It has been very quiet Winter Meetings if you are looking for rumors involving Roy Halladay. Toronto GM Alex Anthopolous is keeping things close to the vest and not allowing trade talks to leak out to the likes of Jon Heyman, Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal. It appears he wants to manage and drive the price up for Roy Halladay himself, rather than through the media.

But yesterday, Buster Olney posted this in his morning blog post that I was thinking about once I heard the Phillies were shopping Joe Blanton:

Our colleague Jayson Stark reported that the Phillies are taking offers for Joe Blanton, which makes you wonder if they are quietly trying to clear salary space for a possible run at Roy Halladay.

It would not suprise me to see the Phillies make an effort to deal for Roy Halladay. I can't imagine a rotation of Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels-three aces on one staff would be hard to beat.

Would a package involving outfield prospect Michael Taylor and pitching prospect Kyle Drabek be enough to get Halladay?  But the only way the Phillies make this deal is if they clear some payroll and deal Joe Blanton, otherwise their payroll hits $150 million in 2010. But if you deal Blanton, who is their 5th starter? I assume they could search the bargain bin in free agency.