First he lost Lilly. Now it appears that J.P. Ricciardi and the Jays have also missed out on righty Gil Meche. So much for J.P.'s confidence that he could reel in both pitchers. Where does this leave the pitching desperate Jays on the last day of the Winter Meetings?

Earlier this week, Ricciardi mentioned Jeff Suppan and Mark Redman as alternatives to Lilly and Meche. The Rockies' Jason Jennings and LA's Brad Penny may also figure into a trade. In addition, there's talk that the Jays and White Sox might work out a swap involving Vernon Wells for pitching, a notion I can get behind.

I'm a little surprised that Suppan hasn't gotten more ink this week–he's a decent starter who did a lot of good for his free agent value with his post-season command. It would be very nice to add a lefty to the rotation, but I think Suppan is still the Jays best option. I like him more than both Lilly and Meche.

Mark Redman has been on the Jays radar for some time now. I haven't seen him pitch much, but I do remember cries about his mediocrity last season when the Jays were pursuing him before the trade deadline. That being said, he's a LHP with almost 8 full seasons under his belt. He had a difficult 2005 playing with the Pirates, but otherwise he has consistently won more than he's lost, posting an average ERA. Redman has bounced around to 6 teams in his career–the fact that teams don't keep him around is concerning.

Jason Jennings appears to be high on the Astros' list of targets, especially since Pettitte is apparently leaning toward returning to the Yankees (Please Andy, no! We need you deep in the heart of Texas!) The Denver Post also reports that the Jays are dangling Reed Johnson and a young starter to acquire the Rockies' righty. Jennings has pitched his whole career at Mile High so it's hard to take his numbers without a grain of salt. While he posted a decent 3.78 ERA in 2006, I'm concerned about his win-loss records–he's been a below .500 pitcher for the past two years. I haven't seen Jennings pitch–what part of this picture am I missing? He doesn't appear to be much of a catch. Can someone enlighten me?

Brad Penny is actively being shopped by the Dodgers, and the LA Times has suggested that he could be had by the Jays in a trade involving Vernon Wells. I'm not certain why Ricciardi hasn't pulled the trigger on a Wells trade yet. The super slugging CF has made it clear that he wants to test the free agent market after the 2007 season, so the longer J.P. waits to trade him, the more Vernon's trade value will go down. While Penny posted a nice 16-9 record last season, I feel the Dodgers would need to build a solid package that includes a tantalizing prospect or two in order for this potential deal to be equalized.

If Wells is traded to the White Sox, what might the Jays get in return? The readership over at MLB Trade Rumors suggest one or more of Jon Garland, Brandon McCarthy, Ryan Sweeney, Brian Anderson and Scott Podsednik could be involved.

There are a couple of other "second tier" pitchers on the market to be had, namely former Cardinals Jason Marquis, who had a rough time out there last season, and Mark Mulder, who is coming off season-ending shoulder surgery. Both come with risks. I haven't heard even a whisper about Marquis lately, and the last I heard about Mulder was that he was involved in talks with the Diamondbacks.

In any case, J.P.'s chance to make a splashy pitcher signing at the Winter Meetings like he did last year is fading fast. He may need to go the trade route to get the arm(s) he needs for the 2007 campaign, and if Vernon is moved, all we can hope for is to get respectable value in return.

UPDATE: It looks like Jon Garland might be headed to Houston (in exchange for CF Willy Taveras and RHP prospects Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh) effectively removing him from any package the White Sox cook up for Vernon Wells. If this goes through, I don't think the White Sox will be that eager to part with any more starting pitchers, eliminating them as a desirable trade partner for the Jays in their quest for arms. This trade also gives further strength to the rumor that Pettitte will sign with the Yankees for '07.

UPDATE 2: The Garland deal is being downplayed by the Sox. 

This post was added on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 10:37 am and is filed under Trade Rumors . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.