Someone please trade for Cliff Lee...

It seems like most teams are hesitant about paying the price for Doc because they still believe that they can grab Lee at a cheaper price. So the only way JP is going to get his price is if Cliff Lee's taken off the market. The strongest rumors have Lee going to the LAD along with VMart, but these were put down immediately by LAD management as having less than zero truth to them, so you can count them out.

The Phillies are hoping that the same package they offered the Jays appeals to the Indians so that they can grab Lee. Unless JP counters with slight changes that allows the Phils to swap Happ for Carraso, and/or Michael Taylor for Dominic Brown, I'm not so sure the Jays will bite. For what it's worth, Jays scouts went to see Brown play yesterday and he went 0 for 3 with 1 walk and 1 strike out. I'm not sure if they were also scouting Taylor, but he went 0 for 2 with 2 walks. The offer that would best fit the needs of the teams involved here is there to be had, it just needs to be tinkered with. But, will a surprise offer be made by a 3rd team?

Well, the order of teams likely to make a move for Roy now based on rumors only are as follows:

PHI - CHW - LAD - NYY - DET - TEX - COL - TB - BOS

Any one of these teams could come out on top, and I'd say that Detroit - who haven't been to the playoffs in quite a while - may be the best "out of nowhere offer" scenario, along with their AL central rival CHW.

However, all of those teams are also scouting Lee, who's price hasn't been made public in the same way that Doc's has. That and Lee hasn't come out and said that he doubts something will get done. I'm really hoping we find out the suitor soon and that the Phils realize that with Doc, they are a lot more likely to repeat this year, and next for that matter. Pedro Martinez is not the answer for them.... and maybe that's what they're really hoping for. To have enough to win without unloading the majority of their prospect talent. Will Phils fans agree?

When it all comes down to it, there is only 1 question to ask: Who would teams rather have on their squads - last year's Cy young winner, or the probable winner of this year's award?