I started writing about baseball this summer but stopped abruptly around the all star break. I had been inspired by some bloggers like Jason from the Heartland, Joe Veno from Statistician Magician and Mike Sommer from The Sommer Frieze and I thought I might give it a go. Well, I’m a disc jockey and music programmer by trade and have had a life long passion for photography- I had a darkroom in my apartment in New York when an actual darkroom was necessary but I never had tried writing. To be honest I find it difficult to organize my thoughts but I felt I was making some headway this summer. The long and short of it was that I guess I was just more enthralled with watching how the Yankee season played out than i was interested in writing about it. Tonight I stopped by Jane Heller’s blog, Confessions of a She-Fan and wrote a brief comment about not wanting The Yankees to make a trade for Roy Halladay and I suddenly realized that I do have something to say on this subject so here I am.

Yes here I am unsure about whether or not The Yanks should make a deal to add one of the top five pitchers in MLB. How about some pros and cons?

Cons:

1. 1.There would an avalanche of scorn heaped on to the team by the gleeful media who are enjoying an orgy of Yankee hate with their prime mantra being that they “buy” their championships. That baseball is hopelessly unfair to the “poor” teams such as the Twins who are owned by the Pohlad family. For what it’s worth according to Forbes Magazine said family is worth four times more than the Steinbrenners. I don’t care how the media gets it’s jollies. Last year they were trumpeting how parity had finally achieved it’s goal ( sticking it to the Yanks? ) when a little engine that could, The Rays, made it to the World Series. For me this is a non starter. I simply don’t care. I’m happy that I'm a fan of a team that will spend huge amounts of money and who’s goal every year is nothing short of winning it all.
   

2. 2.Halladay will cost a boatload of prospects. Despite the fact that The Jays should have traded him him last July and reaped a gigantic bounty I suspect Anthopoulos has no intention of making the mistake rookie GM Smith of the Twins made when he waited too long and ended up with absolute garbage from the Mets for Santana. So what would satisfy the Jays and what would Cashman be willing to give up? If they insisted on a deal that would include both joba and Hughes I’m sure the conversation would be a very short one and no doubt Anthopoulos knows this. Still one of them would have to be included. I have no idea which one is going to be the most valuable. No one does. Both have excelled as relievers and shown promise as starters. Some may forget how dominant Joba looked as a starter in 2008 before he was sidelined by shoulder tendinitis. He pitched 100.1 innings with an ERA of 2.60 in the AL East striking out 118 men while walking a not terrible 39. he allowed 5 home runs and 87 hits. He was 22 years old. He began his 2009 campaign well but never attained either his full velocity or his previous command. He began to falter by mid season and when the team started to impose innings limitations on him the results were not good to say the least. I would not base any guesses about Joba Chamberlain’s future on his 2009 second half and I doubt Brian Cashman will either. Hughes has had a tough time as a Yankee. He showed flashes of brilliance as a starter in 2007 but then derailed by a hamstring while taking a no hitter into the 7th in Arlington ( Texas has not been kind to Yankee pitchers- Joba left TX with his tendinitis and I’m sure CM Wang has no fond memories of Houston). His recovery was hampered by an ankle injury but he did come back as the only winning pitcher in the disastrous 2007 ALDS. Mind you this was in relief of Roger Clemens who left the mound for the last time in that game at Yankee Stadium. Hughes was given a role as a starter in 2008 and failed abysmally. He started 8 games and didnt win a single one. ERA 6.62 with an equally atrocious WHIP of 1.706. Again he was injured- this time with a cracked rib. He ended up pitching around 36 additional innings between AA and AAA and was mediocre. One highlight was his strikeout per nine was decent at 9.3 between those 2 teams. He was  not expected to begin 2009 in The Bronx and, in fact, did not. Then the CM Wang fiasco reared it’s ugly head and Phil was summoned. His stats from the 7 starts he made are not pretty:  5.45 ERA  with a WHIP of 1.500. nevertheless these numbers are skewed by a couple of absolutely disastrous starts; one in particular against the Orioles and another against the Sox. Without recapping all the details of when and why, it was decided to send Hughes to the pen rather than back to AAA and “a star was born”. No longer a timid nibbler, he was dialing up 95-98 MPH and was throwing strikes. He was able to throw his + curve for strikes as well and had developed a new pitch; a cutter to his arsenal. He quickly became the 8th inning guy and is one of the reasons the Yankees made the playoffs. His numbers were stellar. in 51.1 innings he sported an ERA of 1.40 and a WHIP of 0.857 and an 11.4 SO/9 !  So after all that rambling one of those guys would have to be sent and I don’t want to give up either one of them. The Yankees have a farm system that happens to be rich in catching prospects. The most promising of these guys is Jesus Montero. At the age of 19 he finished out his year with a .389 OBP and slugged .562. He is a big guy and whether his skills at catching games will keep him at that position remains to be seen. Nevertheless the kid can hit. The Jays need a catcher. No doubt he would be demanded by the Jays in a deal for Halladay. I would hope that this would be when Anthopoulos hears a click on the phone. In all seriousness though if you really expect to get a guy of Doc’s caliber the deal is gonna have to hurt. Is there a way It might not have to hurt so badly? Yes. Taking on the albatross of a contact known as Vernon Wells.  He will be paid $12.5 million in 2010 and $23 million in 2011. Wells receives $21 million in each of the final three seasons when his contract  mercifully expires in 2013. The Yankees could certainly afford this “luxury” and perhaps the Jays would perhaps take a deal that includes the best OF in the Yankee system; CF Austen Jackson. Wells could patrol LF for the Yanks and that might solve the LF issue the team is facing this winter. Am I for this plan? absolutely not. Wells is a player in decline and costs a fortune. He’s also a hideous defender. In CF at least; sporting a lovely UZR/150 of -31.9. I was surprised to find out he is only 30 years old. He seems so much older...Anyway for that kind of money i’ll take Matt Holliday any day of the week.
   

3. 3.Wow - i’m just now getting to my 3rd con. the good Doc will be 33 years old next May and has logged over 2000 innings. He may well be continue to be a stud for several more years but the truth is he is entering the declining phase of his career in an age that is steroid-free. He is going to receive multiple years and multi-millions from some team and considering what it will cost in terms of prospects ( or Wells) there is sufficient justification to avoid taking him on. He might win17- 20 games for the Yanks but maybe John Lackey would win over 16. Would he be worth shelling out not only the years but the money? What will the market be for him in this year of shrinking budgets?
   

Pros:

1. 1.He’s an amazing stud. a horse..all those things you already know. What would be the pros for the Yankees in particular? Well we are not exactly a young team. The “core” hitters are all past the age of 33. Mariano will be 40 ( but may well be ageless ) Jorge is 37. Tex and Cano are young but the front office may well see the window of opportunity for another 2 or 3 year dynasty closing. Signing Roy now might well ensure a fantastic rotation that could get Mo, Po and Jete a 6th or 7th ring before the curtain comes down. This must be taken into consideration. Right now we have maybe the best infield of hitters in baseball. With a healthy rotation of CC AJ and Doc you’d have to think the Yanks would be favored to win it all. Heck Hughes and Joba will be free agents in 2013 anyway and I suppose if they were traded they could just as easily be bought back then. On the other hand next years crop of free agents is bountiful and includes Cliff Lee and Beckett. Is trading away the future worth Roy Halladay or is that phrase “trading away the future” a discredited cliché? I’m not sure I have made up my own mind. The more I think about it the more questions I have.
   

   

    Do the Yankees need to sign any free agent starter assuming Andy comes back?

    Are you confident that Andy will stay healthy all year?

    Do you trust Phil and Joba to be our 4 and 5 starters?

   

    I’d like Ben Sheets.