Shaun Marcum starts in Dunedin!

The road to recovery took a big leap forward for RHP Shaun Marcum, who threw 3 innings in HiA Dunedin and lasted 3 innings, allowing 2 hits, no runs, no walks, while striking out 1. This is huge news for the Jays who may be looking to deal Roy Halladay if they get their asking price for him. With so many able SPs on the DL returning for 2010 - including Marcum - there's a strong chance that Jays management will force Roy to decide whether he'll sign an extension or whether he wants to be dealt. Marcum's start was very encouraging, but we'll have to see if he makes another start on schedule before getting too excited about it. Soreness usually shows up the next day, so time will tell if we can expect Marcum to return in early September or so.

I can already hear the Texas Rangers picking up the phone...."We'll begin our offer with Chris Davis, Neftali Feliz, and Neil Ramirez, and add......, so long as we get Lyle Overbay along with Roy." They Jays could leave Davis in AAA to work out his strikeout fetish and give poor Brian Dopirak a chance to prove himself in the bigs. Davis could even be used at 3B where the Jays have very little depth should Rolen get injured or also be dealt. Not only would this save the Jays a ton of money and make them much younger while they sell high on the best pitcher in franchise history (along with Tom Henke), but it would provide the Jays with a ton of talent for the long term. If the Jays dealt Roy and Lyle in a deal with Texas, they'd save 15.75m from Roy's 2010 contract and whatever an extension would cost, and 7m from Lyle's contract. These cuts are necessary when you consider that Wells has a contract jumping from 1.5m in 2009, to 12.5m in 2010, and 23m in 2011. Some of the money saved could also be used to sign big international prospect talents and other free agents once the season ends. Texas has Smoak in AAA waiting to grab 1st base, and has 5-7 very strong SP in the minors. If they feel they can make a playoff run this season, Roy's addition could cement their stake. They also have the money to sign him to an extension and can use Lyle's D at 1st base while using the oft injured Blalock as primarily a 3B/1B backup and DH.