Power Poll: The Roy Halladay Sweepstakes

Ryan Fagan - SportingNews.com

Let's dub this Roy Halladay week. What else is there to talk about, really? He's the biggest and best name on the trade market; he's the type of starter who will make his new team an instant World Series favorite.

Think about the potential playoff one-two punches. Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels in Philadelphia. Roy Halladay and John Lackey in Anaheim. Roy Halladay and Josh Beckett in Boston. Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia in New York. Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter in St. Louis. Roy Halladay and Mark Buehrle in Chicago. Roy Halladay and Clayton Kershaw (more on him in a minute) in Los Angeles. Roy Halladay and Kevin Millwood in Texas. Roy Halladay and Yovani Gallardo in Milwaukee.

It's enough to make any general manager salivate. But is it enough to make 'em open up their pocketbooks and prospect lists? It should be. It will be. Expect to see a jump in next week's power poll for whatever team picks up Halladay. Unless, of course, it's the Dodgers.
 
 1. Dodgers (last week: 1). Let's play a Mannywood version of Guess Who. Pitcher No. 1, in his past seven starts, is 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA and the team has won all seven games. Pitcher No. 2, in his past six starts, is 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA and the team has won only two of those games. Clayton Kershaw, the youngest member of the Dodgers' rotation, is Pitcher No. 1. Chad Billingsley, the acknowledged ace of the Dodgers' rotation, is the other guy. Kershaw has always been the eventual ace of the Dodgers' staff; has that time arrived?

2. Yankees (3). Very impressive pitching-led sweep of the Tigers coming out of the All-Star break. CC Sabathia and Joba Chamberlain were dominant and A.J. Burnett was solid. With their next seven games at home against the Orioles and A's, the Yankees have a real opportunity to grab sole possession of the A.L. East for the first time since early June.

3. Phillies (5). So, the N.L. East race is pretty much over. The Phils enter the week with an eight-game winning streak and a 6 1/2 game division lead because of guys like J.A. Happ, who's 7-0 with a 2.68 ERA this year. Doesn't mean the front office shouldn't continue to look for ways to bolster the rotation, though. Winning in the playoffs is different than winning a division lacking another team that's over .500.

4. Red Sox (2). Look, the Red Sox will be just fine. Don't read too much into their drop this week. There's no shame in getting shut down in Toronto by Roy Halladay. Getting shut down in Toronto by Marc Rzepczynski, though, is another thing (more on him in the Jays' note). Still, they'll be fine.

5. Angels (4). After taking three of four from cellar-dwelling Oakland, the Angels have three games against the sad-sack Royals, four at home against a solid Twins squad and then three against the last-place Indians. This could be the stretch where the Angels put the West out of reach.

6. Rays (10). Tampa Bay didn't win any style points during the three games in Kansas City, but hey, a sweep's a sweep. Kind of reminiscent of the 2008 Rays, though; just found a different way to get the job done on a nightly basis.

7. Cardinals (8). In his past half-dozen starts, Joel Pineiro has a 1.58 ERA and has only allowed 31 hits and a single walk in 45 2/3 innings. In fact, Pineiro has only allowed 12 walks all season; his ratio of .883 walks per nine innings is by far the best in the majors. Roy Halladay is second at 1.159.

8. Giants (6). The worries about the offense aren't going away, especially after scoring just one run in the first 28 innings after the All-Star break. In Pittsburgh, no less.

9. Rockies (12). The Rox are just a half-game behind the Giants in the N.L. wild-card race after taking three of four in San Diego and not allowing more than three runs in any of the four games. Sure, it's only the Padres, but those are must-win series for teams with playoff aspirations.

10. Rangers (9). Remember the easy stretch the Angels have? It's about the exact opposite for the Rangers, who have 10 of their next 13 games against teams that enter the week at least six games over .500.

11. Mariners (11). These guys just won't go away. It will be very tough for the Mariners to catch the Angels or get within sniffing distance of the wild card, but this has become a very good ballclub.

12. Tigers (7). The starting pitching was excellent against the Yankees, but the offense got shut down by the New York rotation. Will the Tigers make some type of trade deadline move?

13. White Sox (16). Huge series for the Sox this week against the Rays, another team that's starting to play like it belongs in the postseason. And then the White Sox start the real litmus test -- a seven-game road trip against Central rivals Detroit and Minnesota. Real make-or-break type games there.

14. Twins (14). The Twins still haven't been more than three games over the .500 mark all season. One mildly long winning streak could put them in control of the Central, but that's been the case for quite some time now. Beginning to wonder if this team is capable of pulling off such a feat.

15. Cubs (18). Chew on these double-digit numbers for a bit. The Cubs have seven players guaranteed at least $12 million for 2010 -- Alfonso Soriano ($18 million), Carlos Zambrano ($17.875 million), Aramis Ramirez ($15.75 million), Derrek Lee ($13 million), Ryan Dempster ($12.5 million), Ted Lilly ($12 million) and Kosuke Fukudome ($13 million). And that's not counting the $9 million they owe Milton Bradley or, heck, the $2.7 million they owe Aaron Miles. Talk about being locked up.

16. Brewers (15). The trade for second baseman Felipe Lopez is a step in the right direction, as long as the next step the Brewers take is toward obtaining a pitcher.

17. Blue Jays (17). The Blue Jays have to get the nod for most pitching-productive farm system of the year, right? Marc Rzepczynski, who has a nifty 2.50 ERA and 16 strikeouts in his first three big-league starts, is just the latest kid from the minors to bolster the parent club's rotation. A total of 12 different pitchers have started at least two games for the Jays this season.  

18. Braves (20). This team has the pieces (mainly, pitching) to contend for the wild card in the National League. They enter the week in fifth place in that race, 4 1/2 games back of the Giants.

19. Astros (19). Looking at the big picture, splitting a four-game series on the road against the Dodgers wasn't a bad way to start the second half of the season. It's a bit disappointing, though, after winning the first two and letting the next two slip away.

20. Marlins (13). The fish were shut out in two of three games at home against the Phillies. Maybe a trip to San Diego will cure what ails the offense.

21. Reds (22). Willy Taveras is riding a six-game hitting streak that's <i>raised</i> his on-base percentage to a paltry .292. And, a year after leading the majors with 68 stolen bases, Taveras has just 18. Not exactly what Dusty Baker was hoping for out of his leadoff hitter.

22. Mets (21). The Mets won just one game in Atlanta, and it was the one Johan Santana started. That'll be a common theme in the second half.

23. Orioles (23). Some of the Orioles' reasons for optimism were in St. Louis during the break -- outfielder Adam Jones was on the A.L. All-Star roster and pitchers Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz threw in the Futures game.

24. Pirates (24). Given a shot to play regularly in the Pittsburgh outfield, Garrett Jones has popped seven homers in his first 14 games with the Pirates. That includes a pair of solo homers in the Pirates' 2-1, 14-inning win against the Giants on Friday. It's been a long road for Jones, who has spent the past four full seasons (with the exception of 31 games for the Twins in 2007) in Class AAA.

25. Athletics (26). Young lefty Brett Anderson hasn't given up a run in his past 21 innings. In fact, he's only given up seven hits and three walks while striking out 18 in that stretch. And it's not like this success is coming against the dregs of the American League -- he's dominated the Angels, Rays and Red Sox. Most impressive.

26. Diamondbacks (28). Tony Pena, Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark are gone; who's next out the desert door?

27. Padres (29). Not sure why the Padres decided to call up phenom Mat Latos at this point. Latos has certainly exceeded all expectations this year -- combined 8-1 with a 1.38 ERA and ridiculous 0.75 WHIP at Class A and Class AA -- but he's only 21 and had to be added to the 40-man roster. Why start the arbitration clock on him midway through a lost season?

28. Indians (27). The only thing keeping the Indians and their three-game losing streak out of the 29th spot is the Royals and their six-game losing streak.

29. Royals (25). Trey Hillman got a vote of confidence, which is nice. Unless it's not.

30. Nationals (30). Only 24 games out of the wild-card lead entering the week …
 
Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com.

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