From George King (NY Post):
The buzz around MLB scouts is that if a team is interested in acquiring Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays it better be ready to accept center fielder Vernon Wells, too. Since Wells has $107 million remaining starting next year, that’s going to be hard to swallow. Especially because Halladay will likely seek a long-term deal in Sabathia’s $161 million range to waive his no-trade clause. Halladay is signed through next year at $15.75 million.
I Love Miami dvd I often wonder if King reads what’s on the blogosphere and passes it off as “buzz” from “MLB scouts.” For instance, yesterday over at WasWatching, Steve actually proposed this Wells-Halladay idea and labeled it as a “wild thought.” Also, the other day I noted that the Yankees could look into acquiring John Grabow since he was deemed available and then, the next day, George King claimed that there were Pirates’ scouts at the Yankees’ game and that it had “fueled speculation” that the Yankees were interested in Grabow, despite the fact that King never mentioned what speculation he was referring to, exactly (who speculated this?). While I’m not claiming anything here, I just think it’s kind of strange how that all worked out.
Anyway, there was a reason Steve labeled his Wells-Halladay idea as a “wild thought.” Wells has deteriorated offensively and has fallen apart defensively
yet is so expensive it’s amusing. It was a “wild thought,” though, and as bloggers we’re in the business of entertaining such ideas for our readers for they spark discussion on our sites. However, here we are today with King claiming that MLB scouts believe a Halladay suitor would actually have to take on Wells’ ridiculous contract in order to get Halladay. It’s simply nonsensical when you think of how poor of a player Wells has become. In fact, just moments ago Dave Cameron at FanGraphs wrote that download Hellraiser: Bloodline
the Wells extension may be the “worst contract in baseball” and that he’s giving “Barry Zito a run for his money.” That’s how terrible Wells’ contract is and to think that any team would be willing to take on such a financial commitment while agreeing to another extension with the 32-year old Halladay—who you just traded quality prospects for—is absurd (which is why I wonder about King’s report—do MLB scouts actually believe this?).
If Brian Cashman, or any GM for that matter, were to agree to such a trade, he’d look like the dumbest GM in baseball.
Related posts:
I wouldn’t touch Wells. If they wanted us to take Rios, I would take him and put him in CF.
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Chris H. Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I’d take Rios. That Cameron article I linked too says that Rios’ contract is actually worthwhile, although I wonder if Rios is trending downward offensively. His defense is very good, though.
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Wells has enormous negative value, he’s not worth half of that contract. So if you’re talking Halladay and Wells, then you should give up far less for Halladay.
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Chris H. Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Seriously. If they wanted a team to take Wells, hell, they shouldn’t even ask for any quality prospects. It should be a salary dump, if anything.
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This is the kind of idea a GM floats to see whether anyone is stupid enough to nibble. After all, he was stupid enough to give Wels that contract in the first place, so all he has to do is find a peer equally idiotic. When no one takes the bait, said GM returns to planet Earth and has a serious discussion about the player other teams actually want — Halladay.
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I agree that King is a bozzo. When I think of the quality of the stuff on this site and wonder how a guy like that stays employed. With the exception of Klapsich the guys covering the Yankees are stiffs.
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DaveinMD Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I think Klapish is awful. Kepner and Feinsand are the guys I like.
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Chris H. Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Kepner, Davidoff, Feinsand and while I may get flack for this, I think Joel Sherman is pretty good at what he does.
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DaveinMD Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I think he’s an ass. The guy who thought Phil Hughes was nothing after seeing him pitch once. There isn’t anyone I respect less about his opinions on baseball.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I take Davidoff off and Pete Abe on your list. Pete may have gotten a big head, but he is a very good reporter and is quick with news. He is also willing to use statistics to support an argument.
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DaveinMD Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
His attitude towards A-Rod and how he acts on his blog really take him down a notch. He’s really dishonest and phony. The axe he grinded towards Girardi while backing Torre no matter what was really disturbing as well. The only thing his good at is a lot of blog updates.
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Chris H. Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I often agree with some of the things he says about Girardi, though I also disagree with some of the things he says about A-Rod. Pete does a good job at pointing out things that are going on with the team and his blog is tremendously useful. Sherman breaks stories—he was the first to say the Yankees signed CC, for example—and you have to respect him for that. I ripped him once about Hughes on iYankees, but he’s been an ally and has provided a lot of info to the blogging community.
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Who would the Pirates scouts be scouting at a Yankee game? Are they really going to trade major league talent for a second rate bullpen arm? I doubt they would trade a young reliever on the staff for an older on with similar/worse numbers.
Sometimes I wonder about GAK3.
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The only deal I am even willing to listen to for Halladay as a Yankee fan would be Zach Mcallister, Austin Romine, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon and either JB Cox or Kanekoa Texeira or George Kontos which ever of the three they like better… No way that deal gets done though IMO and no way I would give up Hughes, Chamberlain, Montero or Jackson in the deal although out of those 4 AJax is the only one I would be willing to part with.
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I think we should stick all of our trading focus on Huston Ttreet anyway and try to pry him away from Colorado with JB Cox and two other minor league prospects like Nova and
Kontos.
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DaveinMD Reply:
July 15th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
JB Cox retired from baseball. Otherwise, I agree.
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