The Doc will continue to make house calls in Toronto. Roy Halladay is still a Blue Jay after the Major League Baseball trade deadline passed without the club finding a suitable trading partner for their staff ace.
It appeared as though the Los Angeles Angels upped their offer for Halladay in the 11th hour in an attempt to acquire a front of the rotation starter that they have been looking for to push them over the top; however the two sides were unable to consummate a trade.
While the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees all reportedly had interest in the 2003 American League Cy Young award winner, none presented Blue Jays senior vice-president of baseball operations and general manager J.P. Ricciardi with a deal that he felt was suitable.
"We weren't trying to move him. I think that's the one thing that has been a big misconception on that," said Ricciardi. "We went from saying 'we're listening' to all of a sudden we were shopping him and trading him and that was never the case. So we listened, we did our due diligence as an organization, and I think the player did also, and I think it's time for us to move forward now."
Several teams appeared to be scared off by the extremely high asking price for Halladay. The Philadelphia Phillies reportedly turned down a request for top pitching prospects J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek along with an outfield prospect for Halladay. The defending World Series champions instead picked up reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians instead.
Along with the Indians, several of Halladay's other potential suitors have made lesser moves to improve their pitching staffs prior to the deadline. On Thursday the Dodgers acquired reliever George Sherrill from the Baltimore Orioles, while earlier in the day Friday the Detroit Tigers picked up starter Jarrod Washburn from the Seattle Mariners. The Chicago White Sox also were able to acquire Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres just before the deadline.
The Blue Jays were able to complete a deal prior to the deadline, as they sent third-baseman Scott Rolen to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for third-baseman Edwin Encarnacion and pitching prospects Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart.