Jays and Phils won't be Dance Partners for Halladay

The Phils have seemingly stepped off the dance floor as far as acquiring Roy Halladay is concerned, at least until he becomes a free agent following the 2010 season. The Phils changed direction as far as the object of their affections was concerned as talks with the Jays broke down. They have tentatively acquired lefthander Cliff Lee, last year's Cy Young Award winner from the Indians with outfielder Ben Francisco for pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp; catcher Lou Marson and shortstop Jason Donald. The key was Knapp, a highly touted 19-year-old righthander selected in June 2008. The Phils had been looking for a righthanded bat off the bench to complement lefty swinger Matt Stairs.

Coincidentally none of the three Phils' prospects that the Jays were reportedly asking for were included in the Lee deal. The Jays were said to be asking for lefthander J.A. Happ, righthander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Dominic Brown, which prompted Jays' manager Cito Gaston this afternoon to half-jokingly suggest that maybe the Phils are still interested in Halladay. "That would be a pretty good rotation," Gaston said of Lee, Halladay and Cole Hamels at the top, with Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer at 4-5. Not bad at all.

A bunch of Jays players are using the off-day tomorrow to play some golf in Carmel down the coast from San Francisco. No surprise but the organization has asked Halladay not to be one of those players. There was a distinct favourable reaction that was palpable in the Jays' clubhouse when it was learned that the Phillies landed Lee instead of Halladay. Not even his teammates want to see him go.

Comments

[Mark Acheson]

Well, looks like you were right about JP not being able to make a good deal of this level. His approach has been bizaare from the start. Has he never haggled over anything before?

He told the two deepest pockets not to bother, and went out and set a price for each team for them to balk at. Nothing wrong with telling the Sox and Yanks it will take a bit extra, but get them to table an offer. And get the darn GMs competing with each others offers, instead of just trying to chip off your asking price. You want people caught up in a bidding war, not sitting at home with sticker shock.

[Stanley]

@Mark Acheson - the Indians just traded three mediocre prospects and a promising but injured 18 year old pitcher for Cliff Lee. Should JP have made the same deal for Halladay? The Indians are deservedly being ripped for making a terrible deal here. Not sure how that relates to JP in any way.

[Natasha]

It wasn't JP that kept Gillick/Amaro away. It was BORAS_badenuff. Peace be unto you, O' Sheiks of TCOHU.

[Rick Briggs]

Good point Mark. As a Phillies fan, I know that all of Philadelphia was hoping the trade would be for Halladay. But when your GM asked for our best young pitcher on our staff, our best pitcher in the minors and our best position player in the minors, the Phils quite reasonably balked. Now we pray you don't send Doc to a contender.

[Andrew]

This whole charade was more about J.P. Ricciardi's ego than seriously trying to work a deal (as ill-conceived as that idea might be). Remember last year when Ricciardi yapped off about Adam Dunn? Then Dunn said he had never even heard of Ricciardi. Ouch. Ricciardi is only workign hard to puff himself up. Like Dunn, most baseball fans had never heard of him before now.

One thing is abundantly clear: Ricciardi can't control the words that come from his mouth. The unprofessional language that he uses gets more galling every year. A GM change is needed before the club becomes even more of a laughing-stock.

[vhigge]

Twins? Twinkies! Decoys! Dummies! Fumblitis! Fumblina!
GO JAYS GO!!