Wednesday, December 9, 2009

How Does This Sound?

Jon Heyman is reporting that the Yanks are still in discussions with the Jays for Roy Halladay. The Jays have asked for Jesus Montero, either Joba or Hughes, and some other prospects. The Yanks have turned this down so far but remain engaged.

A lot will be said about the wisdom of trading Montero, especially after we just lost AJax, but the truth is that Montero is not our top catching prospect. Montero is considered our best hitting prospect (especially at his age), but Austin Romine projects to be Posada's replacement.

We just traded IPK, AJax, and Coke for an outfielder. Is it worth trading Montero and, let's say Joba, plus some assorted prospects for Halladay? I don't know who those prospects are, but if we traded three guys for Granderson, I'm thinking you have to consider at least four players total for Halladay. So assume two mid-level prospects or possibly one and a Gardner or Melky. Worth it then?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope, i don't think it's worth it. Montero is amazing, better than Jackson in my opinion. They should sign Holliday, move swisher to DH and start Melky in RF. Then they should either A. Use Hughes and Joba at the back end of the rotation, or B. Sign a low cost starter and use either hughes or Joba as the 5th spot.
Either way they should keep the payroll around $200 mil.

cheshirecat said...

I don't know. I hate giving up prospects. I don't want to return to the days where our farm system was totally barren. But a rotation of CC, Halliday, AJ, Andy and Hughes/Joba is pretty intimidating. It would be the best rotation in baseball. I don't care about the payroll, whether is is $200 million or $250 million a Bud Light is still going to cost me $10.

I am glad you guys are posting so much these days. My job has been really slow the past couple of weeks.

Jon Roberts said...

I think it depends on whether Halladay would sign an extension and the Jays would give the window. I think they have already said they would and I can't see why he wouldn't want to play in NY. Hughes or Joba are big time talents, but neither can realistically be expected to be a Roy Halladay. They might have a chance at it, but it isn't very likely. The upside is that there would still be the other one on the roster.

I guess the question is how good is Montero going to be? If he is a lock to hit like Arod or Pujols then no, but how far from that does he need to be before other reasonably priced DH types make sense. Is Halladay + a free agent slugger better than Hughes/Joba + Montero. It seems to me that there are good hitters available for not too much money.

To the anonymous poster above, if you move Swisher to DH what are doing with Montero? He isn't going to be at catcher or first. I wonder if right field is a good spot. I haven't seen him play, but I would think a catching prospect would have a decent arm, at least as good as Swisher and right isn't so big that you need a speedster. I'm on the fence, I like the idea of the team getting younger and more athletic, but I don't give a hoot how good the Scranton team is.
Wall of words done.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I don't imagine Montero would play the outfield, he's a large catcher if I'm not mistaken. Would you want VMart patrolling your outfield? I wouldn't. He probably doesn't have the sort of speed you need from a non-catcher/first baseman.

The problem right now is that Montero is projecting to be a Cabrera type (plays first, but should probably be a full-time DH), except we don't have space at first. So losing him doesn't kill us as we don't really have a place for him to play anyway. If we only lose one of Joba or Hughes, Halladay makes up for that. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Anonymous said...

I guess i'm the only one who prefers Holliday for cash over Halladay for prospects.

SA Yankee fan said...

I liked the granderson move, I think Jackson could have been a servicable CF but instead we got an above average one for a reasonable cost.

Montero could be our next catcher when Posada's contract is up and if he can stick it out behind the plate he could be an elite player because of his bat.

As much as I like the idea of getting holliday, why not just wait a year? Either him or Lee should get to free agency. That way you have an additional ace and Montero.

Realistically the Yanks are going to compete next year with or without Holliday. I would prefer to see them spend 15mil now on 1 year contracts for high risk high reward types like Sheets or Harden and save the big bucks for next off season.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

The Phils are in the Halladay race right now, with a number of outlets reporting that them and the Angels are the current front runners. If the Phils land him, that's a scary rotation for next year, but almost certainly means Cliff Lee doesn't get an extension and reaches free agency. In that case, you're right SA, wait a year.

Hard to trust "front-runner" reports though. The Yanks and Red Sox were the front-runners for Santana, then the Mets got him for scraps.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

according to mlbtraderumors.com, Ruben Amaro (Phillies GM) has stated there is no "likeliness" that the Phils acquire Halladay.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I just can't go for Holliday. He's a good hitter, but may be better suited for the NL. He really did not hit nearly as well playing in Oakland as he did with St. Louis or Colorado before that.

I will say that apart of the intrigue of having Damon for a couple seasons, is that it would allow A-Jax time to develop and take over. Now that he's not here, it may make more sense to sign a legit. left fielder. I still prefer Damon though in this market.