The wrong move

Roy Halladay is on the trade block and Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi says he will listen to offers from everybody, but even if he was crazy enough to deal his ace to Boston, the Red Sox should choose to walk away

J.P. Ricciardi wouldn't ask the Red Sox for just Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden if he were to give them Roy Halladay. Theo Epstein would have to send both the Portland (AA) and Pawtucket (AAA) buses to Toronto, after pit-stopping in Boston to pick up Jacoby Ellsbury and Daniel Bard.

Clearly, there's a little bit of an exageration in there, but not much. For Toronto to send Halladay - one of the game's best pitchers - to another team in the American League East, it would have to be for a King's ransom. Hence, the prospect-filled buses.

Don't get me wrong. I'm the first person to advise general managers in any sport to give up the prospects in order to receive the sure thing. But the Boston Red Sox aren't in need of pitching at the moment, regardless of how good Halladay is.

At 32, Halladay is as good as they come. He won the Cy Young award in 2003, and is a two-time 20-game winner (22-7 in 2003; 20-11 in 2008). Also having won 19 games in 2002, Halladay has put together one of the strongest resumes in the league since his first start in 1998, and yet, has never been to a postseason.

That's not his fault. It's a combination of two things: how bad his teams have been, and how much the Red Sox and Yankees have dominated.

Adding Halladay's electric stuff to an already dominant Boston rotation, and surrounding him with an All-Star offensive cast would certainly make the Red Sox an overwhelming favorite to win the World Series for several seasons to come.

But as exciting as it sounds, this Red Sox team will be a favorite to win the World Series for several seasons to come without adding Halladay. Josh Beckett, 29, and Jon Lester, 25, are young enough and dominant enough to carry Boston to several championships in the near future. Throw in a Daisuke Matsuzaka, 28, who won't begin next season with an ass-backwards regimen that is the World Baseball Classic, and you have three young starters that each have the potential to win 18 games.

Piling on top prospect after top prospect to upgrade a position that doesn't need upgrading wouldn't be a wise business decision. But that's not to say those top prospects shouldn't be held onto forever.

Because as much as people in Boston have fallen in love with someone like Buchholz, refusing to package him in a deal for, let's say, Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez would also be an unintelligent business move.

At the end of the day, Ricciardi would need to be half in the wrapper to deal Halladay to any team within his division. Chances are, he'll only agree to entertain deals with the Red Sox and Yankees in order to use their offers to up the ante for National League teams like the Phillies and Mets, who will certainly be interested in adding Halladay to their rotation.

But in the case that Ricciardi is actually trying to get fired, and is willing to pull the trigger on a deal with the Red Sox, he'd surely be asking for way too much. And if the Red Sox are going to give up their top prospects like Buchholz and Bowden (which I believe they will this offseason), then why not try to fill a hole in the process.

Those holes will be more evident into, and after, next season, and guys like Buchholz and Bowden won't have any higher trade value than this coming offseason.

As for those holes, both David Ortiz and Mike Lowell only have one more guaranteed season on the books with the Red Sox in 2010, with the club holding an option on a 35-year-old Ortiz for 2011. Lowell will turn 37 before the 2011 season starts.

Assuming they re-sign Jason Bay after this season, the Red Sox still have to think about acquiring a bat this offseason, while those top prospects are still highly touted.

And then there's the issue at shortstop. Nomar Garciaparra's return to Fenway this week made us all long for the days of a young, exciting franchise shortstop. Nick Green is not the long-term answer, and those who have fallen in love with Jed Lowrie are nothing more than desperate to end the shortstop carousel.

How can you blame them? Edgar Renteria was a complete bust. Alex Gonzalez was great defensively, but was an automatic out. And even though the Red Sox won a World Series with Julio Lugo at short, we can all agree that his time in Boston is done.

So the Red Sox' big-time needs aren't pitching. The major need is a shortstop who's going to pack some punch at the plate. And if it means backing down on a deal for Halladay, and saving the prospects for an offseason trade that would bring in Florida's Ramirez, then the Red Sox would be making the smarter business decision.

At 25, Ramirez leads all MLB shortstops in batting average (.346), home runs (14), RBI (60), on-base percentage (.409), slugging percentage (.574), and OPS (.983).

His contract is heavily back-loaded, which means the longer the Marlins keep him, the more likely he'll be traded for even younger, cheaper talent. Ramirez' salary will kick up to $7 million in 2010, and then up to $11 million in 2011, all the way to $16 million by 2014, the least year of his contract.

It's something the Marlins will soon not be able to afford. Knowing that, it would be in their best interest to at least listen to a deal from the Red Sox, which would involve some of Boston's top prospects.

More realistic than a deal for Halladay, Boston would be a much more well-rounded team for years to come if they went the route of trading their prospects for a power-hitting shortstop, rather than adding a 32-year old ace to a rotation that's already stacked.

Ramirez is just one option. Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is another. But that's for another time, and a deal with Florida is much more realistic at this point. Seeing that this Red Sox ownership group would have to understand that, a Halladay-to-Boston deal is no more than a video game fantasy.

For there are more important moves to be made in the future, the very, very near future.