Ok...so here we go again.
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Philadelphia Phillies may be ready to jump into the Roy Halladay sweepstakes.
The article indicates that in May the Phillies had a scout in Toronto for two games, one of which was pitched by Halladay; however, what is more interesting is that the Blue Jays had a scout in Citizens Bank Park last night scouting the Phillies. Who knows what that all means, but after yesterday speculation is going to be running wild every time a Blue Jay scout appears anywhere.
As we have said Halladay has a full no-trade clause so he would have to approve any deal, but I can't imagine he wouldn't want to pitch for the defending champs.
The bigger question probably will be if the Phillies are willing to give up the "king's ranson" to get Halladay.
Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jim Salisbury believes the team should do all they can to get Halladay.
Go get him, Rube. (Refering to Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr) Go get Roy Halladay. Go all in and take a chance at making some history in this sports-crazy town. Go get Roy Halladay and set this team up for another World Series run or two before its nucleus of talent gets on the other side of 30.
Now the question still remains whether the Phillies have enough talent to acquire a player of Halladay's caliber. Here is what one scout who has followed Halladay's availability said.
"The Phillies don't have enough."
But don't tell that to Salisbury, he still believes the Phillies have enough in the tank to get Halladay.
The Phillies have three untouchable prospects in their minor-league system - pitchers Kyle Drabek and Jason Knapp and outfielder Dominic Brown. Drabek should stay off limits. But if it took one of the other two to lead a package to get Halladay, the Phils should consider it. Of course, it would take more than that - maybe a combination that would include a Jason Donald, a Lou Marson, a Michael Taylor, or one of the Phils' pitching prospects not named Drabek.
In the end we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out, but all speculation is that the two teams leading the charge are the Angels and Red Sox.
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