Halladay's final start?

What has a strong chance to be Roy Halladay's final start as a Blue Jay is about to get under way at Rogers Centre against the recently perfect-gamed Tampa Rays. Definitely mixed emotions.

Sidenote: Toronto fans just gave Doc a standing ovation as he walked in from the bullpen after warming up. Good job!

I remember his second start for the Jays, the last game of the season vs. Detroit in 1998, one of those outings where everyone is trying to catch the earliest plane they can to start the off-season. Both teams were hapless back then, but Halladay showed a glimpse of his promise, firing a one-hitter in a 2-1 win. I watched the game, there were two out in the bottom of the ninth and Bobby Higginson hit a homerun over the left-field fence. Devastating as a viewer. Doc struggled after that, ending up back in A-ball in 2ooo, working on his mechanics.

I was thinking what great pitcher Doc is most like. He reminds a little bit of Greg Maddux, not overpowering stuff, but pinpoint control. Roy Oswalt, Tim Hudson, the kind of guys who rarely put up a 15 K effort, but by the end of every game they seem to have at least 8IP, 8 Ks, two walks and a win.

It's been a real pleasure to watch Doc pitch over the last decade here. Hopefully his replacement will be part of the booty we get when we deal him.

Bye-bye Brett

Damn, I hate losing minor leaguers in my fantasy baseball leagues. But at least there's an upside if the Brett Wallace/Matt Holliday deal goes down before Monday. I have first pick in our waiver, so I'll be able to add Holliday this Monday and still have an opportunity to pick the best AL guy who comes over to the NL the following Monday. Right now that looks like it'll be Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee.

Long-term, it hurts losing Wallace, but I still have four good minor leaguers and now I'll be able to try to trade for another, possibly using Holliday as bait.

Always a silver lining!

Edit: And it's done. Now I need JP to NOT deal Doc to an NL team until Monday. Yes, I want my cake and I want to eat the damn thing. Is that so wrong?

Will the real Riccardi please step up

I can't figure out if JP Riccardi is the village idiot or an idiot savant.

I sat down to write this with the intention of crucifying the Blue Jays GM for his handling of the whole Doc Halladay trade. And from a fan's point of view, it would be a disappointment if he wasn't dealt for a boatload of prospects after the buildup over the last two weeks.

But every day seems to be some new report on the status of the trade -- we're going to deal him; we're not likely to; it's 50-50. And now he's come up with a deadline, July 28, which I'm sure is written in sand.

But then I thought about it a little more. I play a lot of fantasy sports and I'm in pretty deep AL- and NL-only leagues. So I asked myself how would I approach trading a major star. Well, I had that exact situation earlier this season when I decided to capitalize on the value of Chase Utley and see what he'd bring back.

First, I let everyone know I'd be taking offers for him. I outlined the kind of offer I'd be looking for and also said this wasn't a fire sale. If I wasn't blown away with an offer, I'd hold on to him. In fact, it would be much easier for me to hold onto Utley because our league doesn't have contracts and such. That makes his value even higher, relatively speaking, than Halladay's.

I got some interest, started taking bids, making counter bids and letting everyone know that they weren't the only ones interested in him -- that they better bring their best offers. In the end, I moved him for Colby Rasmus, Cameron Maybin and Madison Bumgarner. A pretty good haul.

So now let's take a look at JP. First, he let everyone know Halladay was available, that it would take a lot to get him and that he wasn't married to the idea of dealing him. Now he's given a deadline, another effort to increase the urgency other teams have to make a deal.

A friend of mine at ESPN asked me when JP was going to get fired. I told him at the end of the season. But he might actually salvage his job if he handles this dicey situation well.

Musing on Doc Halladay

I can't tell you how sick I am of national baseball writers talking about how Blue Jay fans will be devastated if Toronto trades Doc Halladay.

Why do these writers continue to underestimate the intelligence of baseball fans north of the border? To them, it seems, you can't really understand baseball unless you've had a major league team since the turn of the previous century.

Guess what guys: Baseball has been around Toronto a lot longer than most of you think. Babe Ruth, in fact, hit his first professional homerun in Toronto, at Hanlan's Point Stadium while pitching the Providence Grays to a 9-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1914. Trust me, we're not all just puckheads up here.

We understand how difficult it is for Toronto to attract and keep top-notch free agents. It's why we had to overpay for guys like BJ Ryan and AJ Burnett. Hell, I remember when the Jays signed their very first significant free agent -- Dennis Lamp way back prior to the 1984 season. Yup, Dennis Lamp. The town was all atwitter. 1983, remember, was the first time the Jays had flirted with respectability and a pennant race.

Which brings us back to Halladay. I was at my monthly home poker game Saturday night, a group of guys fairly knowledgeable about sports. Not only was there unanimity on the topic of trading Halladay now, but there was also agreement that people would be ticked off if he wasn't dealt.

Jays fans understand we're not going to compete with Boston and New York and Tampa Bay this year, or probably next. And we don't exactly have the deepest farm system around: Travis Snider and JP Arencibia are the gems, with a whole bunch of mid-level pitchers and hitters like David Cooper and Kevin Ahrens and Justin Jackson. Sure, we could keep Doc until his contract runs out, but that would net us two draft picks in the 2011 draft, and at least three years past that when those guys would be thought about making the big-league team.

Doc's value will never be higher than it is right now, for the simple fact that teams get an extra two months of production out of him. Those who think the Jays will be able to get for more him after the season are suffering from a pretty big case of wishful thinking.

So let's get something done with Phillie or Texas or Boston. They seem to have the deepest farm systems. And when that's done, we'll talk about moving Rolen and Scutaro and Frasor, which is also something the Jays should be doing.