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Word has come down from Rotoworld and MLB.com that the Blue Jays are willing to give a team to which they trade Roy Halladay an exclusive negotiation window to hammer out a contract extension. Apparently, J.P. Ricciardi was unwilling to offer such a deal, which doesn't really make sense to me, since it seems to behoove a team to create as much value for the player they're trading away as possible. But whatever...I'm no GM. Which, now that you mention it, neither is Ricciardi!
ANYWAY, with this news regarding a potential Halladay deal, it seems a fitting time to examine the trade market for (all-decade ace!) Doc. There's a fairly strong free agent crop, so teams who aren't looking for top-of-the-rotation guys (save for Lackey) will have plenty of alternative options. So I conducted some rudimentary research, most of which was lost due to some technical difficulties. Suffice it to say that I identified the Angels, Mariners, Rangers and Tigers as contending teams whose pitchers were worse than the league-average 4.53 QERA. Of those four, the Angels seem unlikely to deal for Halladay, since (a) they could just resign Lackey and (b) have been rather reticent about dealing their prospects in the past. The Tigers have payroll constraints that, unless they can unload a contract on the Blue Jays - unlikely, given Vernon Wells' massive albatross deal - will take them out of the running. But the Mariners and Rangers have the three key qualities here: need for an ace, ability to contend in 2010, and prospects with which to deal.
My proposed deals are as follows: the Mariners could send off SS Carlos Trifunel, RHP Brandon Morrow, RHP Phillipe Aumont, and C Adam Moore for Halladay. (Zach's note: 99% chance this will never happen. The Blue Jays and Mariners would say no to this, because the package isn't good enough and the Mariners would no more minor league depth). The Rangers could step to the plate with 1B Chris Davis (or Justin Smoak, if they need to upgrade), CF Julio Borbon and C Max Ramirez. Now, again, these deals are probably either way overvaluing or undervaluing the respective prospects, and maybe the Blue Jays want Major League-ready guys, and who knows if either of the two are in the running for Halladay. But the Rangers are a team built for this upcoming season, for whom the addition of Halladay makes a lot of sense. The Mariners took huge steps forward this season by upgrading their run prevention, and to pair Halladay with Felix Hernandez atop the rotation would create a formidable pair of aces who could take games from anybody in the league. Throwing aside payroll constraints, which is especially unreasonable in the Rangers' case, I think that both the Mariners and Rangers make a lot of sense as possible destinations. Regardless, it's always exciting to watch the trade market for an all-timer develop; any Halladay trade will dwarf what is shaping up to be an otherwise dull off-season.
And on a lighter note, while I was browsing the ever-helpful Cot's Baseball Contracts, I found out that Roy Halladay has a clause in his contract that specifies he pay $100,000 a year to the Jays Care Foundation. Which is nice, I suppose, but that doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that should be in a contract. And then I saw that Vernon Wells has to pay $143,000 per year. Which makes more sense, but if Doc pays a hundred g's per year, Vernon Wells should be paying a hell of a lot more than 143K. Now, bear with me through a very tenuous transition. Because of those two stipulations, I started to wonder if all Jays players have to contribute something to society at large. The answer, of course, is 'no,' but I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm saying right here and now that RHP Mark Rzepczynski should pay his debt to society by starting a Jazzercise-esque class. Again, bear with me. It will be called Sztep with Rzep. If you happen to be Mr. Rzepczynski, and would like to see a my preliminary ad copy, and you're not offended by fantastically (poorly) made MS Paint picture of your head on Richard Simmons' body, please do click through the jump. You can keep all the profits from this sure-to-be-lucrative venture; I just ask that you give me credit somewhere. Also, I swear this was more relevant in the first, forever lost version of this post, but, well, crazy things happen in Canada.
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Did anything J.P. do make sense?