What should Ruben Amaro be willing to give up to acquire Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, who is one of the best pitchers in baseball? Should he mortgage the future to go after more World Series Championships?
Amaro has let it be known that he's interested.
"We have some flexibility," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said before Wednesday night's game against the Reds at Citizens Bank Park. "A lot of it depends on the player that we're talking about, but we have some flexibility. It's not unlimited. And as you know, we have the highest payroll we've ever had. We're well over $130 million, and there is a limit to what we can spend."
Could you imagine the Phillies in the World Series again with Halladay going one day and Cole Hamels the next? They wouldn't be a sure bet to win the World Series but they would be favorites.
When you add a dominating pitcher like Halladay to a nucleus of former MVP's Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, as well as four-time All-Star second baseman Chase Utley, you've got a modern day dynasty.
He's going to be expensive to get and Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi made that very clear.
"It would take a lot for us to part with him. We've gotten a lot of calls from teams, but none of them are telling us at this point what they're willing to give up. If you're coming at us with a 'B' list of young players, don't bother. This is one of the five best players in baseball."
"It's going to take a significant package of players for us to even listen. So as the teams call, we'll go through the ones we feel are the serious ones, and then we'll start scouting their farm systems to see if there's anything we can do."
Reporters say outfielder Dominic Brown, right-hander Jason Knapp and pitcher Kyle Drabek are untouchables. they will not trade them.
Other minor league prospects like Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Michael Taylor are available.
So what do you do? I would mortgage the future to get this guy. Hamels, Utley, Rollins and Howard are all in their prime. This is the time to go after it.
All that prospect means is that they haven't done it yet. There's no guarantee that any of these prospects will ever become legitmate stars.
