According to Rotoworld, the Jays are out of the Lilly sweepstakes:
Agent Larry O'Brien said Wednesday that the Blue Jays are out of the running for free agent Ted Lilly.
"It's down to the Cubs and the Yankees," O'Brien said. It's unclear whether the Yankees have made an offer. That could come with the two sides due to meet later the afternoon. The Cubs have offered $40 million-$44 million for four years.
Source: http://www.rotoworld.com/content/Home_MLB.aspx
I guess the focus will now turn to Meche...
Rob MacLeod of the Globe says the Jays are out of the Lilly race
Lilly has reportedly decided that it was "time for a change in scenery." So he probably never had any intention of signing with Toronto -- but was merely using the Jays to juice up the bidding war. Of course he's entitled to do that, and of course a lot of Bauxites will say good riddance to the guy. But for those of us who would have liked to see Toronto retain its 3rd-best starting pitcher: can we try to analyze what it was that drove Lilly away? Is it time to revisit the shoving match with Gibbons and see whether that was a factor, despite their denials? Or did JP manage to offend him with blunt words at some point? I'm curious why someone would want to leave a competitive team that was offering a generous salary.
Of course it's possible that Lilly's agent is fibbing and Lilly is simply going for the biggest bucks. But let's take his agent's words at face value for a moment. If it's true that Lilly wanted to leave Toronto, was he mishandled in Toronto? Were there whispering campaigns against him? Was there a history of tension that led to the blow-up with Gibbons and now we are seeing the final result of those tensions?
So there has to be another explanation: Lilly didn't like the Jays, or the Jays didn't like Lilly.
Colour me unconvinced. If the Jays had no interest in Lilly, why did they spend all this time in faux pursuit, in order to help him cash in somewhere else? If they weren't interested, they would have given him the Bengie Molina treatment instead, rather than wasting time and effort that could have been spent more productively elsewhere (see Lugo, Julio).
The simplest explanation is usually the most likely one. At the end of the day, Lilly felt it was time to simply move on. I can't say I'm surprised, since he never seemed all that comfortable here. He and Arnsberg never seemed to really get along, and obviously he and Gibbons had their differences. Thanks for the three years, Ted, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Given the choice between the two outcomes, I'd rather see Lilly sign with the Cubs than the Yankees for two reasons:
1. Lilly's a good pitcher and I'm not interested in the Yankees getting any stronger
2. The Jays would be better off with the Cubs' draft pick than the Yankees' draft pick.
On the Fan 590, Wilner just said that the Jays have all but signed Stairs (yeah!) and JP has now turned his attention to adding only 1 starter, naming Josh Towers as his #5 guy.
Strike 2:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball
My guess is that JP will turn to the trade market to find a starter. I don't see any of the rest of the free agents coming to Toronto.
So, so far these winter meetings have been way less fun than last years. Oh Eeyore, why did you forsake us for the Cubs, who offered you the same money?
Theories? He really likes goats and anything to do with them. He practiced on Gibby and now he gets to fullfill his life long dream of punching Lou Pinella. He wants to witness first hand when Pinella's head explodes from the pressure of trying to win in Chicago. He needs to play for fans who are as sad as he is.
As for Meche. Dumped for the Royals? Agh. I wish sometimes the players would just say "They offered me more money and I get to be a leader" rather than some BS excuse of "playing for a smaller town, less pressure." What the hell is that? I think the mistake was taking him to a Leafs game. He saw their play in the 3rd period and decided to stay the hell away from the city.
