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Dodgers might include Billingsley in Halladay trade?

The most interesting Roy Halladay rumor Tuesday involved the Dodgers, who see him as increasing their chance to win a World Series with Manny Ramirez in uniform. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, always as aggressive as owner Frank McCourt's budget allows him to be, has made 21-year-old lefty Clayton Kershaw off-limits, but some sources reported them to be weighing the inclusion of right-hander Chad Billingsley, an NL All-Star at age 24. Ricciardi would get serious in a hurry if Billingsley were in play. -- Chicago Tribune

Phils are out of the Halladay sweepstakes if the Lee reports are true.

Well it looks like Cliff Lee will be in Philly now so scratch them off the list as potential suitors.

I would be cool with him going to Boston or NY as long as we get Buchholz/Bard in a Sox deal and Hughes/Joba in a NY deal. Bard would give us a young fireball closer and a very good young starter in Clay. And with NY I would turn Joba into our closer if we got him and he could do just as well as Papelbon IMO and Hughes is a solid young starter.

Jays already have some young arms in Romero, Mills, Cecil, Rzepczynski as well as Richmond who is solid and back this week plus to think Marcum, McGowan, Litsch will all be back at some point as well as Janssen who they should move back as a setup man. Plus they spent some early picks on SPs this year and the past few years where those kids need to climb the ranks.

Losing Halladay will hurt forsure but dealing him next season as a 2 month rental player for half the package will hurt worse.

Roy Halladay Rumors: Wednesday
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [July 29 at 1:32pm CST]

1:32pm: Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi hear that Halladay would consider a deal to the Rangers, but would be more likely to accept deals to Boston, the Dodgers, the Angels or the Yankees.

1:28pm: Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Blue Jays wouldn't accept Jason Knapp as the centerpiece of a deal and instead insisted on obtaining Kyle Drabek. Sherman cites an executive who says the Red Sox have the best chance of obtaining Halladay now that the Phillies will acquire Lee.

1:17pm: Ricciardi tells Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that Halladay will "definitely" pitch for the Blue Jays tonight. Meanwhile, Heyman wonders if the Jays will be "stuck" with Halladay now that Boston's talking a lot about Victor Martinez.

1:14pm: ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports that the Blue Jays haven't made significant progress towards a possible Halladay deal. Instead, a source tells Olney "all is quiet."

The Dodgers checked in with the Blue Jays about superstar pitcher Roy Halladay but heard an asking price they deemed so high they've crossed Halladay off their list and are concentrating on improving their bullpen now. Orioles closer George Sherrill appears to be very high on the Dodgers' list.

The Jays asked for a long list of prospects -- as many as five or six -- according to a person familiar with the talks. The Dodgers have been active at trade-deadline time in recent years but couldn't take the asking price for Halladay.

It does appear, though, that the Jays are continuing to talk about Halladay beyond their self-imposed Tuesday deadline for a Halladay deal.

Sources from both the Red Sox and Blue Jays tonight denied to the Globe that Boston had offered pitchers Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden and outfielder Ryan Westmoreland to Toronto for ace Roy Halladay, which had been reported this afternoon by Yahoo! Sports's Gordon Edes. Edes later clarified the report, indicating that Westmoreland was not in the proposal, but that the Jays have been given the choice of reliever Justin Masterson, Bowden, or Double-A first baseman Lars Anderson as he second player in the deal (after Buchholz), with other lesser prospects also involved.

Boston Globe

Yahoo's Tim Brown sees the Dodgers and Red Sox as the frontrunners for Doc in what is shaping up as a two-team race. Brown says the only Major Leaguer in the Dodgers' offer is James McDonald, while the Sox will part with Clay Buchholz, one of Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden, and Lars Anderson, and some lesser prospects. My guess is that the Red Sox find a way to get this done, given the quality they're already offering. ESPN's Jayson Stark says one Dodgers prospect who is off-limits is shortstop Devaris Gordon.

Meanwhile, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News says the Jays wanted Rick Porcello, Ryan Perry, and Casey Crosby from the Tigers for Halladay.

One source with knowledge of the Blue Jays' thinking predicted that the Dodgers could "catch their attention" with an offer that included third baseman Josh Bell, shortstop Devaris Gordon and hard-throwing pitching prospects from among the group of Josh Lindblom, Ethan Martin and Nathan Eovaldi.

Bell, 22, and Gordon, 21, are considered premium everyday players — at positions where the Blue Jays don't have clear starters for the future.

Justin Jackson, Toronto's No. 4 prospect entering the season according to Baseball America, may not be the future everyday shortstop that he once appeared to be. He is hitting .213 with no home runs in 78 games at high Class A Dunedin and is currently on the disabled list.

While the Dodgers would hate to part with Bell or Gordon, they have depth at both positions: Blake DeWitt, who has already played in the majors, and Pedro Baez, who appeared in this year's Futures Game, at third; and Ivan DeJesus Jr. at shortstop.

A little more than 24 hours before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Dodgers are pursuing a marquee starter, Toronto's Roy Halladay, and a marquee reliever, Baltimore's George Sherrill.

It might be difficult for Los Angeles to acquire both pitchers. One major-league source said some of the same prospects are believed to have been discussed in both deals. But the source added, "I wouldn't put it past Ned," in reference to Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti.

The Blue Jays, who lost leverage Wednesday when Cliff Lee was traded to Philadelphia, have given the Dodgers some flexibility in constructing their offer.

Toronto officials have given Colletti a number of alternatives: smaller prospect packages headlined by left-hander Clayton Kershaw or right-hander Chad Billingsley, but not both; or a five-prospect package that doesn't include either Kershaw or Billingsley.

One source indicated that a six-prospect package has also been discussed.

Based on conversations between the clubs, it appears that both teams perceive Kershaw, 21, as having greater trade value than Billingsley, who turned 25 on Wednesday.

bucholz and any of the above would be a nice start for the deal, but obviously the jays are wanting much more. i highly doubt the sox are going to include bard in any deal-but with the way the team has been playing as of late-i can see them involving 3 of the above names to get this done.

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Rangers still working seriously on Halladay

The Rangers still haven't given up hope of acquiring Roy Halladay. Word is the Rangers still have significant on-going communications going on between them and the Blue Jays with under 24 hours to go before the Trade Deadline.

There are also indications that the Rangers are not going to let money get in the way if they can land Halladay for a reasonable package.

The Blue Jays are not going to give him away. Some of the names that have been thrown around include first baseman Justin Smoak, shortstop Elvis Andrus, outfielder Julio Borbon and pitchers Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland.

The Rangers have to weigh that against having for Halladay for just 11/2 years. But apparently this going to come down to a baseball decision. The Rangers apparently are not going to let money get in the way of getting this guy.

smoak would be a very nice piece for the jays to land in this one.

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Rangers are willing to take on the rest of Halladay's contract if they can agree on which players to send the Blue Jays. Vicente Padilla, Marlon Byrd and Hank Blalock are free agents after the season, so the Rangers could create space for Halladay's $15.75MM salary by letting the trio of veterans walk after the season.

One way or another, pitcher Roy Halladay can get some peace of mind about six hours from now when the trade deadline passes. Until then, it's rumor-mania. Yesterday night, things seemed to heat up with the Rangers, but Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi labeled trade talks "dead" in a general sense. Earlier in the day the Red Sox and Dodgers were considered the frontrunners.

This morning, SI's Jon Heyman tells us the Rangers "may have come the closest" to acquiring Halladay. Even more so than the Phillies? Heyman says the Rangers talks hit "a snag or two late Thursday," decreasing the chances for a trade.

A source said that the Blue Jays have asked for four players, including two on the big-league roster — pitchers Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter. First-base prospect Justin Smoak, currently in Triple A, is also a Blue Jays target.