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.
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The Mets can not beat this deal. We would have to offer Ike Davis, F-mart, and Mejia to beat this, and I still think we might have to throw in Niese.
Oh Well. Time to look into Harang. Next year, Webb, Chris Young, and Cliff Lee, will all be free agents next year.
A buddy of mine is a Reds fan and he said the Reds are more likely to trade Arroyo before Harang – especially if the Mets are considering Castillo as part of the trade.
Given the pitchers likely to be available next year, and that Halladay’s and Lackey’s best years are behind them coupled with the money and years they would require, I’d rather the Mets beef up their offense this year and make a few shrewd trades/acquisitions for second-tier pitchers. Getting some pitchers like Arroyo and Marquis, plus taking a chance on someone like Harden or Sheets would be fine by me (provided they acquire Holliday and dump Castillo for a better 2B).
100% agree!
Yeah, getting Halladay is like signing Holliday plus 6M per season and trading 4-5 top prospects. No thanks, Sign holliday, sign a wolf and a Harden type, See if you can get Phillips and dump castillo. Get a bullpen arm and lastly look into Delgado.
Xman, I got a question. If we swap Castillo’s contract for Arroyo’s, then where does Brandon Phillips go? Would they be willing to move Phillips to third?
WITH ANY LUCK ,…..2ND BASE @ CITIFIELD!
The Reds want to move him to SS.
Yeah..its the fact that we’d have to pay double to get him…meaning we have to trade a load of talent AND sign him to a long-term deal. I can’t see him wanting a deal much cheaper than the one Johan got, especially since the market has now been set with Johan and CC. Yes he is older at the point of signing the deal, but I can’t see that being a big setback for him at least.
It’s fascinating to think about Johan and Doc in the rotation together, I just feel it may not be the best use of our resources for the long-term. We are not 1 or 2 holes away from being a dominant team, if we were, then I say splurge for Roy and take the risk. But that is not the case.
The expense it would take to acquire Roy I think would be better spent on Adrian Gonzalez. Not saying that will happen, but if i had to trade loads of talent plus guarantee a high-price long-term deal…Adrian is the man I’d do it for.
1000% agree.
Can’t argue with that logic.
I’ve said it before, but a 1-2 punch like that can really shorten a series, especially in the playoffs and beyond. Great pitching can usually shut down great hitting.
Additionally, with Halladay, you’re getting more than a pitcher. You listen to Chris Carpenter and A.J. Burnett, and they talk glowingly about what kind of pitchers Halladay helped turn them into. We need that kind of influence on the Mets. I want someone who will proactively work with teammates to make the entire team better. The deal surely depends upon what the Jays’ needs are. I think we have the parts, and would rather make a trade for Halladay than for AGon.
PS: If you trade for Halladay and make a strong push to sign Holiday, you get your added offense as well. I could live with Murph at first until Davis is ready, with Holiday in LF.
If the Yankees offered Hughes and Jackson/Montero, Omar would have to offer Davis. Again, in order to beat that, we would have to give away three or four of our best prospects. You will have Daniel Murphy there for a long time.
Uuh we have to get to the playoffs before we worry about “shortening the series!” and if we shoot the whole wad on getting Halladay what’s the point? We won’t have the offense to get to the playoffs anyway. As mentioned before it makes little sense to splurge like that when we are not one or two pieces away from dominating. Besides, he is flat out too old to take the risk on a contract like that.
I agree, while a 1-2 punch of Santana and Halladay is nice to have it’s useless unless the Mets can score runs to win games. When you have one quarter of your payroll tied up into two players that will at best play in 68-70 games it’s going to be tough unless you have young cheap talent to supplement the rest of the roster. And right now at this point the Mets don’t have that.
If we have Beltran and Reyes for a full year, as well as a LF who can produce, that would certainly add quite a bit of offense. A full year of Francouer, if he maintains the pace, wouldn’t hurt either.
yes, can the Mets afford a Holiday type contract after shelling out for Halladay? That is my point exactly!
that was supposed to read yes, but cna the Mets afford…….
Oh nevermind I can’t type today! geez! lol
Problem is bringing in that LF’er that can produce. Are you going to have the money to do that when you are paying 2 pitchers, one quarter of your payroll?
We need to make a concerted effort to distance ourselves mentally and emotionally from the results of last season.
Yes, the Mets finished the season with one of the worst records in baseball.
But, those are not the Mets that will take the field next season. 2009 was a total aberation.
We will be taking the field with the following:
(SS) Jose Reyes – One of the best leadoff men in baseball
(2B) Luis Castillo – Not great, but OK. 300 avg, doesn’t strike out, ability to advance runners.
(CF) Carlos Beltran – Best centerfielder in the league.
(LF) UNKNOWN – You need power here.
(3B) David Wright – One of the best young 3B in the game.
(RF) Jeff Franceour – Not great, but good. 20-25 HR, 80-90 RBI potential.
(1B) Daniel Murphy – Not great, but good. 20 HR, 80 RBI, 40 2B potential.
(C) Omir Santos – Not great, but OK. How will he perform in year 2?
This is a good team. You can’t have an all-star at every position. And if you look at this objectively, you will quickly realize where it is we can make the greatest impact (which might explain so many of the rumors out there).
Obviously priority #1 has to be Left Field. If we can get Matt Holliday there, then all of a suddent it’s a very good team on paper.
The 3 other things that pop right out to me are Catcher, 2nd base and 1st base, in that order. If we can get another bat for the catcher position, someone with pop to go along with Omir Santos who is cheap, that would be big.
2nd base does not have to be addressed, but its hard to make a logical argument that Orlando Hudson, Brandon Phillips, etc… aren’t an upgrade over Luis Castillo. The question of course is at what cost?
Finally, Daniel Murphy has been given a very hard time by fans, and I think its unwarranted. He played very good defense and had a nice bat during the season. Murphy was never a 40 HR guy, so I don’t know why there is such a sudden distaste for him when people were talking about him being our 1B 2 years ago. The only thing that Murphy did to disappoint us this year was lose some of that plate discipline we all loved. But give the guy a break, it was his first full season at a new position. I think his average will be back near .300 next season, but he will still only give you 15-20 HRs and 70-80 RBI, but the other thing he gives you is the financial flexibility to sign Matt Holliday.
We can’t have 2 pitchers soak up 46 million in payroll, but the Yankees can? Are we in a parallel universe where NY is poor? Get it done. It gives us 3-4 years with two great pitchers at the top of their game
Since the 1st round pick is protected this year, we should look to do our significant lifting through FAs. I’m not always an advocate of that, but I think one big splash (Holliday?) and some smaller pieces is the way to go.
Then you allow the farm to continue to develop and deepen and you add a high pick in the draft and suddenly things could be getting on course.
Emptying out the farm AND having to do extensions hurts on both fronts and thins what has been thin too long.
Halladay and Santana would be like Schilling and Johnson for the 2001 Diamondbacks who were not exactly an offensive juggernaut. How’d that work out and we have Krod instead of BK Kim. Pitching wins, and with those 2 guys in the playoffs it would be hard to lose.
Even if the D-Backs didn’t have a great offense in 2001 they still had a better offense than the Mets will have unless the Mets add a significant hitter to this line-up.
all we need is some steroids and we could close that gap quite quickly
Or have a healthy Beltran and Reyes for all of 2010.
Who is to say Beltran with his knee’s will be healthy all season? I think this is going to be an ongoing issue for Carlos the rest of his career.
actually outside of Gonzalez who was ridiculous (roids) they didnt have much else on offense. The 2010 Mets offense with necessary upgrades would easily trump the 2001 dbacks O.
That year they were better at C, 1B, 2B, LF & RF. Plus they had a great bench to go with their line-up. Something the 2010 Mets won’t have w/out any upgrades especially if they have Francoeur hitting 5th. Francoeur doesn’t even start on that D-Back team yet he would be hitting 5th in the Mets line-up next season w/no upgrades.
I don’t know that Davis is a piece that necessarily goes to the Jays. It’s not simply about talent, but about what the needs of the Jays are as well. Balancing the short-term and long-term certainly isn’t easy, but it can be done. If you sign Holiday, F-Mart possibly becomes a piece. But do the Jays need him? Would they want Maine, who’s still cheapish, and other young pitchers. It depends upon the fit.
Personally, I think Phil Hughes has lost some value, especially as a starting pitcher. I don’t know that two pieces from the Yankees will be enough. Besides that, they have a number of contracts to deal with, including Jeter’s. Are they going to be able to spend that much of Halladay? What would that be, 65+ million on three starting pitchers? Throw Pettite in there, and you’re probably getting close to 80 mil.
I know that some of the site’s discussion has touched on the shoddy defense of the ‘09 team, and you’ll get no argument from me, but I think Sheffield getting forced to play the field as much as he did was one of the reasons. The guy was slightly better than a statue out there. And Murph playing LF was a horror show. Just adding someone who can actually field in LF will help immensely.
That’s a big aspiration right there…actually getting a LFer to play LF? you and your logic.
wouldnt you prefer an old injury prone player who will likely injure himself shagging flyballs? Because thats what Omar likes (Floyd, Alou, Sheff).
Unless he can be had for a lesser package lets move on and get Lackey.
AND…when is enough enough with the Yankees? Seriously. Its getting ridiculous. Sure its part Jealously but baseball really needs to do something. Too bad they wont and can’t. How do you compete when the Yankees every off-season grab the top players on the market?? Last winter they signed the top 3 FAs. LOL
Do not get me wrong, I like Halliday. But consider this:
Halliday 32G @ $23+M
Perez 28G @ $12M
Santana; Halliday; Pelfrey; Niese; Perez with Maine spotting
vs.
Hardin 25G @ $8M
Beddard 25G@ $8M
Marquis 32G @ $8M
Perez 0G @ $12M (i.e. trade and eat salary)
Niese and Maine: 14G
Santana; Hardin; Beddard; Marquis; Pelfrey; with Maine and / or Niese spotting
Limit Hardin’s and Beddard’s game count
Beddard’s injury was not as bad as was anticipated. Even if one goes down you are still better off ($8M loss and Pelfrey steps up to #4). If you don’t like either then look into Sheets.
+’s:
Nearly identical salary
no loss of draft picks
keep what prospects we have
no more posts about Ollie
very high upside
no lengthy contracts
no concern about an eventual 37YO making $23M
-’s
injury risk
Just a thought for discussion: Comments?
Actually now that i see it your proposal makes a lot of sense
The Mets would spend about the same money and eventhough the 1-2 punch will be nowhere near as good but the rotation would be a lot deeper
And sure there are injury risks but the Mets would have Maine Neise and Perez to fill in.
I like this idea
I have thought abou this as well but of course this proposal also says we do not sign Holliday for LF most likely. The upside would be tremendous bc if Harden or Bedard stay healthy there is your #2 and if both do then you’re golden. In my Halladay is a non issue, love the thought of him and Santana but that’s it, all other money/prospect issues make it not even worth thinking about.
If the Mets can keep Ike Davis out of the package then I’m all for it
I would still rather trade the prospects for A-Gon but if not then I would love a rotation that starts with Santana the Halladay
If the Mets were to make the play-offs they would be real hard to beat in a series
Especially if the Mets do what the yeankees did and have a three man rotation
And honestly if you add Halladay and Holliday(if the mets spend the money for all that) I think the Mets could make the playoffs if healthy
Because the Mets are already a playoff team if healthy in 07 and 08 they missed the playoff by one game….Im sure if they had Halladay and Holliday the Mets would have won atleast one more game each of those two years
ugh, i want halladay and i don’t care that the yankees are offering phil hughes, who cares? Do the jays really want hughes that bad that it would be worth it to have to keep halladay in their division? Ask the jays what they want and try to make it happen. This is Doc HALLADAY we are talking about, he is miles better than everybody out there, pitching in the NL, in Citifield, i really don’t care that we have to give him six years, couple him with johan for the next four and we may have some championships on our hand, if you have to pay him, then pay him. he is one of the best pitchers in the game and he is AVAILIBLE i can’t think why would we say no, jeff needs to open the wallet, suck it up and trade away some guys and get the deal done. we can worry about year six after years 1-5, he also is a guy that knows how to pitch, Nobody knows what he will be like in four years but that is the risk you take on every pitcher and halladay is a great pitcher, he’s worth the risk
if the jays trade halliday within their own division there needs to be an investigation…it kinda would be like putting out the white flag…will anything be changed when the crankees payroll goes up to 300 mil…and yes i want the mets to spend a lot more money…hypocrite that i am….
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