It looks like the city that all 4 major sports leagues have been intentionally conspiring against for the past 100 years may be getting a break after all. The late June series the Phillies would have played in Toronto against the Blue Jays has been moved to Philadelphia on account of security concerns surrounding the G8 summit in Toronto. This means that Roy Halladay’s return to Toronto will be postponed at least until next year (unless the teams meet in the World Series). It also means that the Blue Jays will lose the competitive advantage of playing at home against a much better Philadelphia team.

In the grand scheme of things, nobody really cares much about this other than the 250 Blue Jays fans in Toronto. One viable solution would have been to play the game at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, New York (pictured above). Buffalo is more or less right across Lake Ontario from Toronto and it would have been fun to see the Jays travel to downtown Buffalo on a giant hydrofoil. It also would have made sense because Coca-Cola Field was built as an expansion-ready Major League park with a capacity of 18,000, well in excess of the 15,207 fans the Rogers Centre in Toronto is averaging this season.

After all, when the Astros-Cubs series wasn’t able to be played in Houston a few years back because of a hurricane, MLB moved it to a “neutral” site in Milwaukee, not to Wrigley Field. Clearly MLB now loves the revenue-generating Phillies and hates the scum living north of the border. And throwing the G8 into the mix means that world leaders are now on the Philadelphia band wagon. So no more bitching about how everyone hates us, folks.

That’s what Roy Halladay thinks, according to philly.com. At least that’s what Lou Holtz said, or maybe Ben Franklin. In any event, “WDIAMITWS” was the quote Doc invoked in response to the opening salvo of the annual preseason war of words between the Mets and Phillies. Mets’ ace, Johan Santana, was asked on Thursday who he thought was the best pitcher in the NL East. Not surprisingly, he answered “Santana.”

To be fair, I don’t know that Santana is wrong. His 2009 effort was his worst as a Met, a season marked by injury and unimpressive numbers. While the Phillies’ brass and local media would have you believe that Roy Halladay is the best pitcher since Sandy Koufax, the numbers don’t exactly support that. Santana has a better career WHIP than Halladay (1.113 vs. 1.198). He averages more strikeouts per season than Halladay (173.3 vs. 149.5) and fewer hits per season (143 vs, 199.7). Santana also has a lower career era than Doc (3.12 vs. 3.43), though he does give up an average of 1.8 more walks than Halladay per season. And Santana has won 2 Cy Young Awards in the American League while pitching for the Minnesota Twins. Halladay has 1 CYA as a Blue Jay.

I don’t know that there’s much of a difference between the two. In fact, other than the last two seasons Tim Lincecum put together, there aren’t better bodies of work among current pitchers than those owned by Santana and Halladay. Obviously the media wants to make a big deal out of Santana saying he’s the best pitcher in the division but in reality, there’s no reason for him to say anything other than that.

Let me start by saying that I will certainly not be unhappy in any way with Roy Halladay as the Phillies’ ace. I argued extensively last season for the Phils to make a move to get him and he is one of the top-5 pitchers in baseball, perhaps made even better in the short run by being a veteran of baseball’s best division. And now Halladay will land in the N.L. which by recent experience should mean he’ll get even more of a boost. From a performance perspective, Halladay probably becomes the best pitcher in the National League going into 2010.

But there are questions surrounding this move and its timing that can’t be ignored. First and foremost is the issue of what the Phillies have given up to acquire Halladay. Because Cliff Lee is gone as a result of this trade, the Phillies are simply replacing one ace with another. Let’s start with the trade that rented Cliff Lee for 12 starts to close out the 2009 season (and 4 brilliant playoff starts). According to mlb.com the Phillies will part with previously “untouchable” top pitching prospect, Kyle Drabek, as well as outfielder Michael Taylor and catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Combine that with the players they sent to Cleveland in the Lee deal (pitchers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, catcher Lou Marson and infielder Jason Donald) and you have a pretty high price paid for what amounts to be one pitcher.

In fairness, prospects are exactly that: an unknown commodity. But emptying close to your entire minor league tank to fill one rotation spot seems to be a bold gamble, even moreso when you consider the fact that Roy Halladay is negligably better than Cliff Lee. To boot, Roy Halladay has pitched 4 more seasons than Cliff Lee and has pitched exactly 850 innings more than Lee, meaning his treads are a lot more worn than Lee’s.

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Jayson Stark is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays have formally proposed a trade with the Phillies involving ace, Roy Halladay. J.P. Ricciardi and the Jays would be willing to part with Halladay in exchange for J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown. Apparently the Toronto pitcher’s body of work hasn’t shown enough to convince Ruben Amaro to part with Happ and 2 guys who’ve never played an inning of Major League ball.

Nor were the Phillies particularly impressed with Halladay’s outing last night against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team ranked 3rd in baseball in runs scored (only the Yankees and Angels have crossed the plate more). While Happ got shelled by the Cardinals, Halladay pitched 9 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run while walking 3 and striking out 10. Adding to the resume that’s printed on gold leaf, Halladay recorded his 44th complete game since 1998; Randy Johnson is the only other pitcher with that many complete games during the past 12 seasons.

The quote of the day on this matter was from an unnamed talent evaluator (presumably a Toronto guy) who Stark claims is involved in the Halladay proceedings:

The Phillies are going to have to step up if they want him. Happ is OK (as a prospect) and Drabek is a good prospect, but neither of these guys is ever going to be what Halladay is. They’re prospects, and Halladay is Halladay; he’s the best. If Happ and Drabek are not both in the deal, it’s not going to happen.

From a baseball perspective, that’s pretty much the whole story. The Phillies know Halladay is going to cost an arm and a leg and they’ve shown themselves to be quite willing to pass on big-time contracts in the past. Despite the ado surrounding last year’s championship as well as this year’s cake walk both fresh in fans’ minds, it’s important to remember that this team’s ownership junta hasn’t exactly shown themselves to come from the George Steinbrenner school of talent acquisition.

But money issues aside, there is no baseball reason not to make this trade. In terms of this season, Happ is the only player involved who would affect a World Series hunt and nobody can seriously argue that he’s be better for the Phillies run this year than Halladay. And ditto for next season as D. Brown will have no roster spot available to him and there’s no way Drabek comes in and has a rookie season anywhere comparable to what Halladay will produce.

Giving the Phillies the benefit of the doubt, the fact that they’re holding out for a better deal with a week to go until the deadline is just fine. It’s reported they’re trying to get Toronto to bite on Carlos Carrasco instead of Drabek. For my part, they can have Carrasco, Drabek and Happ as long as we get Halladay. Bottom line: the Phillies are the N.L. favorites this season and the next with Roy Halladay. Without him, they’re in the mix. And if you want to be stubborn and hold onto the prospects, let’s reconvene this conversation in 5 years.

That’s Roy Halladay with a face full of shaving cream. If the Toronto Blue Jays don’t get a deal done that lowers their payroll and gives them some prospects for the future, it may be team GM, J.P. Riccardi, who’s the one with pie on his face. Here are a few takes on the likeliness of this happening:

The Toronto Star takes issue with the apparent salary dump mindset the Blue Jays are in and points to the Phillies as an organization that does things right. How about that.

Espn.com, the network that buries rape stories and I.D.s its reporters on nude videos, is drawing on its experience in creating two seasons of Brett Favre drama and reporting that J.P. Riccardi needs a little more time before the Toronto GM figures out what’s he’s going to do with Halladay.

Tampabay.com is reporting that the Rays are now in the hunt for Halladay’s services, as well as universal Halladay fall-back plan, Cliff Lee.

In the tsn.ca daily poll, almost 50% of respondents want the Blue Jays to hold onto Halladay. If it’s any comfort to Torontonians, slightly more than 50% of respondents at philly.com don’t think he’s going anywhere.

As for the other rumored Halladay suitors, at least one Cardinals fan sees the market for Halladay working in the Cards’ favor. Jeff Wilson of the Dallas Morning News gives his take on the likeliness of the Rangers acquiring Halladay. Brewers’ GM, Doug Melvin, offers his take on the Brew Crews’ chances. And finally, sportsofboston.com talks about Halladay as a Red Sock (sp?) and they specualte as to who else may be in the race.

…Directly to the Philadelphia Inquirer daily sports poll. Today’s queston is a chip off the old stupidity block and the responses are as ugly as Medusa giving birth to the Elephant Man. Q: “Should the Phillies give up J.A. Happ as part of a trade for Roy Halladay?” A: 50.7% no, 49.3% yes.

In typical homer fashion, the majority of fans who voted “no” are affected by exposure to Happ’s productive season here in Philly. This year Happ is 6-0 with a 2.90 ERA, pitching in the 5 spot. He has beaten Washington 3 times, Toronto once, San Diego once and the Pirates once which, despite his good numbers, means he is yet to win a game against a team over .500 this season. For his career, Happ has appeared in 31 games and is 7-1 with a 3.38 ERA, a WHIP of 1.27 and a strikeout-walk ratio of 1.92 for a team that won the World Series last year. He is off to a very nice start to his career.

This season Roy Halladay is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA, pitching in the most difficult division in baseball. He has beaten the division-leading Angels twice, the division-leading Tigers once as well as the New York Yankees (other wins include K.C., the White Sox twice (.511), the Orioles, the Twins (.506) and the Indians). For his career, Halladay is 141-61 with an ERA of 3.47, a WHIP of 1.20 and a K/BB ratio of 3.19 and has played his entire career for a team that has never been good enough to make the playoffs.

At 32 years old, Halladay has thrown 43 complete games, appeared in 6 All-Star games and won one Cy Young award. In as much as it’s possible to say this about someone who probably needs a few more seasons (and some playoff appearances, though the lack thereof certainly isn’t his fault) to be considered, Halladay is on the fast-track to the Hall of Fame.

For as nice a start as J.A. Happ has had to his career, retaining him in a scenario where he could be traded for Roy Halladay would be simply foolish. Roy Halladay has been one of the top-5 pitchers in baseball for the past 7 seasons and (as the trajectory of his career stats indicate) has at least 5 seasons left in him. There is a reason they call players like Happ prospects: because their promise is not only to their own clubs’ futures, but in their value as trade pieces as well.

Think about it this way: if the Phillies face the Giants (Lincecum and Cain), the Cardinals (Carpenter and Wainwright), or the Dodgers with Billingsley and Kershaw in the playoffs, which top two Phillies pitchers more effectively oppose these tandems, Hamels and Happ (assuming Manuel is comfortable enough to put Happ in the #2 spot by then) or Hamels and Halladay? What if they make the World Series and face the Red Sox? Is there anyone out there who seriously thinks the Hamels/Happ duo would be better than Halladay/Hamels against Josh Beckett and Jon Lester?

Folks in this town need to start thinking about the prospect of a trade for Halladay for what it is: a chance to put a product on the field that is as good a contender for its second World Series ring as any other team out there. The inclusion of Roy Halladay on this team at the expense of J.A. Happ is no indictment of the latter, merely a recognition of what a more dangerous pitching staff this team would have if Halladay were a part of it.

American League All-Star Game starting pitcher, Roy Halladay, said today in St. Louis that his chances of leaving Toronto are 50-50. “For me, it would be a flip of the coin” says Halladay. And a not-so-subtle hint was dropped by Halladay, suggesting the N.L. will be his final destination: “I’d rather hit than face Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui and Teixeira.”

Halladay’s statements suggest that his primary interest in waiving his no-trade clause would be directed towards landing with a World Series contender. Rumors have the Phillies at the front of the pack with Milwaukee and St. Louis in the mix. Hidden amongst the mountain of accolades he’s accumulated is the fact that Halladay has never thrown in a post-season game. He’s locked into another contractual year in Toronto; with the way the A.L. East is comprised, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be in the playoffs for the next 2 years if he remains in Toronto past the trade deadline. Of course, trades require more than the suitor-and-the-chased dynamic of free agency; the Blue Jays obviously have quite a bit to do with this. But J.P. Ricciardi’s comments from last Monday are a clear indication that Toronto is looking to cash-in big time by shopping Halladay before July 31.

Aside from everything else he does better than just about everyone else, Halladay is an innings eater, something the Phillies desperately need from the starting rotation. In the past 6 seasons, Halladay has averaged 6 complete games, twice recording 9 complete game seasons and has led the A.L. 4 times. He has 3 complete games so far this year putting him behind only Zach Greinke (5) for the Major League lead. He’s led the A.L. in innings pitched 3 times since 2002 (including last season) and is averaging 7 1/3 innings in 17 games this year.

With the Phillies’ pen stretched to its limit because of short starts, this aspect of Halladay’s game adds so much more than simply wins, ERA and strikeouts. The ability to be a workhouse in the starting rotation is one of the few spots in baseball that actively takes pressure off teammates and makes their jobs easier, and therefore makes them better.

Roy Halladay is the biggest story in Philly sports today. To offer a few perspectives on a potential trade, I’m going to drop a few links on you. From Toronto, the Globe and Mail is understandably reserved and conservative about the prospect of losing Halladay, regardless of how much they get in return. If the trade does happen and you’re a Blue Jays fan, the thing to remember is that there will be a ton coming back at you and Halladay is 32, so the window for his continued success is smaller than what the prospects bring. Furthermore, for a team that needs more than a pitcher to compete, Toronto would be getting (presumably) multiple position players who would contribute 162 games per year as opposed to one dominant pitcher who’s on the field every 5 days.

Both Jim Salisbury at the Inquirer and David Murphy at the Daily News are salivating over the dreamy right-hander wearing red pinstripes. Obviously, his acquisition by the Phils would make them the team to beat in the N.L.; regardless of how ugly a Phils’ win of their division may turn out to be, Halladay’s inclusion in the starting rotation challenges the front-loaded arms of the Giants (Lincecum and Cain), the team they’d play first if the season ended today.

And Jon Heyman at si.com sees the Phillies as the most logical place for Halladay to end up. Buster Olney said the same thing this morning but I think it’s important to keep this distinction in mind, fans: at this point the Phillies are not the front-runner for Halladay (implying we know there are negotiations that favor them over other teams), rather the pundits seem to think a Halladay-Philly connection simply makes the most sense.

For my part, I feel like it’s an easy decision for the Phillies to go after Halladay while keep their talent wallet wide open during negotiations with Toronto. The most coveted pitchers in baseball with established track records are Halladay, Beckett, Sabathia, Santana, Oswalt and Lincecum. Of the bunch, Halladay is the only one whose team is willing to part with him at this point so he has to be considered the best pitcher available. For a team defending a World Series with questionable starting pitching, it’s a no-brainer. After all, the Phils are in their prime; if they gamble on Halladay and win another Series in the next 3 seasons, it will have to be considered a good deal regardless of that they will have given up.

I’ve criticized him in the past, but today I’ve got nothing but praise for David Murphy and his piece on the Daily News’ High Cheese blog. Murphy breaks down comparable trade histories and speculates as to what it would take for the Phillies to acquire Toronto’s right-handed ace, Roy Halladay. As I mentioned earlier today, it’s being widely reported (apparently Ken Rosenthal’s piece on foxsports.com is now the definitive offering on the subject) that the Blue Jays may be willing to trade Halladay. Obviously, this is the potential juggernaut move of the year so it’s getting a great deal of attention.

Aside from putting together realistic scenarios relative to salary, contract length, major-league readiness and mutual value, Murphy does the readership a service by offering restraint and reality in his speculation. Then again, just when you think you’ve got a dispassionate, balanced analysis, you scroll down and realize there’s the comments section.

In this case, the requisite stupidity comes from fans out there throwing around the media-created term “untouchable,” as if the fans have really ever seen one pitch thrown by Kyle Drabek, Carlos Carrasco or Yohan Flande. I love it when people wax on about which prospects should and shouldn’t be designated for promotion, regression or trade. 99% of fans have zero first-hand experience with any of these guys, much less the scouting acumen to actually analyze players’ suitability for various scenarios.

The other thing that makes the idea of prospects being untouchables in this organization is that the Phillies are at the top. When a team is defending World Champs, holding onto future prospects when there are immediate needs that are addressable by trade is P.R. and logical suicide.

It’s one thing for Cleveland or Arizona or the Orioles to keep their young trump cards close to their chests and quite another when championship-or-bust fever hits a particular market. Honestly, does winning the division and protecting the prospects for 2, 3 or 4-years down the line work in Philly this year assuming the pitching doesn’t get the Phils out of the first round? No way in hell is there’s an “untouchable” prospect in an organization that’s defending a World Series title, especially when a pitcher like Halladay is out there.

Lost in last night’s 22-1 drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds was the great performance of Cole Hamels (on the mound specifically, not at the plate). Hamels’ line looked like this: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB and only 92 pitches. More importantly, Phillies’ starters have recorded wins in each game of the current 4-game streak.

22-run games are fun but they’re few and far between. Seeing the rotation go out and pitch solid games that translate to wins is encouraging and bodes well for booking reservations in the fall. If J.A. Happ can win tonight, it will be the first time this season the starters have gone through the rotation with 5 consecutive wins.

Unlike yesterday, we’re feeling good about the Phillies so I’m going to throw this potential catch at you from sportingnews.com: “Blue Jays More Open to Offers for Halladay.” I would be unopposed to any reasonable scenario by which the Phillies obtain Halladay by trade. He is arguably the best pitcher in baseball and possesses great career ERAs against this year’s likely contenders: 4.46 against Boston, 1.50 against the Dodgers, 2.90 against the Yankees, 1.00 against St. Louis, 3.72 against Tampa, 2.19 against the Tigers, 4.32 against the Angels and 2.45 against the Phillies. The fact that Toronto is 2 games over .500 and still willing to listen to offers for their best pitcher tells us this is a salary move and open to any team willing to offer the goods. Hell, I’m just saying…