Could Roy Halladay be next year's Sabathia?

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Ok let's set the stage:

The Brewers are neck and neck with the Cubs in contention and July 1st comes around and we're needing help with pitching. Would you trade a Gamel/Jeffress/Escobar type prospect and others for Roy Halladay like we did for Sabathia this year? His contract isn't up until after the 2010 season, and he is already being rumored to being the #1 pitcher on the market when the trading deadline arrives. A lot comes into play of course, like if the Blue Jays are in contention as well, but in that division, I just can't see them taking a top 3 spot.

And more importantly, would Melvin do it? Personally I would because of how much it brought to the city of Milwaukee this year and another year of the playoffs would be oustanding. Plus we'd control him for another full season so it wouldn't be as short of a rental.

[paul253]

I think I'd go for it only because we'd keep him the next year as well. We've traded too many prospects the past 2 years (Inman, Laporta, Bryson, Brantely) to continue doing so for 3 month players, and as luck would have it we haven't yet received a first round pick for a type A free agent.

[joepepsi]

I would probably trade anybody but Gallardo for Halladay.

[Mike]

Hindsight is 20/15. When the deal was made for C.C. I thought it was worth it. By November when we were One series and done and then lost C.C. I thought it was a bad move.

In any event, I would trade for Halladay under similar conditions, but only if I felt I had a higher chance to Sign Halladay than we did C.C. Roy Halladay is awfully consistent and in some persons view might be better to have than Sabathia.

Mike

[logan82]

I think our minor leaguers are to thin and valuable to be trading right now.

[Never Outhustled]

We've traded too many prospects the past 2 years (Inman, Laporta, Bryson, Brantely) to continue doing so for 3 month players, and as luck would have it we haven't yet received a first round pick for a type A free agent.

How has trading any of those prospects effecting the Brewers going foward? We still have the prospects we need. There won't be a better prospect foursome to start in AAA this year than the Brewers foursome of Gamel, Escobar, Cain, and Salome.

 

We could use a starting pitching prospect at AAA, but the more Inman pitches, the more he cements his future as a reliever.

 

I'd defiately hope the Brewers are in position to make a play for Halladay. He is an outstanding pitcher.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I will never regret trading for CC Sabathia. He brought great memories to this city and franchise, things we would not have seen without him. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about for me as a fan. Don't care if LaPorta goes to the HOF ... we did what we had to do to make the postseason. After 26 years, it was worth it.

[Crewin06]

We could use a starting pitching prospect at AAA, but the more Inman pitches, the more he cements his future as a reliever.

I hear this all the time but I just don't understand how leading the Texas League in K's at 21 years old and throwing up a 3.5 ERA translates to not performing well enough to be considered no more than a relief pitcher prospect?

 

Having Inman at AAA this season would be the exact kind of depth I would love.

[Never Outhustled]

I hear this all the time but I just don't understand how leading the Texas League in K's at 21 years old and throwing up a 3.5 ERA translates to not performing well enough to be considered no more than a relief pitcher prospect?

He couldn't make it to the 6th inning. Thats not starting material, and thats not even fatoring in the fact that his style of curve doesn't translate well to the Majors.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Does anyone know why the Jays are looking to trade Halladay anyways? Are they trying to rebuild and salary dump?

[GAME05]

i think we can expect some ebb and flow with the team, that for every year we trade a great prospect away, we'll have a year when we trade FOR a prospect.

 

i think the A's are a good example, that they've been able to do both for a lot of years. no doubt in the future we'll have an Overbay/Fielder situation again that we can still add prospects through trade.

[colbyjack]

I'd defiately hope the Brewers are in position to make a play for Halladay. He is an outstanding pitcher.

 

I absolutely agree. It's a fun topic to think about, and if possible, I hope the Brewers pounce on this. The Brewers don't make the playoffs without Sabathia, and I would trade the right collection of prospects for the chance at winning the World Series each and every year.

 

Keep in mind that Peavy will also continue to be available. There could be a couple of avenues the Brewers could pursue, and these are the types of deals Doug Melvin is talking about when he mentions he wants to retain some payroll flexibility.

 

Does anyone know why the Jays are looking to trade Halladay anyways? Are they trying to rebuild and salary dump?

 

Hasn't Halladay made it known that he doesn't intend on extending his current deal and plans on testing the free agent waters after the 2010 season? With the way the Yankees, Red Sox and even the Rays are built, the Jays may be better off trying to get as much as they can for Halladay now. I don't think they would be stripping down necessarily. It could be similar to the Indians situation.

[joepepsi]

JP Ricciardi was on Hot Stove last week. He denied trying to trade Halladay. He did however, talk a lot about 2010, as though he'd signed off 2009 already. He hasn't been given any money to spend for this season and two of his good young starters will miss a lot, if not all of 2009. So, if he is truly shopping Halladay I guess it would be to get payroll flexibility with an eye toward making a big run in 2010.

[Tbadder]

I'd be against trading for Halladay in that I believe the Brewer system is almost where we need it to be--that is every year supplying a starter, a possible back up and a pitcher or two ready to be a regular. Without a consistent flow the Brewers will always be selling themselves short chasing rentals who never intend to be here anyways.

 

I understand the other point of view, but eventually an organization runs out of prospects and it can mean a half to a full decade of mediocrity as a result. It's not as if Milwaukee is going to be suddenly inundated with money to sign even a few of these guys to cover up short-changing the minors.

[monty57]

Here's a good article from Yahoo talking about the Blue Jays that answers some of the "Why trade Halladay" questions. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmipUaV9T5xNyEOzTGGTI6D.gYl4?slug=ge-hsdbluejays010909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

He's definitely an ace pitcher, and we'd control him for 2010, making it that much more appealing. As with everything, there's value and price. He has a lot of value, but at what price? The Cubs got Harden for a lot less than we paid for CC, so maybe we overpaid and wouldn't have to give up as much as we did. If the price is too high, we'd of course have to pass.

 

An opportunity cost would be "What could we get for Prince after the season?" If we trade Gamel, we probably can't trade Prince next offseason unless we don't want to score runs in 2010. Also, will Hardy sign long term? If so, Escobar becomes more expendable. We'll never have too much pitching, so Jeffress would be a hard one to trade. We're building somewhat of a surplus of catchers in the minors, but the Jays have J.P. Arencibia, so they probably wouldn't be enticed by the inclusion of a catcher.

 

A very interesting question without a clear cut answer. It's hard to not make a move that would help cement a playoff bid. However, we are getting close to the point where Prince, Corey and JJ will be gone. If we trade away too many chips from the high minors, we could have some really ugly years ahead of us.

 

If you were able to sign Hardy long term and trade Escobar along with some others to get Halladay, our 2010 roster could be:

 

C Salome

1B Prince

2B Weeks / Taylor Green

SS Hardy

3B Gamel

LF Braun

CF Cain

RF Hart

 

SP Halladay

SP Gallardo

SP Parra

SP Jeffress (will he be ready then?)

SP Suppan (it seems we'll never be rid of him) or Bush

 

That'd be a pretty good team, especially as some of the players the Cubs signed to long-term contracts start turning 35/36 around that time. I'd say if you made this move, you'd have to hold on to Prince in 2010 and go for it all. After 2010, we get rid of Suppan, Hall and Riske's contracts, get draft picks for Halladay and trade Prince as he'll be heading into his final arby year. With the money we'd shed and the core of players we'd still have, we may even be able to keep a decent team together for 2011 and beyond.

 

With that in mind, I'd say given the right circumstances and the right price, I'd make the trade.

[sheetskout]

I think I would freakin' drool if Roy Halladay was a Brewer.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Does anyone know why the Jays are looking to trade Halladay anyways? Are they trying to rebuild and salary dump?

 

For starters, one of your division rivals just spend about 1/2 a billion dollars to upgrade their team, and that team finished in 3rd in the division last season behind two teams that haven't gotten any worse and are probably better.

 

Halladay absolutely will be this year's C.C. Sabathia - the question will be how many teams will be in the running for him. If the Brewers would throw caution to the wind and offer some of their better prospects, there aren't many teams that can put together better minor league packages.