Mylegacy, I doff my hat and bow deeply in deference to your sage, lucid and germane 2:00AM comments--undoubtedly fueled by some 17 hours of indulging in one of your favorite activities--with regard to the Jays' possible acquisition of Anxious Guy.  Couldn't agree more.

Jays finished 6th in runs scored last year, I believe 105 runs behind Yankees.  Besides the necessary  improved performances which you have already pointed out, Arencibia needs to very quickly learn how to hit major-league pitching.  And the team needs a DH (Manny?) with a .400+ OBP for the #3 slot in front of Bautista and Wells.

All of the above is moot, if the relief corps loses 30 games.  That area is truly a shambles at the present time.  

It could be much improved if, say, two of Zep, Richmond, Stewart, Litsch can man the front end better than the likes of  gonzo Tallet and Accardo, and Carlson, Roenicke, Lewis, et al, have shown. That would leave Janssen, Camp, Purcey and Frasor at the back end.  Still a little shaky.

But add in a big-time closer like Walkin' Soria and, suddenly, it's not a bad bullpen.  The guy's phenomenal and at 26, he is just entering his prime .  Soria's made 132 saves in 145 opportunities with a 2.01 ERA over the past four years.  

I wonder if a package like Frasor or Camp or Janssen, plus Stewart and McDade, plus the Jays' #1 pick in the 2011 draft would be enough to land him.  Assuming Jays had a window to sign Joakim for $25-$30 million over  three years, kicking in after his current deal expires.

plus the Jays' #1 pick in the 2011 draft

You can't trade draft picks in baseball.

I don't know how anyone could realistically believe that the Jays are, "one more big piece", away from competing for the AL East crown.  They're about three or four pieces away and would be better served developing those pieces from within their own system, at least until they're only one piece away and truly ready to compete.

Having said that, if the money's there for an extension I wouldn't be opposed to a deal that netted Greinke and involved a pitching prospect like Drabek because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but trading Travis Snider would be a big mistake and would just open up another hole in the outfield.  And I believe that Snider is going to bust out this year.

I'm not getting too worked up about it though because I don't think AA is stupid.  He's not going to trade Snider and Drabek for two years of Greinke when the Jays aren't realistically going to be contenders over that two year period.

And A-Gon is going to be a monster in Fenway.  If you take his numbers away from Petco over the past four seasons from 2007-2010, you're looking at a slash line of .305/.383/.592 with an average of 45 homeruns a year.  Give him the green monster, Pesky's pole, and a good lineup, and his numbers are going to be ridonkulous.  I think Boston just became the favourites in the AL East, even if they don't sign Werth or Crawford.  This is a great deal for the Red Sox.

Otherwise it is an awfully expensive way to marginally upgrade a roster if the reported contract demands are accurate (8 years and $160M + 3 organizational top 10 prospects). For the Blue Jays he would represent a significant improvement to the roster, to the Red Sox I am not as convinced.

Unfortunately, from what I see on Rotoworld, I think Thomas may be referring to the Adrian Gonzalez deal falling through. (?) 

 Add me to those who doesn't want to see Grienke at a cost of Snider and Drabek.

Yes, it's the Gonzalez trade that might fall through.

Before looking at Greinke's splits, I thought it would be terrible to trade Snider and Drabek for him.  After looking at the splits, I think it would be even worse.  His home park has helped him a fair bit.  His career ERA on the road is 4.12.  His career WHIP on the road is 1.29.  All while playing in a weak division.  Somehow, based on one amazing season, Greinke seems to have been given the label of an ace starter.  For the rest of his career, he hasn't been performing at that level.  I thought one of the most important things for a GM to do was to not overrate players based on one "career year".  AA can't be making a mistake that basic can he?  Apparently the Royals have asked Milwaukee for Braun even up for Greinke.  This stuff is nuts.   

I think A-Gon would be a pretty big improvement.  If he played anywhere but San Diego his numbers would likely be consistently in the top 10 or top 5 in baseball.   His OPS' the last three years away from Petco have been .946, 1.045 and .980.

Also, Ken Rosenthal is saying that the deal "is far from over".

Wow the market is up.  No one was predicting seven years for Werth.  Boston may be balking at Agon's price, but it just went up again.

We haven't seen contracts like these for several offseasons.

The owners will have a tough time cyring poor ahead of next years Labor negotiations.

Congrats to Scott Boras. I know MLB is swimming in cash but I didn’t see Werth getting 127 million. I wonder if some team will give Crawford a 10 year/200 million deal.

From a Jay’s fan perspective, the bargain bin still looks pretty good. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick Johnson and Rich Harden have to settle for a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. There hasn’t been a lot of public discussion on Manny. We all know he’s only looking for a 1 year contract and is interested in playing for the Jays. I wouldn't have a problem giving him a 1 yr/3 million contract with another 2 million in incentives. People say Manny is washed up but he would have been the 2nd or 3rd best hitter on the Jay’s last season.

I have heard this a lot over the last couple of days and it could very well be true. The reason I posed the question was a quick examination of WAR for Gonzalez and Youkilis over the last couple of seasons. WAR, which is park adjusted unless I am mistaken, has Youkilis and Gonzalez as both essentially top 5 1B during that time. They have both been great players, with perhaps Youkilis being somewhat undervalued. While not a true challenge trade in the traditional sense, it gives rise to the situation that Gonzalez had better out perform what Youkilis would have given the Sox AND Youkilis had better provide at least as much value as Beltre at the hot corner for the trade to provide significant value.

Rosenthal says now Jays are on Grienke's no-trade list

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/26225676

It only has to be perceived by Washington that way. They may also know they are overpaying but can't get top FA players to take their money to play for them.

I'm not trying to defend that it's a good or smart deal, but they did it and it probably will affect other deals for players. Deals like Buck's are worse though, paying good money for okay players.

This link might not last long http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=344366 , but it suggests reasons for acquiring Zach Greinke.

1) If Andy Pettitte retires, is New York in trouble?   If Cliff Lee and 'wifey' decide on staying in Texas, is New York in trouble?   If Zach Greinke is traded to Team B and no longer available, is New York in trouble?   If Carl Pavano is the best available Starter, is New York in trouble?   I think they might even finish 3rd.

2) Tampa Bay is hurting and it's getting worse.   Estimates of a $50.0MM to a $60.0MM salary ceiling has them free-falling out of 1st place.   They have a lot of arbitration cases to deal with yet, and still might trade or waive decisions away.   I'm not satisfied the replacements to the departed and departing will be of sufficient caliber this coming year.   As a result, I think Tampa Bay won't finish top two.

3) I believe Toronto can compete this coming year (if you don't, why are you a fan), can be better the next season and even better the following seasons.   We have a narrowing window of opportunity here, in this off-season, that won't come very often.   Our Starting Pitcher was and is good, but not very good.   Our Bullpen was barely just adequate.   Three of our Core players had terrible years, yet we hit well enough to finish much better than projected.   We have a chance.

4) If we have Greinke, no one we compete with will.   None of our budding Aces actually have to be that for the next two or more years.  Of course, having two Aces means your ready for the post-season.

5) http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/red-sox-acquire-adrian-gonzalez-1.html means A.A. needs his WOW from these meeting to excite the fan base.   So why not.

And what does this  http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/brewers-close-to-deal-for-shaun-marcum.html mean? 

I'm not trying to defend that it's a good or smart deal, but they did it and it probably will affect other deals for players. Deals like Buck's are worse though, paying good money for okay players.

Well if you miss on a 3 year 18 million dollar deal, ok, not the end of the world. If you miss on a 7 year 126 million dollar it can cripple an entire franchise. So while I agree in principal that it's better to pay extra for elite talent than for middling talent, Werth is making three times as much for over twice as long as Buck. And let's face it, Jayson Werth is in his 30s and had injury problems - if you could take any player in baseball for the next 7 years, Werth wouldn't be in the top 75.

Because of J werth, how much is J Bautista going to cost? # of years & Total $.

Bautista is not a free agent. He will be after 2011. The magntitude of his presumed regression in 2011 will obviously speak volumes about the contract offers he will see.

When league revenues have been growing at a rate of 8-9 percent per year, salaries escalate quickly as the revenue growth rate compounds. In 2019, $27.5 million is going to seem like peanuts.