Joe Strauss from the St. Louis Post Dispatch tweeted last night that a Cardinals club official responded with the following when asked about the Cardinals interest in Roy Halladay:
Asked about the price tag for Halladay, a club source said: "Give Ricciardi all our minor-league rosters and let him circle any 5 names."
Check out the Baseball Prospectus pre-season top 11 prospects list created by Kevin Goldstein after the jump:
Five-Star Prospects
1. Colby Rasmus, CF
2. Brett Wallace, 3B
Four-Star Prospects
3. Chris Perez, RHP
4. Daryl Jones, LF
Three-Star Prospects
5. Jess Todd, RHP
6. Adam Reifer, RHP
7. Bryan Anderson, C
8. Jaime Garcia, LHP
9. Lance Lynn, RHP
10. Jason Motte, RHP
Two-Star Prospects
11. Niko Vasquez, SS
Just Missed: Mitch Boggs, RHP; Jon Jay, OF; Peter Kozma, SS
Now taking a look at this list, Colby Rasmus and Jason Motte are on the big league roster, and Chris Perez was traded to the Indians in the Mark DeRosa deal, leaving Ricciardi with a list that includes Brett Wallace, Daryl Jones, Jess Todd, Bryan Anderson and Peter Kozma, Mitch Boggs or Jaime Garcia.
If I were Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, I would want the deal to start with Rasmus and Wallace, otherwise, I test Phillies GM Ruben Amaro who can up the ante to include AA P Kyle Drabek instead of AAA P Carlos Carrasco. Don't get me wrong, Wallace can rake, but he is not a major league third baseman by all accounts. The rest of the top 5 I listed are not as "major league ready" as the proposed Phillies offer I made yesterday which included J.A. Happ, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Taylor and Jason Donald.
And secondly, why wouldn't the Cardinals go after a bat rather than a starting pitcher? They still need a bat to protect Albert Pujols, especially when they don't know when Mark DeRosa is coming off the DL.