Orange County Register

Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Beeston told the New York Post that the club is resigned to the fact that Roy Halladay will not re-sign them after his contract runs out at the end of 2010.

So, let the auction begin.

Halladay has told Toronto media folks that he’s antsy to win, and he’s 32 years old. The former Cy Young Award winner obviously will be pursued by Boston, the Yankees, Philadelphia and other rich franchises, and the Blue Jays will not be dealing from a position of strength as they were last summer.

The Angels refused to keep talking with Toronto when then-general manager J.P. Ricciardi uttered the magic words “Erick Aybar,” but there’s a new GM (Alex Anthopoulos) to deal with now.

And if the Yankees really are going after Halladay how does that affect their attitude toward signing John Lackey? And how much will “Doc” want? He’s already getting $15.75M for 2010.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch talked to reliever Kyle McClellan, who blew a 6-1 lead in Adam Wainwright’s final start this year. That would have been Wainwright’s 20th victory.

And maybe that would have enhanced Wainwright’s chances of winning the N.L. Cy Young Award.

Wainwright, who led the league with 19 victories, finished third behind teammate Chris Carpenter and winner Tim Lincecum of San Francisco, who won 15 games.

Two voters on the BBWAA panel left Carpenter on their ballots. Keith Law of ESPN shunned him in favor of Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez (15-10, as opposed to Carpenter’s 17-4, and with a higher ERA), and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus picked Arizona’s Dan Haren third and left Carpenter off. Haren was 14-10 with an ERA .90 higher than Carpenter’s.

Beyond the fact that Law and Carroll aren’t daily on-site baseball writers, the disregard for a pitcher’s win total is a little disquieting when you think about 1968.

Denny McLain of the Tigers won 31 games that year, the most since Dizzy Dean in 1934 and nine more than anyone else in the American League. He also pitched 336 innings, 44 more than anyone else, which means McLain accumulated a staggering 132 more outs than any other A.L. pitcher.

And he did win the Cy Young, unanimously. But he might not today. After all, Baltimore’s Dave McNally ranked first in WHIP (walks and hits, per innings pitched) with 0.84 and McLain was third, at 0.90.

If the Mets can ditch second baseman Luis Castillo, one of their many disappointments, they look to pursue free agents Chone Figgins or Orlando Hudson, according to the New York Post. But that will not be easy.

Here’s another guy who takes his BBWAA award voting seriously. In fact, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sounded almost as anguished about the Cy Young vote as Henry Schulman did. Maybe these guys should take a week off.

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Those of us who were presented with cut-and-dried ballots, like N.L. MVP (duh) are not envious of the Cy Young panel. But Goold, like me, thinks Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals was a sliver-thin choice over both teammate Chris Carpenter and the Giants’ Tim Lincecum, who eventually won.

Goold meticulously spells out his case. I would add this:

– As Schulman pointed out, strikeouts should not be a major factor in the voting. The Cardinals’ strategy is to pitch to contact, keep the pitch count down and go as many innings as you can. Since the Cardinals also have a very good defense, that’s a feasible strategy and Carpenter, for one, should not have been penalized for it.

– What didn’t make sense was the fact that Wainwright had more

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first-place votes than anyone but had only five second-place votes, which is basically why he finished third. Only once before has the leading vote-getter failed to win the Cy Young. That was when Tom Glavine edged Trevor Hoffman in 1998. That shouldn’t have happened either. Read the rest of this entry »

Henry Schulman covers the Giants for the San Francisco Chronicle and does it as professionally as just about anybody. The pro came out in Hammerin’ Hank on Thursday when he explained why he did not vote for the Giants’ Tim Lincecum to win his second consecutive Cy Young Award.

Lincecum won the award anyway, his second consecutive. He made $650,000 last season, by the way.

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Schulman was under no obligation to even divulge that he had a Cy Young ballot, let alone explain why he didn’t vote for the guy he covers daily. Instead he voted for the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter and put Lincecum second.

No doubt he’ll get slammed heavily for this, but it’s a great (and rare, these days) example of accountability. Way to go, Henry (even though you should have voted for Adam Wainwright).

Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks is trying to reinforce his bid to hang onto his baseball team, and that could have an impact on what happens in the free agent market, particularly as it relates to Angels righthander and Texas native John Lackey.

There’s little question that John Lackey will be the richest pitcher in this free-agent derby and there’s not much hope he’ll stay with the Angels.

With Andy Pettitte contemplating retirement, it appears the Yankees are the logical front-runners for Lackey, who pitched like a No. 1 starter for much of the postseason. But if Texas could get its finances together, it could lure Lackey back to his Lone Star home.

What do you think?