The Philadelphia Phillies are about to make off like bandits by fooling J.P. Ricciardi and the Toronto Blue Jays in the Roy Halladay trade sweepstakes. Should they swindle the Jays as easily as it appears they will for one of the preeminent pitchers in baseball they will be lauded years from now for pulling off one of the greatest heists in major league baseball history.Reports indicate they are unwilling to part with pitchers J.A. Happ AND prospect Kyle Drabek, along with either an outfield or corner infield prospect. The Phils insist they are unwilling to move both young hurlers because their value to the team is too high. That is a load of garbage.
Drabek (10-2 with a 2.80 ERA in the minors in '09), the supposed "key piece" to the trade wasn't even listed on Baseball America's "top 100 prospects" list as of late February. And the 26 year old Happ didn't even begin the year as a member of the Phillies starting rotation, instead the job was handed to 16 year veteran Chan Ho Park. Now that Happ is off to a stellar 7-1 start to the campaign, they are trying to peddle him off with the notion that he's a valuable member of the team.
The Phils are merely bluffing that they won't move both in their attempt to pull the wool over Ricciardi's eyes. They'll likely "give in" at the last moment and make the deal to fleece the Blue Jays. Should the trade be finalized, and Philadelphia land Halladay, it will be the lowest point of J.P. Ricciardi's tumultuous 9 year tenure at the helm of the Blue Jays and will be a painful reminder of how he's mishandled this organization.
3 comments:
The fellas at the amazing Beyond the BoxScore vehemently disagree with you...
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/7/25/962778/phillie-phleecing
haha that's laughable, saying the Jays are getting "an amazing deal", and saying that "valuing Happ has him as more than a match for Halladay himself" is ridiculous.
the value might fall somewhere in between, but the Jays must get 3 to 4 prospects back for Halladay for them to make this deal, preferrably 2 position players in that deal...
what do you think?
I'd rather have Drabek than Happ. The latest Phils offer with Taylor and Donald, two position players who both seem to project to better than average major leaguers, plus with Carrasco tossed in seems like a pretty good deal for the Jays.
Personally, I don't think we need both Drabek and Happ. I'd be happy the deal that Ricciardi just rejected. I didn't want to see Halladay go, but now I'm thinking this is the prime time to get the most for him.
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