I’ve been reading the details of the Roy Halladay trade for the last couple of days. Well, I say “details”, but at the point I’m writing this, I’m still incredibly confused by the parameters of this deal. There are 2 Cy Young Award-winning pitchers changing teams, and Toronto is ending up with neither of them, so on paper, you would have to assume that there would be some pretty significant acquisitions for the team NOT with Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay, right? As far as I can tell, Toronto is just getting back 3 new ushers for The Rogers Centre, 2 parking spots, a case of baseballs, Ken Burns' Baseball (on VHS), a new seat for the bullpen, and a vat of pine tar. I’m no major-league GM, but I can’t even fathom why Toronto would do this deal.At the trade deadline last year, Toronto held off trading Halladay because they felt they weren’t getting enough back in return. And now, with this trade, which sees the Jays ALSO sending $6 million dollars to the Phillies, they’re only getting prospects back. Does this make any sense? In essence, what they’ve done is trade away arguably the best pitcher in baseball…and SIX MILLION DOLLARS…for a handful of magic beans. Is Alex Anthopolous trying to grow a giant beanstalk up the CN Tower next door? If I was a GM in the majors, I would be knocking down the Jays' door trying to make a deal after seeing this.
“Hi, Alex…yeah…this is Theo Epstein. I wanted to pitch a deal to you. Here’s what I was thinking…I’d like Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, and Ricky Romero…and I’d be willing to send back your way this single A kid who looks REALLY good, as well as our backup-backup catcher George Kottaras (who is Canadian, by the way!)l, and a box of Turtles. Sound good? No? Wow, you drive a hard bargain. Ok…tell you what…how about if I throw in an autographed picture of Curt Schilling’s bloody sock? Perfect! I’ll send the paperwork your way.”
Seriously, even Rob Babcock thinks this is a bad deal…and if you get that joke, I’m glad you read my blog…and you and I should be friends if we’re not already.
I hate when a team is forced to trade a star player (or players) away because they can’t win a championship, or due to financial reasons. Just take a look at the Montreal Expos of the 1990s. I was talking to a friend last night who is a die-hard Kansas City Royals fan. No, don't be alarmed...you read that right, I said “a die-hard Kansas City Royals fan.” I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
And he made a great comment that something needs to be done “so that KC can jump from being a freakin’ minor league grooming players for other teams. I will be so bummed when (Zach) Greinke leaves in 2013...damn."
Or perhaps, as another friend texted me when news of the trade was released, “We can always cheer for the Phillies???”
I want your thoughts on this trade. Sound off in the Comments section.
3 comments:
They've called the trade "better than the one the Twins got for Santana" (ESPN Said this), which is ironic because they're now pitching against each other.
Frankly, I'm torn. I'm glad they're turning one of the outfielders over to Oakland for a potential first baseman, but the likelihood that this was going to be a deal that made everyone happy from beginning to end was unlikely.
As far as Major-league position players, Philly had nothing that would help Toronto in the field. Utley, Rollins, Howard, and Victorino are (most likely) untouchable) while everyone else is past the idea age of making this trade worth it (25-28) or doesn't have a high enough ceiling.
A major-league reliever like Durbin or Madson would've been nice despite age, but in baseball, the most available thing is always prospects until someone better comes along to replace one of your position players (Ie. Halladay replacing Lee).
Now comes the report that either Aumont or Kendrick failed their physicals. Why can't this just end.
And whatever happened to Mike Sirotka?
Hi Sean,
I don't agree that this trade was made for financial reasons. The fact that Rogers was willing to eat the $6 mill (+ the money they are paying a few other guys to leave town) shows that they'll spend money. And remember, they didn't trade Roy Halliday forever and ever for prospects, they traded one season of Doc for 3 very good prospects. I actually like the way that AA is working this... a number of players he has been acquiring are the same age, so you'd think that they will come up together. The minor league system has been bad for so long that this is the only sustainable growth model for this team - get better in AA and AAA first, and success will come.
As I commented on your original post, is Ricciardi still pulling the strings? This deal is an absolute junker. The only silver lining in my opinion for the Jays is the acquisition of Wallace, who if they're lucky may turn out to be decent. They have just lost however, one of their starting rotation that often pitched COMPLETE GAMES. They are in deep doo-doo next year and I just can't believe that they couldn't make a deal to get back an All-Star close to the equivalence of Roy Halladay. This is AGAIN why I am not a fan of Toronto sports teams because they continually disappoint us in their pursuit of disaster. Imagine the Yankees doing such a deal, someone would be assassinated in N.Y. if this trade was announced int the Big Apple.
Mon Dieu.
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