Reports indicate that J.P. Riccardi and the Blue Jays are shopping one of the premiere pitchers in the game, Roy Halladay.
A Beckett, Lester, Hallady rotation would surely make the denizens of Yawkey Way the prohibitive favorites to win the World Series. It almost seems unfair to the rest of the league.
It's still early days as the news broke only yesterday, but here's the question for the BigP cognoscenti:
What would you be willing to give up (and, by extension, what do you think it will take) to get such a premiere hurler in the prime of his career and bolster a pitching staff which is already one of the best in the major leagues?
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11 comments:
Obviously it would take a ton to get him and surely it would involve Buckholz, Casey Kelly and Lars Anderson. Would I be willing to do this, certainly. But there is NO WAY this would happen. J.P. is too smart to trade someone away within his division, it would be career suicide.
Sox are better off waiting till the end of next year to sign him as a free agent.
In my opinion they should be looking for a bat at this point.
/kff
The BJs will never in a million years trade him within the division. We'd have to give up a raft of youngsters-- in fact I'll just be lazy and say I agree with Kyle.
I agree with Kyle: it's unlikely to happen, but don't you think the NYY would make a serious pursuit of Halliday too? If they do, I see Theo throwing his hat in the ring.
Derek - thanks for teeing this up. Tim Walker (@TWalk) and I have talked about this ad naseum as he knows how much of a Halladay fan I am. That said, I would tend to agree with Mr. Flaherty. The Sox would have to empty the bank to get this one done (I think they actually need four players and one would likely be Bard).
Bottom line is it will come down to where Halladay feels like he's the best fit. I'd be surprised if he doesn't take a long hard look at the Sox given the fact that they'll be in the same neighborhood as the Yanks in terms of offers and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the Yanks will make the playoffs in '09 but will once again be eliminated in the 1st or 2nd round. The Sox will at least play in the ALCS and if they do, Halladay has to think long and hard about how much he wants to play for a REAL WS challenger.
The one thing which causes me not to dismiss trading him within the division out of hand is the fact that the Red Sox are in a position to offer them something they clearly want: young talent. I'm not so sure that dealing your ace itself isn't career suicide for him unless RH has told JPR, "I want to go to a contender".
Great for conversation, but they definitely would think twice about trading him in the division. Still, if the Sox were to get him, it would most defintely cost 2 of (Bard, Buchholz, Masterson) and some kid from Greenville that I never heard of.
So probably not worth it, IMHO. Hopefully, Halladay will go to the NL - rumors are the Phillies and Brewers are the leading contenders.
Keep dreaming, boys. I would be, too. But Doc will never put on that filthy Red Sox jersey.
I started dreaming up a Big Papelbon post on this very post this morning when I read the story on Doc! But since I often dream them up and never actually get around to writing them, it's good to see that Derek beat me to the punch.
This may sound strange coming from a diehard #RedSox fan, but I think Halladay belongs in a Blue Jays uniform and don't want to see him leave. It's so easy for the Sox and Yankees to outbid each other these days for most of the best guys, but for the good of the game, I don't mind seeing guys stay with their original teams.
Of course, when his contract ends after 2010 ... I reserve the right to change my mind.
@BryanPerson
Bryan, I agree 100% with that sentiment. I like having him as a foil in the division, and at times, it's somewhat distasteful to me that we can outbid almost any other team if we really want to. It's far more interesting to have more competitive teams. It's times like this when I really feel bad for the Kansas City's of the league.
The flip side to that of course would be that getting RH would considerably up the Schadenfreude opportunities for us at the expense of the Yankees. Which I endorse.
No one's mentioned whether or not the Red Sox should consider moving a bunch of young talent to a division opponent... I'll say no.
They should hang in there for another year and then look at Doc and Zack Greinke when they hit free agency.
Agree with Kyle on the need for a bat at the moment.
@Derek: Haha. Right on :)
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