Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie throws against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning of their American League MLB baseball game in Toronto September 9, 2011. REUTERS/Fred ThornhillFred Thornhill/Reuters
With three of their starting pitchers felled by injuries, the Toronto Blue Jays are going to be linked to every trade rumour that comes along for the next little while.
The latest one making the rounds involves Jeremy Guthrie, the veteran right-hander who is struggling through a long season with the Colorado Rockies.
Reports being carried on both ESPN.com and Foxsports.com suggest the Blue Jays have been involved in trade talks with the Rockies to try and land the 33-year-old.
The reports say that the Blue Jays would have to agree to assume a "significant portion" of Guthrie's remaining salary – just under $5-million (all currency U.S.).
The American League club would also have to agree to send minor-league prospect Mike McDade to the Rockies.
McDade, Toronto's sixth-round selection in the 2007 draft, is enjoying a solid year at Double-A New Hampshire this season, with the first baseman hitting .304 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 65 games.
While such a move might make sense on one level, with the Blue Jays reeling from the recent injuries to starters Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison, it doesn't necessarily mesh with Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos's MO.
Anthopoulos covets younger players with controllability and Guthrie doesn't exactly fit that bill.
His one-year, $8.2-million arbitration contract runs out at the end of the year.
And when you consider how badly Guthire is struggling this season – 3-6 with a 7.02 earned-run average – you would have to question if the return would be worth it to Toronto.
Anthopoulos said last week that it is still early for any serious trade talks but that he expects things will heat up early next month as the July 31 trade deadline starts to get closer.
As that deadline approaches probably the name that will figure most often into conversations will be that of Adam Lind, who was banished back on May 6 to Triple-A Las Vegas to try to iron out his weak swing.
A left-handed-hitting first baseman, Lind was hitting just .186 at the time for Toronto – just .129 against lefties – and cleared waivers without so much as a sniff from any other MLB team.
Toronto manager John Farrell said recently that Lind's offensive decline was in a large part due to the fact he wasn't in good shape.
Now that he's hitting .412 through 26 games in Las Vegas, you have to wonder if that's still the main reason he hasn't been called back up by the Blue Jays.
Certainly one of the reasons is the continued solid play of David Cooper, who has been more than adequate over at first base since he was called up on May 25, hitting .279 in 19 games.