The Cleveland Indians: Practically Giving it Away for Free!

Victor Martinez for Justin Masterson and Nick Hagadone? Holy crap! How are the Jays going to get anything for Halladay or any of their guys when the Indians are just leaving everybody at the curb?

And now it begins

So the Indians blinked and sent Lee and Francisco, a top tier starting pitcher and established productive outfielder to the Phillies, for nobody that is probably going to make an impact next year. Seriously if you were the Phillies how do you not do this deal over any Halladay one. They just added two mlb players without giving up anybody that hurt. And they didn't have to give up Happ to do it. They now have 4 plus starting pitchers instead of 3.

So much for tough talk from the Indians, Lee wasn't even going to make much money next year. You would think that would be worth at least one of Drabek, Taylor or Brown over one of the guys they did get.

So the question now is how does this affect the Jays chances of trading Halladay for a decent package of prospects now and in the future, or if they trade him at all.

1) This really puts the pressure on the other teams that look to be facing Philly in the playoffs. Why? Well the Phillies now have 3 top starters to throw against you plus 2 decent or better options. If you're the Dodgers, Red Sox or Yankees expecting to meet the Phillies on the way to your World Series Championship destiny do you really feel like it's not a good idea to add the best pitcher in baseball while he's still available. The Phillies have played their hand, what are you going to do?

2) Does this reduce what a team like the Jays can expect to receive for a top starter after November? Who knows? It's still 4 top prospects the Phillies gave up, even though it wasn't any of their 3 best, or anybody contributing at the mlb level at the time. Still you can't clearly see the future and something unforeseen may happen to really drive up the market for Halladay despite this. Or Lee might blow the doors off in Philly and people might think it's normal to not have to give up a lot for the best starting pitcher in baseball (the opposite of how the Bedard deal seems to have affected things).

3) What Riccardi really needs to do is pick up on my previous point and start a rumor at the opportune time that the Phillies are still planning on trading for Halladay, and really drive up the market. Not only would teams need Halladay to compete this year, they would need to keep him from the Phillies so they don't dominate this season and the next.

4) So do the Jays trade Halladay now? I think because of number 1 above the chances are still the same as before this deal. This has to increase the pressure a little on at least one of the other contenders who are interested, and I think it lowers Riccardi's sights just a little. This is especially true if his plan is to bluster as best as he can until the last minute and then take whatever the best offer is.

Here is a crazy thought

The Phillies, with the prospects they have left from trading for Lee, could still trade for Halladay according to the rumored deals.

Just imagine a pitching rotation of Halladay, Lee, Hamels and Haren + your grandmother even for the next 2 seasons. Imagine.

Hmmmm...Halladay doesn't go to the Phillies

So IMHO chalk one up for me, I think this trade definitely improves the Phillies more than trading Happ + anybody for Halladay does. And it keeps all the current best prospects on the Phillies (except maybe Knapp). Should the Jays have taken this collection for Halladay? About 3 years at least will tell us that.

Now if nobody else steps up and gives the Jays equal for Halladay than this before the current deadline, they better trade him for a lot after November or put a contending team around him next year. Because the Roy Halladay Toronto farewell tour sideshow next year doesn't look very palatable as a reason to be a fan.

Crazed blogger trade theory

What if the jays traded halladay to the phillies and then made a deal with the indians for lee or martinez and then signed him to an extension? How about that? Is your mind blown?

Not trading Roy Halladay watch

Haven't had much time to blog this week, or today, but I thought this recent turn in the Halladay trade epic is weird. Apparently the hold up is between whether to include Carrasco or Drabek with Happ. This honestly makes no sense to me. As good as Roy is how do they figure to get so much better substituting him for Happ instead of adding Roy to what they already have? If your goal is to do as much damage as possible with Roy over the next season and a half, why not collect the best players NOW around him.

The Ignorant Jays Fan's Ranked List of Halladay Trade Outcomes

I thought I should put together a little more of an explanation on my thoughts about the potential Halladay trade than that everybody should remember he will be 34 at the beginning of his next contract.

So I give you one of my favorite ways to work out in my head the best possible outcome, the ranked list with explanations!

Please note, these are all reasonable outcomes, we aren't including things like "trade him for lousy players or consensus top prospects who all end up injured" - those would be stupid things to do or things out of the actors control.

Least best to best:

6. Hold onto Halladay, make no attempt to build a contender next season and let him walk for draft picks.

5. Hold onto Halladay, make no attempt to build a contender next season and then sign him to a long term contract and gut the team for the length of the contract to be able to afford him

4. Trade him for top prospects this season and then make no reasonable attempt in future seasons to build a contender.

3. Hold onto him for next season sign him long term and continue making 1/2 assed attempts at competing.

2. Trade him right now for the best possible deal, and start making a serious attempt at contending in future seasons

1. Hold onto him, make a real attempt at contending next season, trade him if you don`t, and figure out what to do after the season if they do actually contend.