Janssen Done for '08

There's only one way to express how I feel about this unfortunate turn of events: Tabarnak ma caliss.

I was trying to be cautiously optimistic that we'd see Janssen back in the bully this year, but news arrives from the Star that Mighty Casey "will have surgery for a torn labrum in California next Tuesday or Wednesday, and is gone for the season."

JP isn't pushing the panic button, but Batter's Box says he's looking to trade for another starter. I'm both fearful and excited... If JP went big here he'd also cover his ass for AJ Burnett's departure via the old opt out. Should JP trade key prospects now, he could always recover new ones by moving AJ at the deadline, too.

If JP does want to go big, his mentor Billy Beane could offer up Joe Blanton or Rich Harden.

It's hard not to like Blanton, but he's got a lot of mileage on his 27-year-old arm. On the plus side, he's got good control and eats alot of innings. On the negative side, he didn't really have homer issues in Oakland, but he has middling K/9 IP numbers and puts a lot of balls in the air. He's only had three starts in Toronto, an absolute gem, a quality start, and a real stinker. You'd have to pay up, though, because he's under club control for three more years. Rotoworld says the Yankees are expressing interest, but Beane wants the moon and the stars. They should be alot more desperate than we are and I can't say I'd be sad to see the A's rob them blind of prospects

Rich Harden... Rotoworld confirms that he is available if healthy. At $4.5 million for this year and a club option for $7 million in '09, you're not going to get skinned dollar-wise. His injury-riddled career (13 starts over the past two years) probably drives his price down lower than Blanton's. Is he the next Roy Halladay or the next AJ Burnett (or Kerry Wood)? He's Canadian, too, but this is a baseball trade designed to improve the ball club, not a marketing decision designed to sell tickets.

I'd go with Harden.

On the FA market, there's Kyle Lohse, Jeff Weaver (god no!), and a bunch of guys you'd have to be totally hammered to sign like Bruce Chen, Ryan Drese, Casey Fossum, Zach Day and various other shit leopards.

We either cover this internally (Purcey, Romero, Parrish), go with a weak FA (Lohse), or make a major trade. We shall see...

-- Johnny Was