Baseball notebook: Toronto ace trade bait?

Roy Halladay wants to keep pitching for Toronto, but is willing to consider accepting a trade if approached by the Blue Jays.

“I want to stay, but I think it’s a situation you have to evaluate,” Halladay said before Tuesday night’s game against Tampa Bay. “I’m really not at that situation just yet. If something does come up, you weigh your options at that point. I hate to put the cart in front of the horse and start saying ‘Do I want to do that? I think you just evaluate the situations when they come.”

Halladay is 10-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 16 starts. He’ll be paid $14.25 million this year and his contract, which has a no-trade clause, expires after the 2010 season.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said he’s willing to listen to offers for Halladay.

White Sox hampered

Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams said he may not be able to make a big trade this season because of smaller crowds at U.S. Cellular Field.

Williams cited slumping attendance as a reason the White Sox may not be able to pull off another big move that would add salary.

Fan settles lawsuit

A baseball fan has settled a lawsuit that claimed he was kicked out of Yankee Stadium by a police officer because he left his seat to use the bathroom during the playing of “God Bless America.”

Bradford Campeau-Laurion had named the Yankees and New York City in his federal lawsuit, which argued that he was a victim of political and religious discrimination and that his rights were violated at the August 2008 game.

Clearing the bases

Randy Johnson has never had a hurt shoulder, so it’s hard for the Big Unit to predict when he might be back on the mound. He hinted it could take longer than a stint on the 15-day disabled list for his strained left shoulder to recover. … A freak accident landed Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster on the DL with a fracture of his big right toe. He could be out for up to a month. Dempster was hopping over the dugout railing to go on the field and celebrate Sunday’s victory over the Brewers when he caught his back leg on the railing and landed hard. … Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario is going back to Los Angeles for tests on his painful right elbow. … St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has quietly dropped his lawsuit against Twitter Inc.