Philadelphia Phillies: Raul Ibanez on Track to Return This Weekend

According to several reports, Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez is on track to return to the lineup this weekend after missing 19 games with a groin injury.

Ibanez, 37, is hitting .312 with 22 home runs and 58 RBI in 62 games this season with his new club.

He will play his final rehab game tonight in Lehigh Valley before returning to the team tomorrow if nothing goes wrong.

With the Phillies looking like they are putting things together, Ibanez’s return is great news. His bat will help the Phils score some more runs with Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino starting to get on-base.

Philadelphia concludes a four-game set with the Cincinnati Reds tonight, sending Jamie Moyer to the mound to face Micah Owings. The Phils are looking to take their second straight series.

Roy Halladay: Philadelphia Phillies Must, Not Should, Acquire The Ace

Ken Rosenthal first reported yesterday that the Toronto Blue Jays will listen to offers about their stud ace, Roy Halladay, speculation started to fly around the sports world as if Brett Favre was considering a comeback.

ESPN picked it up and ran with it, Comcast Sportsnet ran with it as well. Just about every source for baseball did as well like they did last season with C.C. Sabathia.

This time last season, Sabathia was already traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. However for weeks prior to the blockbuster between the Cleveland Indians and the Brew Crew, there were rumours that he would land in one of eight different cities.

The Philadelphia Phillies were one of those teams, and were believed to be the front runners for his services for a long period of time. But they lacked major-league-ready prospects to offer to Cleveland.

Sabathia was eventually dealt to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta, Rob Bryson, Taylor Green, and Zach Jackson.

This year for the longest time, it looked like there wasn’t going to be any big-name, bona fide aces on the market like a Sabathia.

The names thrown out there were guys like Erik Bedard and Roy Oswalt. While both a terrific pitcher in their own way, one is a free agent after the season and the other has a no-trade clause.

But they weren’t good enough to really give up one of your top prospects to get.

In Bedard’s case, he’s often injured and has a bad attitude. While he’s a great talent, and is having a tremendous season for the Seattle Mariners, he’s not worth a top prospect.

Oswalt’s case is a much different story. First, there’s no way he gets traded if owner Drayton McLane has a say in it. Second, Oswalt determines where he would want to go. Who knows if he’d accept a deal to Philly any way?

Now the best pitcher in the entire league in many people’s mind is on the market, and the Phillies are believed to be the front runners as of right now.

Ed Price of MLB Fanhouse says a source told him that, “Phillies are the leaders at this point.” Buster Olney also think the Phils are the early favorites to land Halladay. Joel Sherman of the New York Post also believes they are in the lead for the right-handed pitcher.

The thing with rumours is that if it keeps getting thrown out there, there has to be some truth to it. Last year, there were rumours that the Phils were talking trade with Toronto about Halladay. In fact, Rosenthal wrote they have repeatedly asked about Halladay over the past two years.

Jim Salisbury, who is columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, reported in his latest column that one Phillies person told him that they are “serious” about acquiring Halladay.

Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki for MLB.com posted in his blog what general manager Ruben Amaro Jr said today when he spoke to reporters.

Amaro said that he does have some untouchables in the organization, although not giving names, those are pretty much common knowledge by now. Those players are Kyle Drabek, Jason Knapp and Dominic Brown.

But Doc is a different animal.

Roy Halladay is the type of pitcher that you give up a couple of your top prospects. He’s been the best pitcher in the league for awhile and yet he doesn’t get much praise because he’s no a Yankee or a Red Sox.

He’s 10-2 with a 2.79 earned run average and 98 strikeouts this season for the Blue Jays. Already he has three complete games, something that he does.

If they call Joe Blanton an “inning-eater,” then what do you call Doc?

The guy has thrown over 200 innings in each of the last three seasons, and racked up 20 complete games in that time span. That’s an old-time baseball pitcher.

Since 2005, Halladay has went the distance 28 times. In his career, 43 times he has completed what he started.

His groundball-to-flyout ratio is exactly what the Phils would love to get for their hitter-friendly ballpark. This year he has 1.28 groundball-to-flyout ratio. He has a deadly sinker, something that Bedard or Oswalt has.

While he’s a strikeout pitcher as well, Halladay is the total package.

Plus he’s under team control for the 2010 season as well. He makes a lot of money, but that shouldn’t be a factor because Brett Myers, Adam Eaton, and Geoff Jenkins will come of the payroll after this season.

Halladay does have a no-trade clause, however according to Jon Heyman, one of his friends “he’s shy, but thinks he would approve a trade to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.”

That takes me to my next point. Why would Toronto trade him to their divisional rivals the Yankees or the Sox? One of the reasons they are open to trading him is because of the division they play in.

The A.L. East is one tough division to crack, with the Yanks and Sox in there as well as the Rays, the Jays are unlikely to win the division with the team they have now.

Sherman has ruled out the Yankees on his twitter account, stating a Yankee official told him there is “zero chance” they trade for Halladay for the same reasons they didn’t get Johan Santana.

The Phils have what it takes to get Halladay, it’s just a matter of them putting together the right package to get him in Philly and not give up way too much.

One of the aforementioned Drabek, Brown, or Knapp would likely have to be in the package, although that’s not a given. Toronto is looking for a top shortstop prospect, and the Phillies have that in Jason Donald.

Something along the lines of Brown, Donald and Carlos Carrasco with another propesct is likely what the package would have to look like.

I’m in the boat that I don’t care what it takes as long as it doesn’t hurt the big league club this year or next (i.e. trading J.A. Happ or Jayson Werth).

With the addition of Halladay, Philadelphia would win the N.L. East by default and be the favorites to repeat.

He’s that kind of pitcher.

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