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Deal Or No Deal? (7/30)

Just emptying out my trade deadline brain of some of the thoughts that have been going through my mind this week. We’ll get to the Roy Halladay stuff after the jump.

Former Rangers great Justin Duchscherer appears to be a week or two away from being ready to return to action after a scintillating rehab appearance for Sacramento on Sunday where Rangers scouts were on hand. He is scheduled to pitch another rehab on Friday. Of course, players on the DL can’t be traded, but it might possible that Oakland could activate him for a day and then immediately trade him. This is Duke’s walk year and his salary the rest of the way (less than $2 million) is something the Rangers might be able to take on. Just file that away.

Another former Rangers great, Doug Davis, is just sitting there. He’s owed about $2.75 million the rest of the way and is a free agent this winter, so adding him is probably not precluded for financial reasons. Davis has a big fan in Mike Maddux who resurrected his career in Milwaukee. In two of his past three seasons, Davis has done his best pitching in September. There’s no reason for Arizona to hold on to him.

The Diamondbacks would also make Jon Garland available, but he’s like, you know, really bad and RBiA has been very unkind to him.

The fact that the Rangers admitted that they thought they had Ryan Garko in hand before he was suddenly flipped to San Francisco for an excellent Cal League pitcher tells you something about what the Rangers are willing to give up for a right-handed bat. Evan advises that he was told the Texas offer was two players. My best guess is that Texas offered somebody like Carlos Pimetel and a low-level bat. Evan’s guessing Tim Murphy and a low-level bat. Had they gotten Garko, they certainly would have been out of the market for a bat. And now that he’s off the market, I don’t see an alternative that could be had for a package like that unless the Mets just decide to take whatever they can get for Sheff. And with all the turmoil at Citi these days, anything is possible.

There are various reports that Roy Halladay would consider waiving his no-trade clause to come to Texas, but it’s customary for players to ask the team trading for him to buy out the no-trade clause. That, along with the roughly $4.5 million he’s owed the rest of the way probably make it impossible for the Rangers to deal for him.

MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reported that Toronto demanded Derek Holland, Julio Borbon and Justin Smoak for Halladay and Texas said no. Where it went from there — if anywhere — is anybody’s guess. Assuming that is true, you have to wonder why Texas said no. I’m not suggesting that it’s a no brainer, just that it’s interesting to ponder the particular reasons that Texas said no.

Does losing Borbon create too much of a problem for Texas in center field next year? Josh Hamilton’s days in center field need to come to an end. Can Texas afford both Roy Halladay and Marlon Byrd? If they want to take on Halladay’s contract, it would seem that they’ll have to shed all of the expiring contracts.

The only other center fielder expected to be a free agent this winter is Rick Ankiel and Texas can’t afford him. Without Borbon, the Rangers are looking at a platoon of Murphy and Greg Golson in center field next year with Brandon Boggs as the extra outfielder (assuming Cruz in right and Hamilton in left). Golson’s numbers against lefties are actually palatable (.294 / .354 / .353 vs. LHP).

Did Texas say no because the demand included two of the Big Four? Surely they don’t think they can get Halladay for less than that, do they?

Did Texas say no simply to stall and see if the asking price went down?

Another thing that strikes me about Sullivan’s note is that Toronto wants Holland rather than Feliz and, it seems, Texas would rather keep Holland than Feliz. Just interesting.

With Philly out of the race for Halladay’s services, Toronto’s options come down to either Texas or Boston. There is talk about the Dodgers being in the hunt as well, but there’s no way they can match even a watered-down Rangers offer unless they put Clayton Kershaw in the package, and there’s no way they’d do that.

Boston could trump a deal headed by Derek Holland and Justin Smoak with an offer of Clay Buchholz and Lars Anderson (though Anderson is struggling a bit this year), but Boston would have to clearly outdistance any Rangers offer (add Ryan Westmoreland…at least) to entice Toronto to deal Halladay within the division. And Boston just might do that. When the Red Sox identify a guy they really want, they generally do whatever is necessary to get him.

About 31 hours to go.