It looks like there’s only one week to go in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes instead of the week and a half that the trade deadline would mean. Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said yesterday that if a deal isn’t worked out by July 28, there would be no deal at all involving the Doc.
There have been some developments regarding the Halladay trade front, but mainly it has been about teams balking at the Jays requests, scouting him or simply feeling out what the bidding could begin at.
— The Yankees have reportedly asked for the right to match any offer for Halladay. My first question is: “Why?” And my second question is: “Why?” Those are as in: “Why would the Jays ever trade their best player to their division rival?” and “Why would the Yankees be looking to match a deal that would be prospect heavy and they are prospect weak?”
— As much as I love Kyle Drabek — he’s been one of “My Boys” since he was drafted — I wouldn’t balk at putting him in a deal if it landed my team Roy Halladay. If I was the Phillies and truly wanted to repeat, I’d throw his name out there.
— Looks like the Mets are out. It’s not like they really have a chance this season, but could you imagine an entire season of Johan and Roy pitching back-to-back? The odds are that they could get Halladay for less this winter if he’s back on the block then.
— The Dodgers won’t include their star young gun Clayton Kershaw, but really, I think that he wouldn’t be a good fit for the Jays. He’s a solid young guy for an NL team but I’m not sure how well he’d fare in the junior circuit.
Now these exclusions from deals leads us to the most interesting part of yesterday’s news from the Jays. J.P. also said that it was unlikely that the Jays would even deal their ace due to the lack of an “overwhelming offer.”
Hmmm… This sounds mighty close to someone I wrote when the trading Halladay saga began about a few weeks ago.
That’s right, I said that Halladay would not be dealt and unless somebody ponies up an incredible offer for the all-star starter and arguably the best pitcher in the game, well he’ll still be playing his trade for Canada’s team and getting some vacay time this October.
I know this is really boring and you are skipping to the next comment, but I just wanted to throw you a big thanks – you cleared up some things for me!