Halladay is worth the price
GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said he won’t mortgage the Phillies’ future to get Roy Halladay. That’s smart, but he shouldn’t be afraid to pay a high price.
Halladay, 32, is one of the best pitchers in baseball and he’s in the prime of his career. And, perhaps along with the Angels, the Phillies have the prospects and payroll to make a deal. The Red Sox and Yankees might too, but there’s no way Toronto is trading its ace to an AL East rival. The Mets aren’t in the sweepstakes.
I don’t want to part with Kyle Drabek and J.A. Happ, but I’d wince and pull the trigger — and I’d even throw in another top prospect and a first-round pick — in order to get Halladay. Even at that high price, the Phillies have enough farm talent that they wouldn’t be gutting their system.
When the top of your rotation is Hamels and Halladay, you’re automatically in the running for a world championship. Plus there’s this: Rollins, Utley, Howard, Lidge, Victorino and Company are all in their primes. The Phillies’ time is now.
Halladay has a year-and-a-half left on his contract, and it would require close to $20 million per year to sign him to an extension. That’s worth it too. In fact, the Phils shouldn’t get him unless they do an extension, considering the high-end prospects they’d be giving up. They need to go all-in on this. A rental is how they’d get burned.
Halladay, who’s just two years older than Johan Santana and 14 years younger than Jamie Moyer, isn’t going to fade anytime soon.
Making an extension easier is the fact that the Phillies will free up a combined $30 million in dead weight at the end of this season, when Brett Myers, Geoff Jenkins and Adam Eaton come off the books.
I’d be wary if the Phils were to go halfway and not give Halladay an extension, but even then they’d still have him for two Octobers.
Awfully tempting.
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