Last Call: Mourning Scott Rolen
It was quite the non-waiver MLB trade deadline today, with the White Sox picking up Jake Peavy, the Red Sox landing Victor Martinez and Casey Kotchman, and the Tigers dealing for Jarrod Washburn, among other deals.
However, it was a pretty rough deadline for many of us Blue Jays fans; not only did general manager J.P. Ricciardi trade star third baseman Scott Rolen to the Reds, they also apparently agreed to pay part of his contract and made the trade because he was unhappy in Toronto, making things even worse. Moreover, Ricciardi failed to deal Roy Halladay, the most-discussed potential trade piece; I argued a while back that the team should hang on to Halladay and go for broke next year, but the Rolen salary dump makes it clear that the Jays’ corporate masters are in full fire-sale mode, meaning Halladay’s likely to be traded in the winter. In my mind, it would have been better to deal him now and maximize his value with a year and a half left on his deal than hope you’ll get something later on when he’ll be a one-year rental.
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