Shootout at the OK Corral: Trading Doc Halladay to the Milwaukee Brewers

It is now being widely reported that the Toronto Blue Jays are willing to listen to trade offers for Roy Halladay. As is the case with most top pitchers, the Milwaukee Brewers are in the mix to try and acquire the Blue Jays' ace.

Several sources are saying the Jays want any deal for Halladay centered around a top shortstop prospect. The Brewers just happen to have one of the top shortstop prospects in all of baseball, Alcides Escobar.

Obviously any deal for Halladay is going to require a few other prospects in order to make the trade happen. Halladay is under contract until the end of the 2010 season.

The Brewers gave up four prospects for CC Sabathia last season, including two of their top 10. With the Brewers having Halladay for a year longer than Sabathia, you can expect at least that much being sent away for Halladay.

If Escobar is indeed sent to the Blue Jays, that would mean the Brewers are banking their future at shortstop on JJ Hardy. While not a bad idea, there is no guarantee that Hardy wants to play for the Brewers long-term. Many people are already penciling him in as the Diamondbacks starter at shortstop once he becomes a free agent after the 2010 season.

If the Brewers would lose both Escobar and Hardy in roughly a year-and-a-half, they would have no one in their minor league system ready to step in to fill the void. The only internal option may be to keep Rickie Weeks long-term, and then move either Brett Lawrie or Cutter Dykstra to shortstop. That is if either is able to show enough range for the position.

The Brewers have several positional prospects in the minors that are close to being ready for the majors, but all of their pitching prospects are at least a couple of years away. Would the Blue Jays be willing to wait that long on a pitching prospect in order to give up Halladay now?

Some players the Brewers could dangle for the Blue Jays are: Angel Salome; the team's top minor league catching prospect, Brett Lawrie; the Brewers top pick from the 2008 draft, and several young pitchers including, Eric Arnett, Wily Peralta, Cody Scarpetta, Evan Anundsen and Jake Odorizzi.

The Blue Jays could be intrigued by a couple of the young pitchers. Would a package of Escobar, Salome, Peralta and Odorizzi deal be enough for the five-time All-Star? If so, the Brewers would vault to the top of the National League this year and next year.

Personally, I have a hard time giving up Escobar for any pitcher, even Halladay. I know I'm in the minority saying that, but all indications show his bat is ready for the majors and he blows away JJ Hardy in the field.

I would much rather see the Brewers try and send Hardy away in the deal, even if it meant giving up multiple pitching prospects. None of the prospects are expects to be ready before the 2011 season anyway, so why not hold on to as much talent long-term in the field that you can?

Hardy can be gone after next season, while Escobar can be a Brewer mainstay well into the next decade. 

The Brewers also need to keep in mind what they are able to do long-term with an acquisition of Halladay. He becomes a free agent the same time that Bill Hall and Jeff Suppan do as well. That is $20 million freed up in salary that the Brewers could focus exclusively on Halladay.

If the Brewers could somehow work a long-term deal with Halladay for another three or four years, I would be more inclined to trade away Escobar. Having a one-two punch of Halladay and Yovani Gallardo would match up with any duo in all of baseball.

Now is the time to strike if you're Brewers' general manager Doug Melvin. The Brewers are slumping a bit and pulling off an even bigger trade than acquiring CC Sabathia would shake all of Major League Baseball to the core. Does Melvin have the nerve to pull off such a deal?

If you are a Blue Jays' fan, how would you feel about losing Halladay and what would you like in return for him? If you are a Brewers' fan, what are you (realistically) willing to give up to bring Halladay to Milwaukee and do you think it would be a bigger move than the Sabathia acquisition?

The next three weeks of July are going to start to really heat up, and Milwaukee might become the center of the baseball world for a second straight year.