I like Roy Halladay almost as much as Jason Witten. It's true.

With the Phils' starting pitching off to a shaky start, I'm already thinking trade scenarios. Would people do the following? Is it fair return for Toronto?

We get Halladay.

They get: their choice of Myers or Blanton, plus Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, and their choice of Durbin or Condrey. If the Jays are intrigued but want even more, I throw in another minor league arm, but not someone out of the Drabek/Savery/Bastardo group. A mid-level prospect.

BuddyGroom wrote:I like Roy Halladay almost as much as Jason Witten. It's true.

With the Phils' starting pitching off to a shaky start, I'm already thinking trade scenarios. Would people do the following? Is it fair return for Toronto?

We get Halladay.

They get: their choice of Myers or Blanton, plus Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, and their choice of Durbin or Condrey. If the Jays are intrigued but want even more, I throw in another minor league arm, but not someone out of the Drabek/Savery/Bastardo group. A mid-level prospect.

I don't think the Jays would want Myers since he makes too much and they would lose him at the end of the season. I also don't think you need to throw in Durbin or Condrey because they are worthless to the Jays. Blanton, Carrasco, and Donald in a package? Probably not enough.

dude...not even close

kruker wrote:dude...not even close

I thought Donald is now perceived as a big-time prospect. And despite what Warsawa said, I don't think the Jays are all that poor - they could take on Myers' deal. And honestly, I'd hate to part with Myers.

I think what I threw out there at least would be a rational starting point for discsussions about Halladay.

I'm sure they'd want Taylor, but they'd need some pitching coming back so I'd be hoping entice them instead with Myers and another prospect.

The Jays aren't going to want Myers unless they're trying to win this year. If they're trying to win this year, they'd want both Myers and Blanton. Otherwise, they'd have to look toward 2010 and not want a guy who will be a FA after 2009.

Myers is in a contract year. Why would the Jays want to take on his salary, for whatever amount of time, for a rental if they are in an unloading mode?

Carrasco and Donald, that's a starting point, but my guess is Drabek is more likely to be the centerpiece of any big deal. And truthfully, if Roy is available, I have my doubts that we could outbid the other teams that would be involved without completely raping our system.

They would want Drabek, Donald, Taylor and Marson.

At least.

And I would do that deal.

dobbs, carassco, donald, drabek, taylor

go rube!

I'm sure it's the WFC talking, but I am much less interested in selling the farm for Roy Halladay or anyone than I was at this time last year. Jason Donald, I think is a keeper.

mozartpc27 wrote:I'm sure it's the WFC talking, but I am much less interested in selling the farm for Roy Halladay or anyone than I was at this time last year. Jason Donald, I think is a keeper.

If there's any prospect that we have that's good and is worth trading, it's Donald. Honestly, unless Chase or Rollins goes down where would you expect to put him? Use him as a super sub? An don't answer 3rd base because you know the Phillies have already expressed that they don't believe he's a good fit there.

The Red Tornado wrote:An don't answer 3rd base because you know the Phillies have already expressed that they don't believe he's a good fit there.

Have they?

Pretty much. They keep playing him at SS, which to me indicates he's going to be traded this summer. If they thought he was the answer at 3B next year when Feliz walks, he'd have been moved there to learn the position in the minors. They're not going to just throw him in there on opening day next year and tell him to learn as he goes.

I also recall Ruben saying that he thought that he didnt have enough power to be a 3rd baseman (but have no idea if this is just faulty memory or an indirect quote), which is crazy because they certainly get enough power from 1st, 2nd and the outfield. But Flopster is right in saying that if they saw him as a 3rd baseman then he'd be one at Lehigh.

I only draw part of that conclusion. I think he's still playing SS because he has more value there in a potential trade, but I don't think that means that they don't have faith in him at 3rd. I'm not sure that they're dead set on moving him this summer or not, just that they wisely understand he's more valuable to other teams as a SS.

He showed in Arizona and ST that he can handle third, so my guess is that the Phillies aren't sweating if he can handle the position defensively if that's the route they want to take next year. That's a far cry from saying, "they've expressed that they don't believe he's a fit there". That statement is a bit presumptuous.

But it basically says that they'd prefer to trade him, because they are trying to elevate his value, and if no one bites this summer, then they'll move him back. If the goal was for him to be as good as he can be at 3B, they'd give him a full season there to adjust. I don't think thats necessarily the wrong move. I just hope if we do trade him, we get quality in return, not a situational reliever.

Not to get into semantics, but I don't think it means they'd "prefer" to trade him either. I think they realize that he's a valuable trading chip, but that he isn't necessarily an integral part of their future plans. I'm going to give the FO credit here and assume the reason he isn't playing SS is because they realize that if they do trade him he's most valuable as a SS and that they recognize he isn't going to have much trouble with a defensive transition if that's what they want to do.

How is Donald as a SS? How is his range? Is he fast? Does he cover more ground than J-Roll at this point?

I ask because is it possible the Phillies might be thinking that, with J-Roll going to be 31 next season, that they might slide him over to third and have Donald play short in the majors next year, if there is no attractive FA thirdbaseman available and they think Feliz is done?

Jimmy's one of the top defensive SS's in the league. Unless he absolutely falls off a cliff, he's not, nor should he be moved off the position. Donald's no slouch, but he's not pushing Jimmy.

kruker wrote:Jimmy's one of the top defensive SS's in the league. Unless he absolutely falls off a cliff, he's not, nor should he be moved off the position. Donald's no slouch, but he's not pushing Jimmy.

J-Roll makes all the plays, but I always thought the knock on him (and defensive statistics are hardly my forte, so I could well be wrong) was that his range was surprisingly limited, all things considered. If that's true, as he ages, it will only become more true; so maybe it would make sense to bring in a fresh pair of legs to cover the ground at short?