Halladay Watch Continues

After the Phillies rejected the Blue Jays' initial trade offer for Roy Halladay (Halladay for J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek, and Dominic Brown), the Phillies countered with an offer that the Blue Jays rejected. The Phillies offered Happ, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Taylor, and Jason Donald. The Blue Jays seem to really want Drabek, and the Phillies don't want to give up both Drabek and Happ. The Blue Jays may be waiting to see if another team is willing to go all in and give them the monster deal they're looking for before they choose a winner, if they do at all. The Angels rejected their first offer from the Blue Jays, the Dodgers won't trade Clayton Kershaw, the Yankees don't want to trade both Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, and the Brewers and Red Sox are also supposedly in the mix. Two more days...

ESPN reported that the Phillies are also looking into Cliff Lee, Zach Duke, and Jarrod Washburn. Lee will probably be overpriced and Washburn is an interesting option if they can get him cheap, but perhaps they should think more about trading for Zach Duke. Duke is 26, he's been an ace, even if it's been for a struggling franchise, he can throw a fair number of innings, and what a fantastic young rotation the Phillies would be developing if they can make the deal without giving up Happ. Hamels, Duke, Blanton (who looked stellar in the Phillies' 9-2 victory today against St. Louis - eight innings, and six strikeouts, including striking out Lugo-Pujols-Holliday in the eighth), Happ, and whoever in the back, at this point Moyer/Pedro. There would probably be a pretty sizable price tag for Duke, but it can't be as much as Halladay. I would trade two top prospects (Not Drabek or Brown, but the next tier) and maybe another player for Duke. Getting Duke would be similar to the smaller scale deals that Philadelphia has made in the past few years - Blanton, Kyle Lohse, Cory Lidle, etc., most of which turned out well. We could have King Cole and The Duke. And we could have them for years to come.