The calender has turned into the month of December, informing us that the Holiday season is now here, but for MLB fans the month of December also means that the real wheeling & dealing is set to take off as big time free-agents look for bigger deals with new teams. Since my Nov 12 Hotstove write up not much has happened, no bigtime players has switched teams, Billy Wagner going to the Braves is the biggest news thus far, but soon things will change & the media hype has placed their focus on Roy Halladay to get the ball rolling.
On Monday, trying to force the hand a bit, Halladay's representatives made some demands and now the Blue Jays must react or simply just go with the flow.
Last season when Halladay was being shopped around during the trading deadline but went no where, it was said that all the trade rumors & media frenzy only distracted Halladay to the point where his performance suffered, now Halladay is looking to avoid this from happening again.
A couple of years ago the same thing was happening to the Minnesota Twins with their ACE Johan Santana, and now the Blue jays seem to be following the same blueprint. The Twins also threw Santana's name during the trading deadline of that season only to keep him when all was said & done, this led to Santana's team of reps making these same demands during the offseason only Santana people's took it a step further, Santana's agents made it clear that if any team was looking to get Santana, the team willing to do so must be ready to offer him a mega contract. In the end Santana was dealt to the NY Mets in exchange for Carlos Gomez and others, Carlos Gomez is no longer a Twin.
In my Hotstove write-up I also predicted that Halladay was going to the Mets, but of course that was just wishful thinking on my part & right now I don't see that happening. If Halladay is to bolt & leave the Toronto Blue Jays after spending his entire career with them, the most likely looking scenario I keep hearing about, and see happening, is Halladay going to the Boston Redsox or the NY Yankees. The Jays have by the end of spring training to do something with the ACE, & not locking up Halladay to a deal, or by not trading him to another team means that the Jays are taking the chance of losing him after the 2010 season and getting draft picks as compensation.
In Halladay's case his reps did not mention anything about the team who was thinking of acquiring him needing to do the same for their client as the Mets did for Santana when they gave him the biggest deal at the time, but anyone who plans on dealing for Halladay services must be ready to do the same without a doubt.
So what do the Jays do? Do they try & trade Halladay and get less now then what they could had gotten last year? or do they just go with the flow and play out his contract? That all depends on the direction the Blue jays want to take, if they are looking to rebuild that means they are looking to save money, so why not just play out his contract? if anything they wont have to spend the money on Halladay who will command big time cash, and for what?, to finish behind the Sox's and the Yankees every year? If they just keep him and play out his contract they will still get some draft picks, and do they really want to trade Halladay within their own division especially to a team like the Yankees who already has C.C Sabathia and former Blue Jay A.J. Burnett? I sure hope not.
Whatever happens with Halladay & the rest of the free-agents in the coming weeks I will be interested & excited to see the outcome, so I keep the faith and stay wishful that Omar Minaya can bring Doc Halladay to Queens.
8 comments:
I wouldnt be surprised if he ends up in Anaheim.
I just don’t think he is going anywhere, but Anaheim wouldn’t surprise me either.
He's going somewhere. Draft picks aren't enough. That will be a loss for the BJ's
Well if he is to be traded I say he ends up in Boston, obviously I like him on the Mets but I don't see the Mets trading for him then locking him up in another Santana type of a deal, not 2 pitchers on the same team, maybe if he was 27.
Maybe Anahiem does take him to fill in Lackey's spot on the rotation as the ace. Ray I think your on to something.
Looks like the Jays got jerked, yeah they'll get a couple of good prospects for Halladay but thats it? No major league ready player. The Toronto GM BETTER hope that those guys pan out. Like I said before watch out for Seattle, that team is a lot better than most people think and now with Lee, they have a great 1-2 punch.
Yea they got jerked but what the heck not like they were going to contend so why keep & pay the guy?
Yea now that Seattle has Cliff Lee your prediction looks a lot better, now they have to lock up Felix,
Told you Lackey ends up in Boston.
That Lackey is going to fInd out what it's like to pitch for a real good division. Should be interesting to see if his intensity clashes with some of the more laid back Sux. They better hope he stays healthy.
Lackey should fit right in with the Youkilis & Pedroia & the rest in Boston, they will not be as strong next year even with Lackey joining ship, their pitching should be fine but I think their offense will not be as good as in the past.
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