Day Three surprises from Winter Meetings

Any time I hear the phrase “surprise team” during the Winter Meetings, I am afraid … very afraid. Especially since there is a rumoured “surprise team” that is involved with trade talks between the Chicago Cubs for Milton Bradley.

Back in September I explored the possibility of bringing Bradley to Toronto, but overall it was too high of a risk for not enough reward in return. Milton Bradley does not fit in the direction of the future of the Blue Jays, as was tweeted by Jordan Bastian:

“Jays want young controllable players to build around. Bradley, with his history and his contract, is not a fit for Toronto.”

While I completely agree, that was said by Bastian and Alex Anthopoulos. I don’t think AA would be crazy enough to want Milton Bradley on this team, however there might be a few others like Paul Beeston and Cito Gaston who are trying to put together a good argument to bring in Bradley.


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Make it a Blockbuster Night

Moving on to the first blockbuster of the Winter Meetings – the Yankees upgraded their outfield by acquiring Curtis Granderson from the Tigers in a three team trade. The Yankees gave up Ian Kennedy, Phil Coke and Austin Jackson – notably missing from that list of players? Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes … don’t consider that a coincidence. The Yankees are likely keeping those guys in their back pocket just in case they want to swing a last-minute deal with the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay.

The Bearded Face of Innocence

Speaking of Doc – if you want to think back to a younger, more innocent time in his career, Dave at Go Jays Go got his hands on this picture of a fresh-faced, brace-clad Roy Halladay on draft day 1995. It almost brings a tear to your eye to think back to then and realize that just 14 years later, he would be leaving us. Oh, and don’t worry … we’ve already started creating the playlist.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

5 thoughts on “Day Three surprises from Winter Meetings

  • December 9, 2009 at 7:30 pm
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    I'm not totally opposed to the Bradley idea. There was talk of a Wells/Bradley swap at one point. If the Jays didn't have to absorb a ton of Wells contract it might be a good idea. Then again, if Wells has a great year next year, which is entirely likely, we would kick ourselves.

  • December 9, 2009 at 9:31 pm
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    I'm with you Mattt – I think the only scenario which could bring Milton Bradley to the Blue Jays is if Wells was sent elsewhere. The problem with that being Wells has a no trade clause, and the Blue Jays would likely have to eat a lot of money off his contract before any team would take him.

    Wells will bounce back next year – the question is HOW WELL will he bounce back?

  • December 9, 2009 at 9:38 pm
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    "Jays want young controllable players to build around."

    Well they are doing a pretty lousy job at getting any of these types of players so far.

  • December 10, 2009 at 12:13 am
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    While this is true, I'm glad AA isn't just making trades for the sake of looking busy at the Winter Meetings. He probably has a clear idea in his head about what he wants back for Halladay (or any other Blue Jay for that matter), so it make take a little longer than this week for the gears to start moving on that.

  • December 10, 2009 at 12:53 am
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    I can't believe you give a guy a ridiculously huge contract AND a no trade clause. It's like getting a huge raise at work with the option built in that no matter how poorly you do your job, or if a person better suited to the job comes along, you can't be fired.

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