The Roy Halladay sweepstakes will dominate Major League Baseball for the next week. But while the Toronto Blue Jays ace is the biggest name on the market as the July 31st trade deadline approaches — with the potential to impact both this year’s World Series contenders and next year’s too — he is far from the only name out there.
He may be the only player teams are willing to mortgage the future for, though. Teams like the Nationals that are, according to sources, setting a high price for solid veterans like first baseman Nick Johnson may find that market dry.
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“Teams just aren’t as willing to give up their top prospects anymore,” ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips, former general manager of the New York Mets, said last week. “Those players are young and cheap and can help you and that has a lot of value when you’re putting together a roster and trying to manage your resources.”
But as the deadline approaches, desperation rises. Teams first have to decide if they are buying players or selling — not an easy task when a club sits six or eight games out of a playoff spot with two months still left in the season. And once the decision to buy is made, they need to act quickly to keep pace with other contenders. A Phillies trade for Halladay will almost certainly lead to a corresponding move by the Dodgers — even if it’s for a far cheaper option like Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie or Boston’s Brad Penny.
Meanwhile, the Giants — a half-game behind the Rockies in the National League wild-card race entering play Tuesday — desperately need another strong bat in their lineup to put them over the top. Johnson, a native of Sacramento, just 90 minutes from San Francisco, is a perfect fit. But can the Nats pull the trigger even if the Giants refuse to give up any of their elite prospects? Considering Johnson’s free-agent status and his injury history it would be the smart choice. Such decisions will be debated in all 30 front offices over the next 10 days.
