Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 17th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts.

Roy Halladay settled in to his new life in Philly by taking in a Sixers game.

Now that the media conferences are over and the full page newspaper ads are in the blue box it's time for the Toronto Blue Jays to start the preparations for life after Roy Halladay.

The departure of Doc has left the Jays' rotation with a massive hole, and make no mistake it will take more than just one starter to pick up the slack. The Jays currently have no one on the staff with the skills (or tenacity) to win 15-20 games, pitch close to 240 innings and face the full 27 batters at least seven times a year.

If the season were to start today, the Blue Jays starting rotation would be Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Marc Rzepczynski and Brett Cecil. The average age of this fivesome is 25, and they have combined to make just 136 major league starts. There, likely, won't be a more inexperienced rotation in the majors next season. And remember, the supposed ace of the staff, Marcum, has not thrown a meaningful pitch since September of 2008, when his elbow failed and he underwent Tommy John surgery.

There's no way to candy coat this, folks. Phrases like "growing pains" and "work in progress" will be used early and often when the team reassembles in Florida next February. Forget the spin that the front office will try and put on this; the Blue Jays are in rebuilding mode.

The removal of Halladay from the 2010 equation guaranteed that next season would be a very tough sell to a Toronto sporting public mired in losing seasons from all its professional sports teams. The small crowds that showed up post-Labour Day last season will likely become the norm next season while the fans try and figure out just where this team fits in the grand scheme of things. That's not necessarily a bad thing; as the old saying goes: It always darkest before the dawn. Well, the trading of Halladay, the best pitcher ever drafted and developed by the franchise, definitely represented the most recent low point in club history.

Dave Stieb, Jimmy Key and Carlos Delgado all left, but it never hurt like this.

But the acquisition of Kyle Drabek, Travis d'Arnaud and Brett Wallace is exactly what was needed for a franchise devoid of top prospects. Yes, I realize that Alex Anthopoulos was part of Ricciardi's posse, but the fact that Paul Beeston hand-picked the 32-year-old Canadian to rebuild the franchise gives reason for optimism. Beeston, along with Pat Gillick, assembled the original Blue Jays teams from expansion to perennial playoff contender and everyone involved - including the fans whose patience is being stretched dangerously thin - is hoping that the magic can return.

I, for one, am going to take a 'wait and see' approach. There is still time to add a top of the rotation starter to help eat up all the innings that Halladay annually kept away from the bullpen. I was hoping that Anthopoulos was going to take a shot at landing Javier Vazquez or Jason Marquis to fill that massive void, but the Yankees threw together a package that the Jays could only dream of for Vazquez and the Nationals found the money to sign Marquis to a two-year, $15 million.

Three names that still fit the bill are Justin Duchscherer, Braden Looper or Joel Pineiro, but they will come at a cost and are being pursued by teams willing to outspend the cost conscious Blue Jays.

So, we'll wait and see what is coming next. But in my humble opinion, replacing those massive Halladay innings is far from being resolved.