The Phillies MUST Get Halladay

the phillies have been at a juncture like this for the past as many seasons as i can remember. there is always a point around the beginning of the all-star break through shortly after when the team must make a decision: how do i get a new starting pitcher. this season the decision is more acute than in years past due to the injury of brett myers and the generally underwhelming performance of the pitching staff this year from the starters to the bullpen. in years past the team has not made a major move, getting guys like moyer and blanton while eschewing the bigger name pitchers like sabathia.

but this year we have an opportunity, it seems, to pick up roy halladay from the blue jays. halladay is an exceptional pitcher and is one of the only guys in the majors who pitches complete games these days. to give up a kyle drebek or one of our other pitching prospects and a few other guys is worth the price of halladay. the phillies actually have a decent stock of young arms, so to part with one of them to acquire a cy-young caliber pitcher for 2 years (he is signed through 2010 and while it would balloon the payroll some, i imagine the phillies management would be happy with another world championship, those being the cash-cows that they are) would not be a bad thing considering it would put the phillies in the drivers seat to repeat as champs and do all the things i outlined in the parentheses.

also, by getting halladay now, we make the first move in the pitching market and have the chance to set the price for pitchers at the deadline. while i like blanton and what he has done fior the team, he came at a pretty high price (or so i recall). make your investment really worth it this time - get halladay.

i trust that ruben amaro studied well under pat gillick. but all of the situations described above were gillick's moves. now its amaro's turn. will amaro emulate his mentor, or will he strike out on a path of his own? we will see...