Did the Clay Showcase Work?

Every Jays fan out there has to be on pins and needles wondering what trades, if any, will occur within the next 12 days. The showcase by the Red Sox of Clay Buchholz was masked as an attempt to give their starters an extra day of rest, but rumors are abound that it was to display his skills to Jays brass who are evaluating all options in a Doc Halladay deal. Clay's line last night was: 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 HA, 3 BB, 3 Ks. Not bad, and if you take Lyle Overbay out of the equation, he only allowed 1 hit. It seems to me that he trusts his stuff more now than he ever has and has matured to the point of pitching to contact instead of trying to rack up some Ks. Doc himself is a fan of that style of pitching and I had some visions of Clay and Ricky Romero, his opponent last night, pitching on the same squad. Surely a rotation of Ricky Romero, Clay Buchholz, Bret Cecil, and Marc Rzepczynski wouldn't take too long to mature and would keep the Jays competitive for a long, long time. Add in Richmond, Listch, Marcum, and McGowan, and you get a pretty dynamic rotation.

So, was it enough to entice the Jays to deal their ace to a division rival? Well, it seems to me that if Clay is in fact on the table, there has yet to be a better "semi-public" offer on the table. Most teams seem to be trying to push the price down or are unwilling to deal talents that are MLB ready. Therefore, if the Red Sox are in fact willing to deal Clay Buchholz, a pitcher many view as a future ace, the Jays should look at accepting that deal and supplementing it with as many other prospects as possible. As stated earlier on this site, the Red Sox are also looking at Scott Rolen as an option to replace Mike Lowell, so Lowell's health in the next couple of days could define how big this deal actually gets and how many prospects the Jays can pry away from the Red Sox....if a deal gets done that is. Let's remember that the Red Sox have never shied away from dealing REAL talent to get a championship team going. After all, they did deal Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez in order to get Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell from Florida. The Jays do want a replacement for Lyle Overbay and one for Scott Rolen, so if the Sox can fill those voids with prospects, I can see a deal being done before July 31st. I certainly hope it does, because I don't see the Jays resigning Doc, and his value will never be higher than it is today.