According to scout Inc., Ted Lilly's agent said the starting point for contract negotiations is 4 years at $37 million. Wow, just shows you what a weak free agent market will do to player salaries. I have a feeling Lilly will get at least $10 million a season, and I don't really think he's worth that much. He's very inconsistent, pitching lights out for a couple games, then gets shelled for a couple. The problem for the Jays is, there just aren't that many quality pitchers out there, and there is lots of competition for those pitchers. I'm not including Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt, as only a couple teams have a shot at them considering they will get over $15 million a season.

Mark Mulder and Vincente Padilla apparently no longer interest the Jays, with Mulder rumored to be chased heavily by the Diamondbacks. Gil Meche and Ted Lilly are really the only 2, class 2 free agents that the Jays are interested in, and I'm not sold on either. J.P. would like to add 2 starting pitchers this off-season. There is said to be a mild interest in Tony Armas Jr. formerly of the Nationals. I haven't come across Mark Redman's name in any rumors, but he could be a lower level pitching option for the Jays. He finished close to .500 and 4.50 ERA with awful Royals, which is pretty good, but could duplicate those numbers when not in a contract year? Either way you look at it, the Jays (or the team signs them) will have overpaid for average pitching.