Blue Jays Game Day Preview: July 24th 2009

Friday July 24th 2009

Tampa Bay Rays (52-44), 3rd in AL East

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Toronto Blue Jays (47-49), 4th in AL East


Probable Pitching Matchup

Matt Garza (6-7, 3.80ERA)

vs

Roy Halladay (11-3, 2.73ERA)

Blue Jays Machine Expects:

All the attention to be on Roy Halladay.

Anyday now we could see Roy Halladay leave the Toronto Blue Jays.

I had reported earlier this week that J.P Ricciardi did not think Halladay would be going anywhere.

Well, yesterday afternoon Ricciardi hit Jays fans with a shocker.

It turns out that in speaking with Halladay, Halladay has said he will test the free agent market once his contract ends at the end of the 2010 season.

That does not necessarily mean the Jays will trade Halladay this season, but it does change the perspective of a lot of things.

Do the Jays keep Halladay and try and contend in 2010 like they have promised Toronto fans?

Do they trade him now and get as much as they can for him?

This could very well be Halladay's final start in a Jays uniform.

Wait, have I not written that numerous times over the past few weeks?

Well, Jays fans will have to wait and see, wont they.

Blue Jays News:

Halladay, Halladay, Halladay is all Jays fans really care about right now but in other Jays news, Brian Tallet will start Saturday's game for the Jays, even though he was just sent back to his long relief role in the bullpen.

Other baseball News:

The St.Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics are close to finalizing a trade for outfielder Matt Holliday reports Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com here:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9847882/Sources:-Cards-close-to-getting-Holliday-from-A's

It looks as if the Cardinals will give up highly touted third base prospect Brett Wallace, right hander Clayton Mortensen and one other prospect.

If this occurs Holliday will join Albert Pujols, Ryan Ludwick, and Mark DeRosa (currently on the DL) to form quite the offensive tandem, in the middle of the Cardinals lineup.