fact that by trading for him at the deadline you simply get more out of Halladay, an extra half season and a full extra playoffs. That simple fact alone all but guarentees that the offers the Jays receive now will be less. Because the team’s are receiving less.

I’ll try to put this into term’s that even Griffin could understand (although given the medifore I’m about to introduce, that’s doubtful):

Imagine you’re out at the bar and looking to pick up. When are your chances better? At 9pm with one of 10 completely sober young ladies, or at 2am with one of three bombed and horned up little tramps?

We had our chance to bend a hot coed over immediately in late July. Now we’ll have to be content to buy her dinner, listen to her witless banter, and probably not even receive any friggin tongue in return.

Christ.

You can all set your timer…NOW. Roy Halladay has stated that he wants a deal to be done by Spring Training or else he won’t approve a deal after he reports, which puts incredible strain on the Blue Jays and its new General Manager.

Given this new wrinkle to the almost daily saga of Halladay’s future, the Blue Jays likely only have about 2 to 2 1/2  months until they are stuck with two lousy draft picks from whomever would sign Doc Halladay a year from now.

The Blue Jays have said that they would do whatever is best for the Blue Jays in the long run. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that trading him and getting 2-3 highly rated prospects (or even young stars) would be the best way to go. If Halladay would leave and the Blue Jays would only receive two draft picks, none which would obviously not be remotely close to ‘Major League ready’ or even guaranteed of making the Majors.

A rush to get a deal done obviously would benefit the Yankees (or any other competing team) by possibly allowing for a situation in which the Blue Jays didn’t get ‘fair’ compensation from the team that traded for him. However, this also allows for a secondary situation such as overpaying in prospects for Halladay to emerge. Such a situation could happen to the Yankees (or any other competing team) if they feel other teams are offering more. Should make for an interesting offseason never the less. As always, as more information becomes available, Zell’s will have it, so stick close!

NEWS ITEM: Pats leave both Colts and Saints perfect
OK, echoing the words of the great American, Arthur Fonzarelli:

“I was wrooo”

“I was wroooooooooooooooooooo”

“I was wrooooooooooooooooong.”

I really thought it would be the Patriots who would end the undefeated runs of both Indianapolis and New Orleans. I thought both would be perfect coming into those games and imperfect coming out.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a Patriots fan, so this wasn’t a fan-worship, drink-the-Kool Aid thing. I just thought Bill Belichick would find a way to beat these teams.

Ahhhh, but here’s the rub. Coaches really don’t win football games. Players do. And the Patriots really don’t have enough players.

They did actually beat the Colts. You know what happened there. That was just one of those things. The Saints? That was about 400 of those things, as in the yards Drew Brees ran up in the worst defensive game by the Patriots since 2001.

And it really all goes back to the defense, Belichick’s defense.

Once the Pats exiled Richard Seymour to Oakland, anyone who wasn’t sure this was a rebuilding phase became sure. The Celtics let their original Big 3 grow old together, then took 10 years to dig out from under that decision. The Pats decided not to do that, and there had to be bumps on the road.

This defense hasn’t been the same for a long time, anyway. The older guys kept getting older and had to be replaced. We saw Monday night there’s a ways to go, but being a playoff team isn’t such a bad thing during rebuilding, is it? Not being the elite of the NFL isn’t such a bad thing. Who remains the elite of the NFL? The system isn’t set up that way.

Was Monday night embarrassing for Pats’ fans? Sure it was. Especially after most of them felt the Colts game was handed away. But keep in mind the Pats were a Leodis McKelvin fumble on a kickoff in the Buffalo game and a Mark Clayton drop in the Balitmore contest from losing those games, too.

Bottom line? This is still a good team. Just not a great team.

NEWS ITEM: Decisions, decisions

Do you ever remember a Heisman vote this wide open? This is ridiculous.

I have thrown it out there that there’s no reason for me to vote for anyone but Tim Tebow. All the guy does is handle the hype, make plays and win.

The response I’ve gotten, mostly through Facebook, has been fascinating, ranging from Tebow being a slam dunk to Tebow not even being in the picture.

I’m still leaning his way.

Speaking of voting, the Baseball Hall of Fame list is out and the ballot is due in the mail soon. This brings up the latest chapter in the steroids mess, and what to do about Mark McGwire. That’s on hold here now. But a look at the ballot has three newcomers jumping out – Roberto Alomar (the best all-around second baseman I ever saw), Edgar Martinez (yes, the first DH in the Hall) and Barry Larkin.

As far as the holdovers, I think Andre Dawson and Jack Morris will get my vote, and I think Dave Parker (overlooked, I believe, because of his off-field problems) has to be kept alive.

McGwire? Who knows what to do about him? I still have trouble visualizing Big Mac being back in the game and can’t wait to hear his answers when he’s pressed on the steroid issue. There are those who insist he’s not a Hall of Famer with or without the help, but that’s a tough argument to get away with.

But every time the ballot comes out, every time the winners are announced, we are further reminded that the great Hall is perhaps the biggest loser in this whole mess. The entire era that’s being voted on now is tainted. It just will never really be the same.

NEWS ITEM: Red Sox, Yankees chasing Halladay

Down deep, you really do have to get tired of the rivals being the frontrunners to get every big name that becomes available. It’s not good for the sport. But, and borrowing the new hot catch phrase, having said that, the Yankees appear to have more to offer for Roy Halladay than do the Red Sox. Toronto needs guys who are closer to being big-league ready and unless the Sox will deal Daniel Bard, which I wouldn’t, you wonder if they can get it done.

Speaking of the Sox,  what’s going on with them and Alex Gonzalez. OK, he’s not an on-base guy, but does your No. 9 hitter have to be? Why do they keep getting rid of a fine fielder who can hit a little bit. Makes you think they think they just don’t have the offense to carry a fielder.

Do you give money and years to Marco Scutaro, a career utility player who had one big year? Perhaps. Remember, this is a team that has thrown money at shortstops with resumes at least as checkered as Scutaro’s, and when it comes to shortstop, let’s just say Theo Epstein has had a tough time.

Finally, nice job by Sports Illustrated in the selection of Derek Jeter as Sportsman of the Year. In this day and age of controversy, all the guy does is play ball, stay out of trouble — and win!