It could be a ploy to get teams to up their offers or the Blue Jays may have decided to keep Roy Halladay rather than accept what they believe are inferior packages for the best right-handed pitcher in the game.
Either way, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said yesterday it’s likely Halladay won’t be dealt and informed those interested in talking trade that the deadline is no longer July 31 but July 28, due to the magnitude of moving a player of Halladay’s caliber.
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Ricciardi wants the issue resolved before Halladay, who has a no-trade clause, starts on July 29 against Seattle.
“At this point, it’s probably unlikely that we’ll trade Doc,” Ricciardi said. “No one has really stepped up yet. We’ve got to be highly motivated to move him. We haven’t been highly motivated yet.”
Certainly not by the Yankees, who from the start of the process on July 6 haven’t believed the Blue Jays would deal them Halladay. They don’t have the shortstop the Blue Jays covet.
The Phillies, Rangers and Dodgers have an interest but apparently not strong enough to get a deal done.
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In order to clear a spot for last night’s starter Sergio Mitre, the Yankees designated reliever Brett Tomko for assignment. They have 10 days to trade or release the right-hander after he clears waivers.
“I figured it would be me,” said Tomko, who was 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA
in 15 games but only three this month. “I am not pitching, and as much as you want to be part of a good team, I want to pitch. I don’t think I was going to get a chance here. You take it on the chin and see what happens.”
Designating Tomko cleared space on the 25-man and 40-man roster for Mitre, who was elevated from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A).
“We played a lot of close games and he didn’t get a chance to pitch a lot,” manager Joe Girardi said of Tomko. “It’s hard to stay sharp.”
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One night after winning Monday’s game with a ninth-inning homer,
Hideki Matsui was on the bench last night when Girardi used Alex
Rodriguez as the DH against Orioles lefty Rich Hill.
It was part of Girardi’s plan to give his cleanup hitter a “half day off” from time to time so not to tax his surgically repaired right
hip.
“It’s hard,” Girardi said of yanking Matsui out of the lineup. “But we still have to DH Alex some days. We are in a long stretch of games and it’s going to happen. I don’t like taking Matsui’s bat out of the lineup. He makes us a complete lineup.”
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Girardi has Eric Hinske to play third, but since the left-handed Hill started for the O’s, Girardi turned to the right-hand-hitting Cody Ransom at third. Ransom went 1-for-1 with a double, walked twice, scored twice and stole a base in his first start since July 10.
As for Rodriguez, Girardi has liked what he has seen but understands there is a fine line to walk with Rodriguez’s workload.
“He is doing pretty good but you have to be smart and not run him into the ground,” Girardi said of his cleanup hitter, who delivered a two-out, two-run single in the third that put the Yankees ahead 3-2.
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Lefty reliever Damaso Marte worked an inning last night for SWB,
allowing two hits and a run. It was his third minor league game (two for the Gulf Coast League) but not the last.
“The results will dictate when he is ready,” Girardi said of Marte, who has been out since April 25 with a bothersome shoulder. “I still think he needs more time. I don’t see it in a day or two.”
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RHP A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81 ERA) draws RHP Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44) today.