To Deal or Not to Deal is simply a quick dialogue as to whether a franchise should trade one of their core players. Why Deal Roy Halladay: Their are multiple pieces working in the favor of trading Roy. First the Blue Jays play in by far the hardest division in baseball and over the past few weeks they have proven that they can't really hang with the Red Sox, Rays and Yankees. As a result the Jays should likely be sellers despite their hot start to the season.
Secondly and most importantly the Jays need to look at how the Rays built up their team and follow their mode of success, building up the farm system. One way to do so would be trading the most valuable chip prior to the deadline. Being that Halladay is amongst the best pitchers in baseball and is signed through 2010 he would command a bidding war between contenders which likely would result in several premium prospects. These premium prospects would hopefully work in conjunction with some of the Jays younger talent (Romero, Rios, Lind) in building a contender in the future.
Why Keep Roy Halladay: There are two main reasons to keep Halladay. The first and purely financial reason is that he is the face of the franchise currently. He is by far their biggest draw and an already jilted and frustrated fan base could potential give a full fledged revolt.
Secondly and the more importantly would be the belief that the Jays could legitimately contend in 2010. Between Halladay, Romero, Richmond, Litsch, McGowan, Marcum, Brett Cecil and Brad Mills there should be a 5 man rotation of depth and quality. The hope would also be that Lind continues to develop and that Travis Snider is ready to make a major impact in 2010. The main concern would be that the play of Rolen, Scutaro and Hill which was at the forefront of their hot start will not be duplicated next season.
Finally, if they end up not contending next season with Halladay than they can always just trade him before next years deadline.
The Verdict: In my humble opinion I think it's time for the Blue Jays to let Halladay go. By trading him this season the price tag should be higher. A team buying Halladay gets a stud for their current playoff push, a potential ace in their rotation for playoff series, and they'll get him for a full year next year. The Jays need to build from the ground up and there's no better way to make a significant minor league splash than dealing the best chip on the trade market.
Deal Him
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