Heyman: Yankees approach Jays about Halladay
According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, “The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay.”
…like i said earlier in the week, from what i can gather, the Yankees have told the Jays they will include Phil Hughes in a deal for halladay, as well as one of Austin Jackson or Jesus Montero… i have no idea what that means in terms of what the Mets would need to offer to beat it…
Last night, Toronto reporter Jordan Bastian of MLB.com said the Blue Jays will grant an exclusive window for a team to negotiate a contract extension with Halladay, “if it means the return is significantly greater.”
“He could use his no-trade clause as a way to get a Santana or Sabathia deal,” a GM told Heyman, meaning $23 million a year.
In the end, Heyman lists the Yankees and Red Sox as the two teams most likely to acquire Halladay, followed in order by the Blue Jays, i.e., not trade him at all, then the Phillies, Angels and, lastly, the Mets, of whom he writes:
“They’ve said they’ll look into. But eventually, the likelihood is that they won’t want to dedicate $46 million to two pitchers when they have other holes to fill.”
…frankly, i’m still unsure of how i hope the Mets deal with all of this… i am very, very leery of locking in another $23 million to a 32–year-old pitcher, who will throw the bulk of his innings, and earn the bulk of his money, in his late 30s, in which you have to think his best years will have been behind him… plus, to do that, the Mets will need to trade a ton of minor leaguers… and so, something feels off about it all… that said, it is hard to ignore having a few seasons of halladay and santana, together, with Francisco Rodriguez in the bullpen… that’s pretty serious…
To read more from Heyman, who also writes about what it will take to trade for Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez, Marlins 2B Dan Uggla, Royals 1B Mike Jacobs, Tigers OF Curtis Granderson, check out his report for SI.com, here.
