2003 Cy Young Award winner, Roy Halladay, has informed the Toronto Blue Jays that if they want to trade him, they have to do it before he reports to Spring Training.  Halladay’s current contract allows him to veto any trade.  His intent is to go to a contending team, whereas the Blue Jays are in a rebuilding mode.

Halladay’s name was mentioned in several trade talks last July that included the Phillies, Red Sox, Rangers, Angels and Giants.  However, the Blue Jay’s were asking too much for their prized pitcher.  The latest suitors this off season include the Yankees and Red Sox, but MLBSecrets believes the Yankees may just wait until 2011.

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Halladay’s demands are similar to that of Johan Santana before the 2008 season where Santana demanded that a deal be completed before that year’s Spring Training.  Those demands also included an extension to his current contract which ended up being $137.5 million over 6 years with the New York Mets.  It would be foolish for any team to not sign Halladay to a long term contract immediately since they will be giving up a king’s ransom to get him.

It’s in the Blue Jay’s best interest to complete a deal before the season starts to gain the most leverage over the other team.  The other team will see a whole year’s worth of productivity from Halladay and even opt to trade him in July in the event the team falters.  This is similar to the Oakland Athletic’s method of wheeling and dealing such as last July’s trade of Matt Holliday to the Cardinals.  The worst case for the Blue Jays is that they keep him all year and lose him to free agency after the 2010 seaso.  In doing so, they’ll get 2 compensatory draft picks.  Like any draft, it will a crap shoot.  Take the more developed prospect and trade Halladay… NOW!