The LA Times is imploring Dodgers management to trade for Roy Halladay. Bill Shaiken thinks the Dodgers need to trade for Halladay if they want to go further than then NLCS in 2009:
The Dodgers say they won't trade Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley. We say they ought to swallow hard and consider trading Billingsley to the Toronto Blue Jays if needed to get the Halladay deal done.
If the Dodgers are in a pennant race, then including Billingsley in a package for Halladay does not address the very real issue of depth in the starting rotation.
But if the Dodgers are bound for October -- as history suggests -- then depth is not as much of a concern as lining up Halladay to face Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday during the playoffs in St. Louis, or Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in Philadelphia.
Trading Billz, as I like to call him, is a steep price of Halladay. But, it would guarantee the Dodgers have that "true" ace on the mound to start game 1 of each playoff, and hopefully World Series, game. I am not sure one and a half years of Halladay is worth trading Billz for. But, then again, the Dodgers haven't made the World Series in over 20 years.
If including Billz in the package deal allows the Dodgers to get Halladay and a quality reliever, then maybe I could wam up to that, as a Dodgers fan.
But, there's one thing to remember, this would be GM Ned Colletti's signature deal. He could look like a genius if the Dodgers win the World Series in 2009 or 2010. But if they don't, and Billz goes on to dominate the AL, he will be the next Dodgers GM to be fired.