Halladay to Mets?

Peter Abraham is a writer whom I've come to respect a bit recently, since he criticized the Yankees' handling of Alex Rodriguez about a month ago.

On June 20th, he wrote about how the Yankees hadn't rested Alex as often as the doctors had suggested because Alex kept saying he wanted to play. Abraham's take back then:

All of a sudden a third baseman with a high school education knew better than the two best doctors in their respective fields?

I loved that line. It's like, yeah, let's give Alex and the Yankees the benefit of the doubt then look at just how silly it sounds when you read it outloud.

Yesterday, Peter Abraham wrote a post on his LoHud's Yankees blog. He seems to think that Roy Halladay would not accept a trade to the Mets.

His first point:

Why would Halladay waive his no-trade clause to go to the Mets? He has been telling anybody who will listen for a week now that if he leaves Toronto, he wants to go someplace where he can win. That ain’t Queens. The Mets have an injury-riddled, top-heavy roster, no prospects, an inefficient GM and a manager better suited for open-mic night at The Improv. Gosh, what’s not for Roy to love? I’m sure Johan Santana would give his New York experience high marks.

I agree with everything he writes in this post, EXCEPT that Queens is not somewhere to go to win. Sure, the Mets aren't going anywhere this season, unless they pull off a miracle like trading for Tony Danza & the Angels in the Outfield.

When comparing Queens to Toronto, however, things start to look different. (This is true in a baseball sense as well as just about any other sense.) The Mets have a chance to retool and even be favorites to win the NL East, if their offseason improves the squad to a level above Philly, Atlanta, and Florida - which is feasible.

Toronto has no such opportunity. Sure, they can have an '08 Rays type of surprise season, but I frankly think their best chance for that is if they can get a booty's ransom as reward for a Doc Halladay trade.

Their stable of young starting pitchers should be able to give them a solid rotation for years to come. They need a trade to help them solidify the power of the lineup and defense around the field, ala Tampa Bay two winters ago.

The main point is that Mets' fans should get too excited about a Santana/Halladay 1/2 punch because it's just not happening. I still think he ends up staying in Toronto or going to Milwaukee. Besides, as Peter Abraham mentioned in the latter part of his post, neither of us think the Mets have enough prospects to get Halladay.

Still, I think it's more than a possibility that Halladay would prefer the Mets to the Blue Jays right now. Afterall, if he doesn't enjoy his experience with the team that acquires him, he can exercise the Javy Vazquez Rule & demand a trade after the World Series.