With minutes to go before the deadline, it looks and sounds like Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay will remain in Toronto. Earlier in the week, it appeared that a few teams, like the Phillies, Rangers and Dodgers were in serious pursuit and willing to pay a big price but GM JP Ricciardi said, and apparently meant, that he would only part with him for a blockbuster return.
As we all know, the Phillies and Dodgers made other moves, acquiring respectively, Cleveland's Cliff Bell and O's George Sherrill. Texas and to a lesser extent, the Red Sox have tried to come up with a pleasing package, to no avail.
I guess what I'm getting at is that for these contending teams, having a guy like Halladay for the next two seasons and post seasons might have been a shot worth taking. Prospects like Kyle Drabek and Co. may be a star down the road but he's not going to win a World Series for anybody this year or next. Halladay could have.