Wednesday: The Trade Deadline

Now that the All Star Game and all its glitter and glamour has become a subject of the past, we can now focus once again on the regular season, as well as one of my favorite times of the year, the July 31st trading deadline and the thrilling days preceding it. Obviously this year won't be quite as big as last year as far as blockbuster trades go, but I wouldn't be surprised if some major deals are at least being discussed by GMs around Major League Baseball.

The most significant name that has surfaced the headlines is Roy Halladay, who, in all his power, deserves better success than what the Blue Jays are able to give (not completely the Jays fault, as they're stuck in the league's most challenging division). I know Halladay loves the paycheck, but he wouldn't be human if he said he wasn't tired of packing up his bags at the end of September year after year. That raises the big question: Is Jon Daniels talking with JP Ricciardi about a possible deal? The answer is most likely no, but the players hypothesizing about having Halladay on the team a few weeks ago certainly raises a few eyebrows.

Halladay is signed through 2010, so if the Rangers were in fact to make a move for him, they'd have the assurance that it wouldn't just be a rental deal. However, the Blue Jays will be looking at the cost of players like CC Sabathia and Rich Harden last year and be asking for the same, if not more. That means the Rangers would for sure have to give up either Holland or Feliz, Smoak, and at least one other prospect. If I was Jon Daniels, I would keep a good distance from the trade market this year. Halladay is the only big name that is being offered who could really help the Rangers, but the problem is that he's already 32 years old. If the Rangers really wanted to make the deal worth it, they would have to sign Halladay to another contract, but by then he'll be moving out of his prime. Sorry, not worth it. The other option would be to go after a young prospect, but that would really be more like a substitution than a trade.

Another possibility, and I touched on this a few weeks ago, would be for the Rangers to get another arm in the bullpen. That probably wouldn't cost the Rangers any more than Marlon Byrd, Hank Blalock, or Andruw Jones. I wouldn't mind seeing Jones or Byrd leave as much as I would seeing Blalock depart. I said back in March that this is the year for Blalock to prove that he's still a major force in the lineup, and so far, I've been impressed. Blalock already has 19 homeruns in only 258 ABs. His batting average is decent at 260, and it'll likely continue to climb as he gets more playing time. I also happen to be a big Blalock fan, despite his woes in recent years. As for Jones, he's been valuable too, but I'm not too excited about his 231 AVG. And for Byrd, well, I'm a big fan, but I think in the long run he's the odd man out in the outfield with Cruz and Murphy looked upon as major weapons in the lineup. As far as getting rid of pitchers, I think it might be time to say goodbye to Eddie Guardado. To put it simply, I no longer trust his arm.

As the deadline looms and the suspense begins to mount, one can only assume that Jon Daniels is talking on the phone about possible deals. But though a trade certainly wouldn't hurt, in the end I'd rather see the Rangers try to make a run with what they already have. After all, they're nine games above 500 with their current roster. Would the addition of one player in exchange for the loss of several future stars really help?