From overpay to Overbay

The Jays are at it again, hogging all the prime territory in this morning's acreage:

Lyle Overbay is the latest to end up in J.P. Ricciardi's bag, his acquisition announced around midnight last night from the Brewers, in a 5-player deal that sends young pitcher Dave Bush and outfielder Gabe Gross to Milwaukee. And the hits just figure to keep on coming, says Geoff Baker:

The Jays aren't finished yet and are expected to keep pursuing a deal for outfielder Brad Wilkerson, who was traded last night by the Washington Nationals — along with outfielder Termel Sledge and a player to be named — to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Alfonso Soriano. Toronto had been exploring the possibility of a deal with the Nationals and will now look to acquire Wilkerson from the Rangers for a package of pitchers and possibly second baseman Orlando Hudson, who would fill the void left by Soriano.

Part of that package includes Miguel Batista and Alex Rios, too, as Jeff Blair notes in the Globe. I'm not a big Rios fan, and Batista is surplus now that B.J. Ryan is the closer. But I would really, really miss Hudson being out there vacuuming the right side of the infield.
It sounds very much in play, this one, so I suspect Blair can be trusted here and we could see heavy JABS action in a few hours: "It figures to be a busy day for the Blue Jays."

Elsewhere last night, first Phil Jackson was making goo-goo eyes at Chris Bosh. Then the Lakers went out and shot bulls-eyes against the Raptors' usual tattered-cloak defence.

It's Lou Marsh Award day. And right on cue, Steve Nash (hint, hint) has the Phoenix Suns on an eight-game winning streak.

Cathal Kelly gives you some World Cup draw rules that will make your head hurt, and here's the kicker: Beware the Ivory Coast.

Manchester United got a dream start but faded and crashed out of Europe last night. R-rated United Rant puts the price of failure in visual terms this morning. Others peg it at 15 million quid.

And finally, a great piece by Steven Wells in the Guardian on (unreported and barely noted) American equivalent to Europe's soccer hooligans.

Comments

[David Johnson]

What's the fascination with Wilkerson? He had 11 HRs and 57 RBI last year while batting .248. Rios had 10 HRs and 59 RBI while batting .273 and ~80 fewer at bats. Wilkerson is 28 while Rios is 24 and should only get better. Yes, Wilkerson had a bit of an off year last year but even so, his career high in RBI is 77 and while he did have 32 HRs in 2004 that seems to be a bit of an anomoly. I'd rather see the Jays take a chance on Rios improving over Wilkerson. And although I don't know a lot about Wilkerson, I can't imagine he is any better defensively.