-Roy Halladay has made it clear to trade him now, or not at all. The 32-year old righty gave the Blue Jays an ultimatum: find a suitor before spring training or I am playing this season in Toronto.
Halladay does not want rampant trade rumors to become a hazard during the season, so as soon as spring training begins, he is taking himself out of the running for a trade, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. That gives the Jays a little less than three months to secure a deal for the former Cy Young winner.
Olney has also speculated the teams in the running for Halladay, with the Phillies being one of just a handful of teams that includes, of course, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels. With a new contract on the horizon for Doc, it’s assumed there are only a few teams that will be able to afford the price of prospects, plus an extension.
–Dave Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News does a bit of speculating himself as today is the final day for teams to offer arbitration to their free agents. Murphy suggests the Phillies will offer it to type-B FA Chan Ho Park, however, he does not believe Scott Eyre will be offered the same.
Park made $2.5 million last season and is in line for a raise, but has made it known he wants the opportunity to start. Eyre made $2 million last year, although he has said he will retire if the Phils do not offer him a deal.
-A hot name on the open market is Justin Duchscherer. He is a right-handed reliever-turned-starter that has been an all-star in the past with the Oakland A’s. Duchscherer battled clinical depression last season while recovering from hip and elbow surgeries. By all accounts he is well again and looking for a fresh start.
Duchscherer is 32-years old and went 10-8 in 2008 with a 2.54 ERA before missing all of ’09. He was an all-star out of the bullpen in 2005, but his jump to the rotation opened some eyes, also earning him a berth on the 2008 team. Before the 2008 ASG break, Duchscherer was 10-5 with a 1.82 ERA as a starter.
He is a buy-low candidate that the Phillies should be seeking as uncertainly looms about the health of Jamie Moyer. The Pirates and Rockies are two teams eying him up, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Pat Gallen can be reached via email at Pat@Philliesnation.com
