Two words: no-hitter

Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball.

Even though he's no longer pitching for my team, I still cheer for him.

Now that he's pitching in the playoffs for Philadelphia, casual baseball fans realize just how good Doc is. All he's done for the Phillies this year, his first season playing in the National League, is put up a Cy Young-worthy season which featured a perfect game, and now the second no-hitter in baseball's postseason history (NB. there have been 1,264 postseason baseball games played since 1903 - so this was a truly staggering feat). And this wasn't an easy task - Halladay was facing the highest-scoring team in the league in the Cincinnati Reds - and he made the Reds batters look completely helpless at the plate. No-one even came close to getting a hit; and Halladay only walked one batter during the game.

Five men have thrown two no-hitters in a calendar year or a postseason no-hitter. Halladay just became the first pitcher in baseball history to accomplish both feats.

I look forward to the day Doc gets inducted to the Hall of Fame, and I can see him wearing a Blue Jays cap once again.

Dog days of summer

I will seize on any lame excuse for my lack of blogging. Hot summer weather is a good one.

Despite the summer heat, I've managed to break through a running plateau. Some proper new running shoes and a new venue - which incidentally was a training track for Roger Bannister's 1954 four-minute mile at the Commonwealth Games - have furnished added motivation to my exercise program. I've managed to crack the six-minute barrier (km) for my half-hour runs (total distance just over 5K). I hope by next summer to be doing 10K runs at that pace or better.

Haven't been playing any poker due to lack of inspiration. If I can't play close to my best, there's no point in playing. This means I should be a complete degen in December at the WPBG . . . isn't poker blogger money the best? I'm on track to meet my target weight of 165 lbs, but losing the first 15 was easier than the remaining 15 will be. I wonder if anyone else is going to make their weight?

Nephew is just about 7 months old. A new purchase which has been a big hit is a wading pool.

One of my favourite all-time baseball players entered the Hall of Fame yesterday. Here's a tip of the cap to Andre Dawson. Hopefully his former Expos teammate Tim Raines won't be far behind.

A game of excellence

I never doubted Roy Halladay would be dominant in the NL, but he just exceeded my lofty expectations by throwing the twentieth perfect game in ML baseball history. The number of baseball games in MLB history is a rather large number -- approximately eight hundred thousand -- so it's hard not to marvel at such a rare accomplishment. Which happens once every thirty-seven thousand games, or thereabouts.

We miss you, Doc.

At least you'll go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Blue Jays cap.

Roy Halladay is a Philadelphia Philly

No, really. He is.

Time to don the mourning black as others rejoice.

It's been a long long time since 1993. Sigh.

Poker bloggers know baseball? I didn't think so

Some Philly-centric bloggers were quick to pillory J.P. Ricciardi, the Blue Jays GM, for the simple fact that he didn't give away Roy Halladay to the Phillies. (Of course, they didn't say Mark Shapiro of the Cleveland Indians should be fired for trading them Cliff Lee for a song, either. Hmmm!) Subsequently, the Blue Jays allowed Alex Rios to be claimed on waivers by the Chicago White Sox and dealt away the aging-but-still-good Scott Rolen for prospects, which were moves that were met with derision by some demoralized Jays' fans and a lot of criticism by the media. I take a contrarian view: these were necessary moves that were mandated by corporate ownership to reduce payroll -- the Jays are still stuck with one albatross contract, the vastly ovepaid Vernon Wells -- and give them the potential means to keep Roy Halladay as a Blue Jay for life -- this would be a very good thing.

(Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on Riggs. He might not actually be on record as saying Ricciardi should be let go.)

This quote sums up the perfectly rational executive Ricciardi happens to be, and I subscribe whole-heartedly to his philosophy of building a competitive team in the tough AL East division, given the financial limitations he's forced to operate with (now if only Vernon Wells were to be claimed on waivers ...).

Q: How do you view your team after all of this dust has cleared?

A: We like our team, we really do. We like the nucleus we have in place. We think Hill and Lind are going to be stars and are on their way. We think Snider is going to be a very good player. We like our team. We have a very good catcher in Arencibia coming. We like our arms on the mound. There’s a lot of really good things happening here. What I think we’ve realized is the reality of the division. We know it, but we’ve come to realize it even more so. This is not a division you can be good in, you have to be great in it to make the playoffs [my emphasis]. We’ve been good the last three years. The ownership has been great to us. They’ve allowed us to spend some money over the last three years, and the last three years we were high 80’s in wins. We’re not good enough to win the division.

What we have to do is take a step back and start looking at ways that we can start building to get great. I think with the Cecils and the Romeros and all the young arms we have, along with the Hills and the Linds and the players we have coming we have a really good foundation and nucleus to get there. But I think we have to be smart about the fact that right now we’re not great and you have to be great to win this division.

I think it’s extremely important. You have to realize that we’re a club that had a $20 million cut in payroll this year. So with that savings going into next year, along with the Rolen savings along with the players we acquired for Rolen, we were able to hopefully utilize that money to address some of our needs. I’ll only be able to answer the question over the next five years how that money works in our favor.

Going forward, Ricciardi can either trade Halladay if he a) isn't able to sign Halladay to an extension or b) gets an offer he thinks is fair market value for the most reliably excellent pitcher in baseball. And because the Blue Jays' team strength is young pitching, they can afford to make a decision from a position of strength, not weakness.

No Doc in the House?

Rumours are swirling that Roy Halladay will soon be an ex-Jay. Rogers executives have made Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi's life a living hell by publicly stating that they want to control costs on the baseball operations budget, and as Philly-area blogger Riggs has mentioned, it looks as if his Phillies have gone in another direction (towards acquiring the Tribe's fine starter, Cliff Lee).

What does this mean? The unthinkable might happen: Roy Halladay might be traded to Boston.

I predict that if this happens, the Red Sox will become, by far, the favourite to win the World Series. And the Phillies will be left wondering what might have been because they wouldn't pay the freight for the best starting pitcher on the market.

Edit: Phillies did in fact trade for Lee. Notably they did not give up any of their three highest-rated prospects, but did give up four of their top ten. I do in fact think this was a good deal for both Philly & Cleveland. Only time will tell if the Phillies succeed in playoffs ... in their situation they absolutely had to trade for a veteran starter, and they got one.

Get Your Ace Here, redux

Today's gem pitched by Roy Halladay speaks for itself as proof why the Jays should either A) keep their ace starter; B) ask for a mint of young talent in return from any team with aspirations to win the World Series this year or next.

Just your standard complete game six-hitter in a 3-1 victory over the best team in the American League.

I had to nod my head in agreement when the Red Sox manager was quoted as saying he wanted to see Halladay traded a few days ago, and to the National League. If I were the Red Sox, I surely would want to see that happen (unless I was able to trade for him myself and build a juggernaut for the increased probability of winning the title).

Get Your Ace Here

And not just any ace: the consensus within major league baseball is that Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in the big leagues. Yes, Johan Santana has won more Cy Young awards. Yes, Tim Lincecum is a superb young starter. Yes, Zack Greinke is putting up a phenomenal season for the sad-sack Kansas City Royals.

That being said, "Doc" has an unmatched pedigree of effectiveness, stamina, and character. Not only that, he is signed through the end of the 2010 season at a below-market salary of 15.75MM. (Essentially, he's so good he's actually underpaid, which just goes to show you that the average ML player is overpaid.)

And this week, the general manager of the Blue Jays, J.P. Ricciardi, spoke to the media and said that he'd listen to trade offers if teams enquired about Halladay. (Halladay has a full no-trade clause in his contract that he'd have to waive before any deal could be finalized.) And this caused a predictable furor around baseball, even though this isn't anything new. Ricciardi didn't say he was looking to move his best player; he clearly stated that he'd have to be overwhelmed by any trade offer before he'd seriously consider approaching Halladay and asking him to waive his no-trade clause.

So, why should the Jays trade their most popular and irreplaceable player? There are a few reasons why it might be a good idea.

1) Halladay would fetch a mint in young blue-chip prospects. The brain trusts of would-be contenders are fully aware that Halladay is a sure thing; incremental improvements for would-be playoff teams are hard to come by and extremely valuable in financial terms (increased playoff revenue, etc.). As cited above, marginal wins are easily worth 5MM per win; Roy Halladay has an established performance level of 6-7 wins a year, highest in baseball amongst starting pitchers, so he's roughly worth 40-50 MM of prospects before the Jays would give him up. (An early rumour from a source within the St. Louis Cardinals: "Halladay? We'd give (Ricciardi) our minor league system and ask him to circle five names."

NB. If Roy Halladay didn't sign a contract extension with his new team, he would be a Type A free agent and the team that lost him would receive two first round compensation picks: a nice insurance policy softening the cost of trading for him, and they'd still get 1.5 seasons of superlative performance from him in the meantime.

2) The Jays have budget problems in the near future. They currently have two outfielders signed to albtross contracts, which severely hampers their ability to construct their team.

3) The Jays are in the toughest division in baseball. Essentially, unless they can construct one of the two or three best teams in the majors, they have no chance of making the playoffs. This is a huge challenge that cannot be overstated. The Yankees spend so much money on their roster that they are always in contention for the playoffs. The Red Sox are the same. The Rays have built a juggernaut after ten years of top-five draft picks, and even the Orioles have begun to field a very competitive team after many years of mediocrity. The strength of schedule in the AL East is ridiculously high. So, they might have to take a step back (they have been stuck in the 6-10 range recently, which has meant they've only been finishing third or fourth in the division) in order to take two steps forward.

4) The Jays' chief organizational strength is young pitching. If they can continue to churn out young pitchers who can do a credible job, transforming Halladay into some blue-chip hitting prospects (especially a shortstop, a huge organizational weakness), has its appeal. They can't replace Halladay, but they still might be better off from a team-building standpoint without him.

My head can come up with some logical reasons why the Jays should strongly consider trading Roy Halladay if the price is right.

But my heart doesn't care. I hope they can find other solutions to their problems and keep the best pitcher in franchise history right where he belongs.

Some Hot Stove Musings

I am a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Consequently, I am a big fan of Roy Halladay.

This post sums up my feelings about the deplorable lack of care some awards voters demonstrate year-in and year-out.

I will thaw somewhat if they get around to electing Tim Raines to his rightful place in the Hall of Fame sooner rather than later.

Raines in '08

The time is ripe for me to whole-heartedly endorse this fine project: Raines for '08!

It's no coincidence that my fake Montreal Expos are managed by Tim "Rock" Raines. I grew up watching his spectacular exploits on TV as a young baseball fan in Toronto. Whilst I'm still a diehard Blue Jays fan, there is no denying that I turn to the Expos when it comes to most of my favourite all-time players. Andre Dawson and Tim Raines head that list. They exemplified all the most admirable qualities of athletic performance. Both demonstrated true passion for the game of baseball whilst exhibiting true elegance in their pursuit of playing the game in its purest form. They were elite competitors who did spectacular things on the baseball diamond.

I just hope both are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But in a very important way, that outcome is irrelevant. They are already in my personal Hall of Fame and that's final.