Phillies Breakfast Links, July 21, 2009: Roy Halladay Watch, the J.A. Happ Dilemma, Bats, and Batman

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 9:03 AM EDT

Get the Doctor Now!: The Value of Adding Roy Halladay

The Good Phight blogger emeritus Matt Swartz in his first official piece for Baseball Prospectus. Good luck Matt!

Phillies have other options beside Halladay
Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang also possibilities according to Ken Rosenthal.

Happ or Halladay?
We've gone over how lucky J.A. Happ has been so far this year. The counter-argument here is that Happ's trading value is at its highest right now.

These five places are where Halladay fits best

Phillies

Pat Gillick is now a special assistant to the Phillies, but he has plenty of input and has a good feel for Halladay having been the architect of the Jays who stepped down for his hand-picked successor, Ash, to take charge in 1995. The Phillies have the prospects to deal, and while they may not need Halladay to win the disappointing NL East, they might decide it's worth the season-and-a-half investment to lock up a second consecutive world championship.

Phillies top 2 million in attendance
Topping 2 million fans on their 46th home date, and lead the league in home attendance. Damn it feels good to be a champion.

Minor steps with Phillies for upbeat Pedro Martinez
Set to throw a simulated game today, rehab start possible this weekend.

The Fightins - The Phillie Phanatic Dresses Up Like Batman, Taunts Jack Nicholson
I have a hunch that making a mascot snuff film is now somewhere on Jack's "Bucket List."

YouTube - Jimmy Rollins gives tour of his house
Best part: The "Oooh ooh ooh AH AH AH!!!" room. I'll let your mind wander...

Bill Conlin: For 20th anniversary, let Hall of Fame voters snub Pete Rose
I think Pete Rose is a scumbag, but I'm too ambivalent about the "sanctity" of the hallowed Hall of Fame to really give a damn about whether he's allowed in or not.

Radial Bat Company combines woods to create durable bats
Interesting option for replacing the traditional wooden bat.

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Comments

Rollins

I’ve never understood people being into cars, but oh well. Any idea where he lives? It looks kinda middle-of-nowhere-ish.

by David S. Cohen on Jul 21, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

Pretty sure he lives in New Jersey.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s right, he lives in way-south South Jersey, like across from Delaware south.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Wait, is Jimmy Rollins a Piney?

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions

No, I think he’s more like in Salem County or thereabouts. Cheap land, peace and quiet.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Meh, the baseball HOF is a joke anyway since guys who don’t deserve to be are in and vice versa, not to mention ty cobb, you know, killed a man

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 9:49 AM EDT reply actions

The HoF is a fun diversion and a cool museum, but when people get so hung up on the “sanctity” of the whole thing I want to barf. I mean, this isn’t Iwo Jima, or Normandy, or Gettysburg. The guys in Cooperstown played a game, for crying out loud.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

It represents the ‘larger’ issue (to me) that baseball thinks there’s some ‘heritage’ to it that prevents things like instant replay from being integrated (ask the twins how they feel about it today) in a timely and useful manner because it takes away from the ‘beauty’ of the game

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions

This is pretty much on the mark; the sport has integrated technology and modern medicine into its fabric but won’t take those things “on the field” for fear it will mar some kind of aesthetic perfection. That ship has sailed. “Getting it right” is more important than protecting the sensitive umpires’ egos.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I’d bet you it also has something to do (behind closed doors) with the umpires union in general. It seems also that the unions in baseball, players and umpires, really do a good job of fracking it up as opposed in other sports as well.

Though the NFL seems headed for a big collision soon as well

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know if anyone else was watching the ESPN broadcast yesterday, but man was it ever awful. The worst part for me was sometime around the fourth inning, when Steve Phillips decided to give everyone a very long disquisition analyzing what the Phillies ought to do on Halladay, which was so aggressively, ferociously dimwitted that it made me want to punch the TV.

For instance, he explained in painstaking detail why the Phillies should try their very best to persuade Ricciardi to bite on Drabek, Taylor, etc. so they can avoid having to give up J.A. Happ. He also informed everyone that:

- Even though the Phillies are already going to win their division, they have to do whatever it takes to get Halladay because they can’t win in the postseason without him.
- The Phillies only have a short window of opportunity when they’ll be able to win it all so they have to bet it all on the present.
- It doesn’t matter if you trade prospects because they’re only prospects and they might fail once they play in triple-deck stadiums.

It must have been “piss off tp night” at ESPN. I realize I’m more reluctant than most everyone else here on pulling the trigger for Halladay, but still. There are reasonable arguments that can be made in support of certain trade packages, but these aren’t it.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 10:39 AM EDT reply actions

Steve Philips is an idiot…when his name shows up on an espn chat as an ‘mlb expert/analyst’ whatever, i actually laught and skip right over to the folks who might have an idea what they are talking about (I also never read a joe morgan chat either)

It seems to me that many of the folks in the national media forget that somehow the phillies won the world series last year, without Halladay, or CC Sabathia, or Johan Santana.

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I knew he was stupid, but occasionally his stupidity hits new lows. Yesterday was one of those special moments. If you were in my living room during the game yesterday, it would have sounded a lot like this, except with “Phillips” in place of “Donny”.

I was mildly disappointed to see Hershiser back him up wholeheartedly on every point. I don’t think Hershiser’s exactly a genius commentator either, but I always thought he was smarter than Phillips at least.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

haha

yeah, too me the most annoying and idiotic argument is that the Phillies need Halladay to win a World Series. What happened last year then?

by Whack8888 on Jul 21, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Gotta admit, a lot of things going our way. Plus Hamels was at the top of his game then. Can we say the same now?

by SJPhillyVT on Jul 21, 2009 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Halladay guarantees nothing

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Tell me where I said that.

by SJPhillyVT on Jul 21, 2009 10:57 PM EDT up reply actions

To me, the worst case scenario on the Halladay front is that the Phillies make a horrendous trade — i.e., Drabek AND Brown AND Happ AND D’Arnaud or something similar. I’m perfectly OK if not having Halladay means we get to keep all our prospects.

Basically, if we lose two or more of Brown, Drabek, and Taylor, I will have many sads.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

so they can avoid having to give up J.A. Happ

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. If I was the Phils, Happ would be the first name mentioned in Halladay talks. If we can get a deal with him as the centerpiece, it would be the steal of the century. Do you think the Twins would have trade Johan for Kyle Kendrick a few years ago?

by philiafan14364 on Jul 21, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Happ’s much much better than Kendrick, as was established yesterday, but yes, he should be the first name mentioned in any deal.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

- The Phillies only have a short window of opportunity when they’ll be able to win it all so they have to bet it all on the present.

The irony of this statement is that a trade for Halladay that guts the farm system actually makes the window shorter. The Phils window effectively becomes this year and next.

Bleeding Green Nation - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

by JasonB on Jul 21, 2009 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

The idea that we must “mortgage the future” to get Halladay is a false dilemma. The Phillies’ system is deep enough that they can give the Jays what they want for Halladay without getting rid of all of their top prospects.

Unless, of course, the Jays DEMAND all of the top prospects, in which case Ruben needs to tell J.P. to pound sand. The Phillies have the leverage here; they don’t “need” to make this trade.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 12:15 PM EDT reply actions

Just curios – anyone know what movie is filming in the Philadelphia area – it’s not exactly a common shooting locale, I mean Mannequin and 12 monkeys – but not a whole lot recently

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 3:01 PM EDT reply actions

It’s an untitled romantic comedy. Link.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

The wonderfully named “Untitled James L. Brooks Project.”

btw, Parts of “Transformers II” filed there which, while utter shite, was a big production.

“In Her Shoes,” “Invincible,” “Rocky Balboa,” and “Sixth Sense,” too.

Nary a Best Picture nominee, but that’s a few movies.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 21, 2009 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Unbreakable.

by SJPhillyVT on Jul 21, 2009 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions

National Treasure. Part of The Italian Job.

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn’t Sixth Sense nominated for Best Picture?

by taco pal on Jul 21, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I totally forgot about rocky and invincible – amybe cause i just hate the whole rocky thing and how the city seems to take on this underdog blue collar thing when it really isn’t because of rocky (and always hated that statue sitting out side the sports sstadiums since, well, not real)

And I always forget shyamalmadingdong cause his movies get progressively worse, i think the village was outside philly as well.

Haven’t seen TF2 – but then again I heard GI JOE is better, so netflix for me :)

Ahsamed about National Treasure though, cause I find both those movies hysterically funny

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Jul 21, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Buchholz?

After reading about the Sox possibly showcasing Clay Buchholz for the Jays (an incredibly absurd idea created by ESPN aka Sox/Yankee Sports Network) an idea struck me. What about the Phils trading for Buchholz? Like a Taylor for Buchholz trade? The Sox are looking for a bat, and Taylor could easily replace Drew (or at least play the 50 games Drew misses every year with a stubbed toe or whatever). Buchholz is major-league ready with ace stuff.

While I’d love to get Halladay, I’d hate to see the Phils gut their system to do it. I’d much rather have someone like Buchholz who can be in the Phils rotation for the next 6 years.

by The R on Jul 21, 2009 3:08 PM EDT reply actions