DownSwinging.com

As the July 31 trading deadline quickly approaches, momentum for deals is building, preparing for the inevitable flurry of trades that get pulled off just before midnight on the last day. While it seems now like every possible avenue is falling through for some teams, almost always teams figure something out before the deadline because it’s in all parties interests. There are definitely domino effects, as the rumor mill creates a complex map of all of the teams, and once one piece falls, others will follow.

Therefore, it’s always best to start at the top, and that, of course, means Roy Halladay. J.P. Ricciardi said today that the likelihood of a deal has moved to “very slim.” Still interested teams are the Phillies, Rangers, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox. The holdup has been that the team most capable and needing of a deal, the Phillies, rejected the Blue Jays original offer which included Kyle Drabek and J.A. Happ, and then had their counter-offer (Happ plus four prospects not named Drabek) rejected as well, putting the parties at odds. The Rangers are still interested but have financial issues to worry about if they are going to get Halladay. If the Yankees want to make a deal they can try the route of taking on bad contracts (Vernon Wells) and Halladay instead of giving up top prospects, because they don’t have any really. They have said they will part with Joba Chamberlain, but not Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. If I’m the Jays, I forget about the division rivalry and send him to the Yanks, and then ship off Rolen, Scutaro and Rios if you can.