The Major League Baseball deadline is just three weeks away and it is time for teams to decide whether they are contenders on the year or just pretenders. The Blue Jays just lost 3 of 4 games against the division rival Yankees and are quickly slipping out of playoff contention. After the series General Manager JP Ricciardi announced that he would be open to listening to offers for franchise player and starting pitcher Roy Halladay. It is big news out of the MLB as Halladay is one of the top pitchers in the game and would command quite a lot in return.
While many Blue Jays fans are irate about the prospect of losing their star player, Ricciardi has announced that it would have to take a significant offer to pry Halladay away. If you take a look back at some other players that were traded near the deadline, the Jays may benefit significantly from a trade. Especially if the team feels that Halladay will not resign with the team after next year. When the Cleveland Indians traded their star pitcher Bartolo Colon a few years ago, they got back quite a lot and are benefiting from the trade as of right now. The Indians received Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips. Each of the three players has become a star in the league. Lee won the Cy Young last year, Sizemore is a perennial all-star and Phillips is well on is way to becoming an elite infielder.
There is no word as of yet in terms of which teams would be interested in Halladay or what the Jays could get in return, but you would have to think that it would be significantly more than what the Indians got for Colon. Halladay is younger, better and even earns a little bit less money as of right now. This kind of trade could be a move that finally makes the Blue Jays contenders in a few years.
Drill Down:
Major League Baseball,
Yankees,
Roy Halladay,
MLB,
Bartolo Colon,
Grady Sizemore
