Halladay Trade Proposal

According to FoxSports reporter Ken Rosenthal, the Toronto Blue Jays are listening to offers for ace Roy Halladay.

Of course, every team will listen to offers if it was good enough, but this sounds like a headline.

The Phillies need a quality starting pitcher, and the Blue Jays are looking to unload some of their salary cap. It seems like a perfect match made in heaven, but there are a couple of potential problems.

To make this trade happen, both teams will have to get multiple teams involved. That might end up being in the Phils best interest, but it might make the trade go south.

The Phillies would have to give up some of their best prospects to acquire Halladay. While Halladay might be worth giving up Kyle Drabek and maybe Jason Donald, I do not think the Phils would be willing to give up Drabek.

While the Phillies would encourage more teams to get in on the action, just getting the Jays to complete the trade would be a hike in itself.

The Phillies need a reliever almost as bad as a starter. Fans and the front office need to realize that the bullpen that we have is getting old, and at the rate that they are going will be too  overworked to pitch well in the post-season.

Cla Meredith of the San Diego Padres would be a good option for the Phils. Meredith is a quality young arm who would inject some life into the staggering Phils bullpen.

So, getting back to Halladay, here is what would be the after effects of the trade. The Phillies starting rotation would consist of Halladay as the ace, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer, and J.A. Happ. Then, in the bullpen would be, Chad Durbin, Chan Ho Park, Tyler Walker, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey, Cla Meredith,Ryan Madson, and Brad Lidge.

Getting Halladay and another reliever would be the best possible scenario for the Phillies, but here is what needs to happen for the deal to go down.

First, the Phillies scouting staff needs to be disgusted at the quality that Dominican pitcher Pedro Martinez is pitching. Second, the Blue Jays need to fail at trading away Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, or Scott Rolen. That would leave the Jays with no other option than to feel like they have to trade Halladay to create some cap space.

On top of that, the Blue Jays need to keep falling further and further out of play-off contention by the All-Star break. If the Jays keep hanging around, then the Toronto staff has no reason to trade Halladay, and will pull Halladay off the block quicker than a Joel Zumaya fastball.

To top it all off, the Phillies need to agree to trade some of their top prospects to get the deal to go through.

Here is what I would trade for Halladay if I were general manager, and what teams I would involve.

Carlos Carrasco, Kyle Kendrick, and Jack Taschner to the Blue Jays, Clay Condrey and Eric Bruntlett to the San Diego Padres, and Roy Halladay and Cla Meredith to the Phillies. I would try to get another team in the mix if I could, but I would have to wait and see who would be interested.

So there is the trade, and what would happen to the team if it were to be approved by the league. Kendrick needs a change of scenery, and Carrasco has been overshadowed and under appreciated since the arrival of Antonio Bastardo and Happ. With Bastardo, Drabek, and Happ, that gives the Phillies some room to deal some pitchers away to acquire players who can help the team win now.

The Phils have a stacked farm system, and with the arrival of Halladay, could be a championship contender for years to come. They could facilitate some of the young guys into the pen such as Bastardo, and not have to worry about using their bullpen heavily if they have guys in there that can go a couple more innings than expected. Of course, it would not matter because Halladay eats up innings by the game, and rarely gets dismissed before the 5th or 6th inning. All seems well in the city of brotherly love.

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