Philadelphia Phillies: Getting Roy Halladay Is a No-Brainer

The end of July is either one of the most exciting times, or the most nerve-racking. It just depends on who you are.

For players, it is a lot of stress.

Anyone could be traded anywhere at any time. Every text message or phone call received could be that dreaded news, or great news, depending on who you are and where you end up going.

No one wants to go from a contender to one of baseball’s teams in the dumpster.

At the same time, going from the dumpster to one of the contending teams would be ideal to any player.

For fans, the end of July means the time for blockbuster trades. The time where getting that player you’ve always dreamed of playing for your team could finally come true.

Anything could happen before the calender flips to August.

Take Roy Halladay as an example.

At least four teams are highly interested in the 2003 Cy Young Award winner. As Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi adequately puts it, “someone has to have the stomach for this.”

The question is, who will it be?

In Philadelphia newspapers, there’s quite a bit of speculation that the Phillies are the front-runners for the ace. As they should be!

The Dodger’s have been reported as one of the teams in the chase, but the question is do they have the minor league talent to land him?

The Yankees and the Red Sox certainly have the talent to trade for any player they want. Then again, with the payrolls they sport, can they afford to trade away the prospects that in a few years could be performing well at the major league level at a much-reduced cost?

I don’t think they really want to do that, even for a phenomenal pitcher such as Doc Halladay.

Now the Phillies on the other hand…

The World Series Champions have quite a bit of minor league talent as well as some young players performing better than expected at the major league level.

J.A. Happ for example, has a 7-0 record this season with a 2.68 era. Obviously to get Halladay a player with Happ’s numbers would have to be included.

Should the Phillies let him go?

Absolutely. His performance is at it’s peak, the question is how long can he maintain the level he is performing at. That’s the roll of the dice Phillies GM Rubin Amaro Jr. has to make with trading Happ.

For a proven performer such as Halladay, that one really is a no-brainer.

Another player needed to make this deal happen is Kyle Drabek, son of former Pirates Cy Young winner Doug Drabek. The kid was born to pitch and trading him is probably more of a splinter in the mind’s eye for Rubin Amaro Jr. than Happ. Especially after watching Drabek pitch eight innings last night in a win for the Double-A Reading Phillies.

If the Phillies want to make a serious run at a second consecutive world title, they have to get more pitching.

That is the bottom line.

The bullpen has been good but hurt all season, more than likely do to their overuse because of the lack of consistency in the starting rotation.

Get Roy Halladay, he eats innings, he’s a proven performer, he’s the jelly the Phillies rotation has been missing since Brett Myers went down.

Cole Hamels is the peanut butter.

Hopefully Myers returns from the DL in late August to give the bullpen a fresh arm for the stretch.

Pedro Martinez also could be a nice addition, but I wouldn’t rest my championship aspirations on him.

If the Phillies can get Roy Halladay they give themselves their best chance at getting a second consecutive World Series title.

Go get him Rubin, it’s seriously a no-brainer.