Joba Chamberlain and Phillip Hughes Are No Longer Prospects

The trade deadline is nearing, and the hottest commodity is still Roy Halladay.

Even though J.P. Ricciardi has said numerous times that the trade talks with Halladay are dead, the media still talks about possible destinations for Halladay.

One of those teams are the New York Yankees.

As a Yankees fan, I would love to have Halladay in the rotation, especially now, since Boston will likely get Victor Martinez.

However, in no way, would I be willing to give up Joba Chamberlain or Phillip Hughes, as many experts try to list them as the prospects needed in order to trade for Halladay.

Chamberlain and Hughes are no longer prospects. They are young MLB players who still have plenty of potiential.

Experts talk about how Halladay is a proven commodity and how the Yankees should be willing to trade one of the two youngsters because they are still unproven.

In what way are these two players unproven in the Major Leagues? Since the All-Star break, Chamberlain is 3-0 with a 0.83 ERA, and he is 7-2 with a 3.58 ERA for the season. Phil Hughes, as a reliever, is 1-1 with a 0.98 ERA.

These are not potiential numbers; these are actual Major League perfomances.

In fact, since the break, Halladay has a 1-1 record and a 1.80 ERA, so Chamberlain has better stats in the second half of the 2009 season.

No, we can't predict Chamberlain's and Hughes's future. Having said that, they both have proven that they can be successful on the Major League level.

The label of prospect should be removed, and Yankee fans everywhere should feel lucky that this duo will be pitching for the Yankees for years to come, unlike having Halladay for two years.