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The Doc Calls

Ken Rosenthal thinks the Roy Halladay sweepstakes is set to begin shortly. Guess which two teams he puts at the top of his list of suitors.

The Yankees invested a combined $243.5 million on Sabathia and A.J.
Burnett last offseason, and Halladay might be better than both of them.
Right-hander Phil Hughes could top the team's package, and one GM who
recently examined the Yankees' system says, "There are more intriguing
guys down low than I anticipated."

Among them: Catchers Jesus Montero, 19 and Austin Romine, 20.

and:

Where the Yankees sniff, the Red Sox follow. No doubt the Sox could put
together a stunning package for Halladay, starting with right-hander
Clay Buchholz. They then would control Halladay and right-hander Josh
Beckett through 2010 and lefty Jon Lester through '14. Wow.

Then
again, the Red Sox could determine that their greater need is a hitter,
and Indians catcher Victor Martinez still looms as an ideal option. The
Indians would want Buchholz plus other prospects, but their price for
Martinez would not be as steep as the Jays' price for Halladay.

In other words, Roy Halladay will be pitching in Queens by the end of the season.

29 replies on “The Doc Calls”

Rosenthal neglects to mention the single compelling reason why neither team will end up with Halladay:
There is no way, ever, in any universe, that J.P. Ricciardi is trading arguably the best starter in baseball within the division. It’s disingenuous, if not downright ludicrous, to list the Yankees and the Red Sox as the top two options because the only way the Jays would give the two teams ahead of them in the division a piece that would relegate the Jays to second (if not third) fiddle for the next five years would be if the other teams willingly crippled themselves into long-term noncontention to get him. And that obviously won’t happen either.

At what point do either of these teams think they’ve spent enough? 250MM and the Yankees need to add yet another arm? Really? The Red Sox have Beckett and Lester, and they’re thinking they need to add one?
That’s completely and utterly embarassing.

once again the baseball know-it-alls making things up to fill space. As Paul said – why would JP deal within the division. do they really want to see 100 fans show up at the Rodgers center?
He’s locked up through next year (right?) then he’ll be a FA. that’s when the bidding will start

Here is my pick for the Hallady Sweepstakes winner: Texas. Their minor leagues are stacked, they’re right in the thick of things in that division and should continue to be over the next few years, the organization is currently placing an emphasis on pitching, and their track record proved they’re willing to go out and sign him to a lucrative long term deal.

trouble is Texas owner has money issues, they may not be in a position to take on salary right now.

Can you imagine if Halladay pitched in the NL? Holy jesus sub 1.00 ERA.
What Paul said is the voice of reason: ain’t no way Halladay goes to the AL East in a trade. I doubt he’ll get traded at all; the Jays did very well this year, and aren’t going to be sellers until they’re out of contention in 2010. The idea that he would get moved at all this year is ludicrous.

“Halladay will be pitching in Queens by the end of the season.”
I’d love to see Halladay play for any team I root for (think he’d sign with the Bills?) but Satchel Paige couldn’t save the team that plays in Queens this season.

Brad, there’s not a single piece of information in those paragraphs by Rosenthal that says the Sox or Yankees have moved on Halladay. Nothing. They quote a scout from another team who likes the Yanks minor leaguers. Rosenthal’s got NOTHING.
If it turns out that the Jays trade RH in-division, Rosenthal will have made a good guess. But he isn’t doing anything investigative here.
My question: why would the Sox be interested in Halladay? I think we can get over the “to keep the Yankees away” meme at this point. And the Sox need a bat, not pitching.
Rosenthal has a future as a sports-radio caller.

krueg – Not from Buffalo, or even the Northeast. I grew up almost 3,000 miles from the nearest pro sports city, so I had to mix-and-match my allegiances. I ended up with a weird quilt of Mets-Bills-Suns-Blackhawks before I headed to Boston U.
The only way Toronto trades Halladay this year is if he’s explicitly told them that he will become a free agent after 2010 and that they know that they won’t be able to compete for his services. I doubt either one of those is true.

Why would the Sox be interested in Halladay? Really, SF?
Every team in baseball who is thinking about contending this year is interested in Halladay if he’s available. Unless you think the Sox’s rotation is so strong that Halladay would only give marginally more production than one of Penny, Smoltz, or Wakefield. And I really hope you don’t think that.

SF, I was responding to the idea that either team would be interested in or need Halladay, man; Rosenthal’s article wasn’t the point of my post, but rather the bigger lingering idea that either the Red Sox or the Yankees are so dysfunctional that they need to add yet another superstar to live up to the expectations.
Of course I realize that Rosenthal is an idiot. Everyone realized that JPR is going to hold hostage whomever ends up with the services of Halladay, and I think neither team (at least the Sox anyhow) are going to make that kind of move for a part they really don’t “need” as much they’d just like to have him.

They then would control Halladay and right-hander Josh Beckett through 2010
Another way of saying this: “Then they would only control Halladay and Becket for one year, 2010.”

I would think (hope) the Sox would be more concerned with getting a bat if Lowell’s done, and looking to Buchholz and Bowden for next year.
I concur with those who stated there’s no way he gets dealt within the AL East, unless the deal is monumental.

Andrew, I should have been clearer. I should have written why would the Sox be interested in Halladay when their hitting is much more of an issue, hence my following statement in that earlier comment. If the Sox are to devote significant assets to acquire a guy like Halladay, those same assets might bring them a significant bat that would serve them better for this year.
So in those terms, why would the Sox be interested in leveraging their best prospects (since that is what it would take) for a player at a position where they are stronger than most teams? Wouldn’t they be more interested in (hypothetically) leveraging those prospects for a significant improvement at another position?
(watch, now the Sox will drug JP and somehow get him to trade in-division…)

Paul crushed me with his post. I never had a chance. But that’s exactly my thought. No way Ricchardi trades him in the AL East.
…
One mnore thing: My dad is going under the knife as we speak for open-heart surgery in Des Moines. I talked to him a couple of hours ago; he said they might do as many as 5(!) bypasses. He’s 71.
Anyway, this is the man I blame for making me a Red Sox fan back in 1972 and for making me understand that there is and never will be nother bigger than Red Sox-Yankees. Ever. And he made me understand this as we grew up in Iowa.
So say a quick one to The Big Man for us. We hope they finish stitching him up by first pitch tonight.
Thanks.

Thanks, everyone.
I just heard from my brother. He came through it OK. He was in surgery for 4 hours or so.
Five bypasses! Holy crap!
We all appreciate your thoughts and good wishes. Can’t tell you how much it means.

Hey IBM, I’m late to this because I’ve been out all day. My dad had a quadruple bypass a couple of years ago. He’s doing well now. My thoughts are with you and your family.

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