The Message behind Moving Roy Halladay
July 14th, 2009 | by jays1992 |
By Paul Bruno
The Jays are facing a dilemma of perception, both locally and around the rest of the Major Leagues.
What is the message behind them potentially trading Roy Halladay?
You can suggest that he may be pushing for a deal. He is saying that he wants to pitch in meaningful games late in the season and certainly wants to pitch in the playoffs some day. Who wouldn’t want that? He can’t be blamed for feeling that way and you wouldn’t expect him to feel any different, can you? We want professional athletes to pursue excellence and ultimately, the highest level of success, from a team standpoint as well as on a personal level. That what Halladay wants.
The reality is that he has a year and a half remaining on his current deal in Toronto. In terms of his marketability he could not be a more desirable commodity than he is right now. Tonight, he steps on the mound in St Louis as the starting pitcher for the American League in the All Star Game. That should tell you all you need to know about where he ranks among AL starters.
Yet the Jays’ current problem is that they don’t have all the other healthy and necessary pieces behind and beside him to be a contender in the AL at this stage of the 2009 season.
That’s where the Jays’ GM, J P Ricciardi, has to become the master salesman, over the next few weeks or months. Undoubtedly, his own future with the Jays’ will be linked to the conclusion of the Halladay drama.
He has two paths to choose from.
On the one hand, he can try to convince Halladay that the Jays have the prospects on the horizon that will move the team into more serious contention next year and for years to follow. He can also suggest that the Jays are going to be spenders in free agency to fill some of the remaining holes in the roster.
Jays’ fans would likely go for that.
This looks like a snow job today and would require a change in the mindset of the Jays’ management who are speaking of a need to hold firm on the current budget of approximately $80M, heading into next season.
On the other hand, he can move Halladay for a combination of assets that can really help the Jays at more than one position and allow Ricciardi to try to say the team is better off with improvements at multiple positions and from the standpoint of organizational depth.
The pitfall here is that Toronto baseball fans want to see this franchise take two steps forward and one step back as opposed to the other way around. Failure to position this deal properly will hamper fan interest for a team whose average attendance is already near the bottom of the league.
Looking at it from this corner, Ricciardi faces a tough sell, no matter which route the Jays’ follow, in playing out this saga.
