As I write this, Roy Halladay is throwing a gem against the Baltimore Orioles. Again. That’s just what he does. He’s as automatic as any pitcher on the planet right now.
He is the cornerstone of the club, the face of the team, not to mention an off-season ambassador for a franchise that needs all the help it can get on the open market. Vernon Wells? Don’t even get me started.
No one is un-tradable, and players of Roy’s magnitude have been traded before, but when they do, it is in the most desperate of times.
Are these really desperate times Blue Jay fans? They are frustrating times, to be sure, but DESPERATE?
There has been chatter since the all-star break about Roy’s trade value, and no question, it is dizzyingly high. But are the times really desperate enough to trade away the best baseball player this team has ever produced in the 31-year-history of the organization?
As of Wednesday, the Blue jays had eight fewer wins than the AL East-leading Rays. EIGHT. That’s no reason to get out the hammer and chisel and go to town on the cornerstone. Considering where this team should be in the standings, it’s absolutely reason to be disgusted and proactive. But it’s no reason to start eating your young.
As dire as the situation may seem in the wake of a managerial change and a power outage of epic, and embarrassing, proportions (no active player on the roster has more than nine home runs), the cold hard fact is that the Blue Jays are a .500 team.
A .500 record isn’t going to win the AL East anytime soon, but there are many tradable players on the Jays’ roster — like, two dozen — but Roy Halladay is not one of them. Trading Doc would be scorching the earth under their own cleats, and it makes no sense.
Let’s just say the Jays have FOUR more wins this time next year after trading Halladay for some everyday power and some blue chip prospects. Given that A.J. Burnett would rather stick hot pins in his eyeballs than play in Toronto next year, let’s assume he’s history too. Who’s the ace to get that win when they need it most in a crucial set with the division leader? Who’s the guy Toronto can call on to stop the bleeding on a four-game skid to turn the tide and keep them in the hunt? Shaun Marcum? Jesse Litsch? Dustin McGowan?
If you think the Jays should trade the Doctor, I think you need to SEE a doctor.