Upon hearing originally that Halladay was available, the Rays and the Phillies seemed to have the best chances (as far as packages were concerned) of landing Halladay.  Reports originally surfaced that they were looking for one active starter who had frontline potential, and a couple top 50 specs.  Does Scott Kazmir, Wade Davis, and Reid Brignac make sense?  To me it makes perfect sense.

After James Shields and Matt Garza I have zero confidence in the starting rotation. David Price is on and off, Andy Sonnastine has been miserable at times, and Scott Kazmir has never been a favorite of mine. Acquiring Halladay would make us the late season favorite to push for the Wild Card Spot in the AL.

For the Jays, acquiring Scott Kazmir for 10 mil in 2010 and 12 mil in 2011 with a club option for 2012 would seem to be the perfect chance to acquire a guy who has a chance to be a 1 or 2 starter at a very reasonable salary.  Wade Davis has been dominant all year at AAA and would probably immediately join their rotation, he is MLB.Com’s 31st ranked Minor League Spec.   He is 8 and 6 with a 3.22 ERA and 103 K’s in 114 innings pitched in Durham.  Brignac is MLB.com’s 32nd ranked prospect.  He seemingly has no chance to play anytime soon with Jason Bartlett looking like the best player on the Rays Major League Roster.  Even a chance to play 2nd base for Reid seems like a long shot with Willie Aybar and Ben Zobrist hitting the ball so well.

Brignac would immediately be the starting SS for the Rays, teaming him with Aaron Hill for a nice young MI combination. Scott Kazmir and Wade Davis would immediately headline the Jays rotation.   Besides trading inside the division, that is a better package than even Philadelphia can offer, considering their main target, Kyle Drabek has some definite injury concerns.

As far as the impact Halladay could have on the Rays, I think it kind of goes without saying.  A combo of Halladay, Shields and Garza is as good as any there is in the league.  People might immediately say the Rays can’t afford Halladay and his 15.75 million dollar 2010 deal or afford to resign him, but I think that would be misguided at best.   Taking out Kazmir’s 8 million dollar 2010 salary, Troy Percival’s 4 million dollar contract that ends this season and Chad Bradford’s 3.5 million dollar contract this season, the Rays would actually have a bit lower payroll next year (excluding arbitration increases) while losing some dead weight in the pitching staff and adding one of the top 5 pitchers in the game.

When I first heard that Halladay was available, I immediately called a good friend and said, if the Rays don’t at least make an exploratory call to the Jays, I will be very upset.  It is so hard to maintain success in baseball, especially in the AL East, and we have some obvious holes on this team right now, one of which Halladay fills.  I’m glad at least that exploratory part has been fulfilled.

The Rays scored 4 in the ninth off of declining HOF’er Mariano Rivera for the W.  

						1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
				TB (29-28)		0		0		0		0		2		3		0		0		4				9		9		4
				NYY (32-23)		0		1		0		1		1		0		0		2		2				7		7		2
			W: Howell (1-2, 2.22); L: Rivera (0-2, 3.47); SV: Choate (3)  HR: TB: Zobrist (11), Aybar, W (4). NYY: Teixeira (17), Rodriguez, A (8).

5.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 K was the final line for the Rays young ace.  He gave up the early HR to ARoid and then settled down after that.  The Rays though were just awful in the field, and only one of Price’s runs counted.  

Here is a strike/ball chart from DRaysBay and BrooksBaseball.Net.  

Reid Brignac who is seeing some extended MLB time due to our entire IF being on the DL committed two of those errors himself.   Reid is hitting .217 now in the majors and if he wants to keep a spot on the big league team once Jason Bartlett comes back, he will need to at least improve his fielding.  

The two big story lines from the game though, had to be Ben Zobrist once again delivering in the clutch with his 11th HR, and Pinch Runner Andy Sonnastine scoring the go ahead run in the 9th.   Sonnastine has been a jack of all trades this season, pinch hitting and now pinch running.  His ability to contribute to the team on days when he is not pitching will certainly be factored into who is getting bumped from the rotation once Scott Kazmir returns from the DL.  Ben Zobrist continues to be the teams 2nd best hitter.  He now has 11 HR on the year to go along with 33 RBI.  He plays just about any position on the field for us, and his HR to AB ratio is at 1 for every 11.8 AB’s.

I have an interesting question though.  Say that Jeff Niemann has another good start tonight.  If you take out his two worst starts of the year, one of which was his first start of the year, he has been quite impressive.  Even with those two horrid outings, he still has a 4.97 ERA.  If Niemann continues to pitch well, and Price comes in and does what everyone expects him to do, which is be a stud, where does that leave Scott Kazmir.  Andy Sonnastine is a much cheaper option for a 5th pitcher, which is essentially what Kaz has looked like for most of the season, if even a 5th starter.  

Compounding the Sonny/Kaz question is that top 20 spec Wade Davis is 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA and a .197 OAVG in AAA Durham.   He is going to need a spot in the rotation very soon as well.  

So as I have been preaching for the last year, and have been clamoring for the past two, the Rays missed the boat on Kaz, especially on trading him while his value is high.  

Regardless, I’m glad to see him out of the rotation and for my man David Price to be in.