The Red Sox have to make a play for Roy Halladay

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Now that JP Riccardi has opened the floodgates on Roy Halladay, there really aren't that many teams that have the bargaining chips to actually get him. Without getting into every team that wants him, I'd like to keep our attention in our own backyard. That means the Boston Red Sox. The first question is should the Red Sox attempt to trade for him? That would be an obvious yes. The second question is do they have enough prospects to entice the Blue Jays to trade the sure fire hall of famer within the division? Yes, yes and yes.

As Chad will surely mention, I am not the biggest fan of trading a ton of prospects even for a player of Halladay's stature, but to not make an attempt on Halladay is stupid for the Sox. I'd love to see Halladay in a Dodger's uniform, unless it means trading Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley, but the Red Sox have a plethora of high ceiling pitching prospects to deal. ** Side note (Do you know what plethora is? The first person to make a comment as to what movie that comes from gets a free Fan Fanatic Sports t-shirt)**.

The guy I'd build this package around in Clay Bucholtz, and I have several reasons why. First, he's not in the major leagues because of a lack of talent. He has a ton of potential. I believe he's not in the bigs because of his attitude and work ethic. If you look at guys like Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson and Daniel Bard, you'll see young players who were brought through the farm system that have the heads firmly screwed on their shoulders. They all love baseball and is very important to them. This may not be the case with Bucholtz. He got a bit too big for his britches after throwing a no hitter two seasons ago and it showed last season. He thought he had the majors figured out. Too bad he didn't. With all that being said, he's expendable in my mind. Far much more than Michael Bowden. Would a package of Bucholtz, Lars Anderson and either Junichi Tazawa or Casey Kelly get it done? There's a very good chance it might.

The Blue Jays are likely to ask for both Bowden and Bucholtz, but I don't think you can do that. If you're able to pull the trade, then you have a 1-2-3 of Halladay, Becket and Lester for at least the next year and a half. Wow! Who wouldn't want that. You're getting a dominant workhorse in return for a few players who may or may not be good major leaguers. To me, it's a no brainer.

Thoughts on 'Sheed, Turkoglu, Marion

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Rasheed Wallace will be introduced this afternoon as the newest member of the Boston Celtics.

And the timing couldn't be any better.

The Celtics went all out in wooing Wallace to Boston, and for good reason. Next season, Boston's big three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will all be at least 31 years or older. Considering how much those guys are on the books for (over $53 million), at some point you need to give these guys insurance.

'Sheed can provide all of that, and then some. The man has made a career out of being an enforcer on the blocks, as evidenced by the amount of times he's been T'd up. He put up some monster seasons in Portland, and was an integral part of the Blazers' 2000 Conference Finals run (and collapse), but he's best known for his years with Ben Wallace on the Pistons, carrying on the bad-boy tradition set forth by Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman.

After a physical postseason, the trend so far this offseason is to get protection for the team's superstars -- hence Shaq going to the Cavs, and Ron Artest waxing ecstatic about "hood-a-lizing" the Lakers. The jury's still out on how effective Sheed will be at 34 -- his offensive numbers will be shaky -- but know this: if Garnett truly is starting to wear down, this is a terrific move.

Not to mention, Boston sports fans and media will eat this guy up. Not since Trot Nixon have we had a guy in town who so personifies the gritty "dirt dog" persona. He's a trash-talker, but at the end of the day he's going to fight for every inch. I give it two weeks into the season before we start seeing 19-year-old NU undergrads with expired permits hawking "Sheed is a Beast" shirts on Causeway Street.

Speaking of fan favorites...with Grant Hill's name now popping up, the question around Boston is whether Glen Davis stays aboard. Hill has a nice game, but his finesse style of play does not fit in well with this group, which demands high defensive awareness, running ability and skilled perimeter play. Hill only fits the latter attribute. Big Baby wants veteran money...and honestly, when you're this far over the luxury tax, what's a few extra million dollars? Just think, you'll never be as impulsive as the Knicks or Mavericks.

Onto Hedo Turkoglu, the Turkish Assassin...or as I like to call him, Assassin's Creed...

In what has to be one of the biggest F.U.'s to an organization in recent years, the do-everything Turk backed out of the Portland Trail Blazers' offer after initially agreeing to a five-year, $50 million contract. Instead, he went to the Toronto Raptors for an extra three mil.

There are plenty of "politically correct" reasons those of us in the media have given for the Turkish Two Step. For one, he fits better in Toronto's system, which has embraced the European style of play. He also gets, er, slightly more money, though I'm not sure what the difference is when the money's this high (other than commission).

But here's a reason I like, one that Adrian Wojnarowski hinted at when he first broke the story for Yahoo! Sports, and in turn is one I'm not surprised the media isn't playing up more. Hedo's wife wanted to live in a more European-style city.

If you really wanted the "European style" experience in Canada, Toronto is about as Old World as a Big Mac. But I digress.

This couldn't happened to a more bratty organization, too. Sure, GM Kevin Pritchard would have you believe that the days of the Jail Blazers are over, just because they're now loaded with a bunch of mature guys who very polite to the public. But really, all that thuggish ruggish just got sweeped behind the scenes to the front office. Letting down your guard and calling a figurative truce with Jason Quick and John Canzano from the Portland Oregonian doesn't mean you're suddenly the Fresh Prince.

Seriously, do a Google search with the keywords "Darius Miles" and "Blazers" when you get a minute. They might be fooling you with their public relations dream team, but not me. Pritchard is a sketchy man.

On Shawn Marion...

Look, I think the dude is misunderstood. Put yourself in his shoes: you come out of UNLV, one of the founding cornerstones of uptempo basketball, and you play for a running team that totally fits your style, alongside two beasts of this generation (Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire) and a couple of lightning-quick scrappers (Leandro Barbosa, Raja Bell, Quentin Richardson). Inevitably, something has to change, because you can't win an NBA title just jacking up 130 points a game with no defense (see: Moe, Doug; Westhead, Paul), which means somebody's name is going to constantly come up in trade rumors. You happen to be the odd man out.

After the 137th trade rumor, you're inevitably going to flip out, or threaten to hurt Ric Bucher, whichever comes first. I mean, really, what do you people expect is going to happen?

Anyways, I'll give the Heat the benefit of the doubt that Marion played a better Ricky Davis than Scottie Pippen to Dwyane Wade's MJ-like game. But Toronto? Let's be honest, he was a square peg with no business in that system.

In Marion, Dallas will be getting an underappreciated swingman who is reaching the peak of his athleticism. Jason Kidd can run, and Shawn Marion can score. With a potential starting five of Kidd, Howard, Marion, Nowitzki and Dampier, they could go big and go fast. I'm thinking back to the days of Nellieball.

Bottom line, Marion is misunderstood and underappreciated. He'll get his due wherever he lands next.

MLB Trade Season: Part 6 National League West

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

We finish this series out in the National League West, which is my favorite division. Of course that's only because of the Dodgers. This is in interesting division because I will include two teams in the discussion who are 7 and 8 games out of first respectively. I include the Giants and Rockies because they are still in the Wild Card Race.

1. LA Dodgers - The Dodgers, despite the Manny fiasco, still have the best record in the bigs at the halfway point of the season. They have a very deep lineup with a perfect mix of youngsters and veterans. They should have no trouble wrapping up the division, but Ned Colletti needs to position his deep for a World Series run.

Needs - They need one more quality starting pitcher. I love Chad Billinsgley, Hiroki Kuroda is a very nice pitcher, but isn't anything more than a 3, and Randy Wolf has been pitching far better than I ever thought. Clayton Kershaw has been what a 21 year old pitcher should be at this level: Inconsistent. At time he's looked the like best young left handed pitcher in baseball, but needs to trust his stuff and throw more strikes. Keep in mind that Jason Schmidt has looked very good the past two weeks in rehab starts and may be able to contribute down the stretch. After another starter, there really isn't much else they need. If they keep Juan Pierre, they have a deep bench with him, Mark Loretta, Blake Dewitt and Brad Ausmus.

Potential Targets - Roy Halladay. I want the Dodgers to go get him, but they need to refrain from trading either Billingsley or Kershaw. The Dodgers farm system is not as good as it was 2-3 years ago, because those players are now on the big league team, but they have enough bargaining chips to make the deal. If they don't get Halladay, there has been a lot of talk about Jarrod Washburn. He's pitched well this year, and would take a lot less, hello Blake DeWitt, to get him. Two other names, which are severe long shots, are Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy. There's no way the Padres trade Peavy in the division, and I'm not sure the Astros are ready to trade their mainstay at the top of the rotation.

Trade Strength - The Dodgers still have a pretty good farm system. I hope they don't part with Kershaw because they still have other young arms they can deal. James McDonald & Scott Elbert are just two potential pitchers that attract other teams. I would suggest packaging both pitchers, along with Chin Lung Hu and seeing what else the Blue Jays would like. On the big league club, they can always deal Blake Dewitt and Juan Pierre

2. San Francisco Giants - The hated Giants will be active at the deadline as they look to take the Wild Card. They currently hold a 1 game lead over the Rockies for the NL Wild Card. I said this before the start of the season, the Giants have the best rotation in the National League. Randy Johnson just went on the DL, but should be back soon. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain form the best 1-2 tandem in the NL and maybe the entire Major Leagues.

Needs - The Giants really need a power bat in the outfield and/or first base and there have been rumors abound of the many potential targets. They also seem interested in picking up a middle infielder as well.

Potential Targets - There have been so many names rumored to be headed to the Giants that it might be easier to just list them. Aubrey Huff, Nick Johnson, Adam LaRoche and Adam Dunn are a few among first baseman. They've also been linked to outfielders like Matt Holiday and Jermaine Dye. Let's keep this going. The Giants are also interested in the Freddy Sanchez, and even the Indians' Victor Martinez. If they could pull of a trade for one of the larger names, it would put them into position to do some postseason damage.

Trade Strengths - It seems they are motivated to move Jonathon Sanchez. They also have some good depth at the lower levels of their farm system. There is no way they move Buster Posey though.

3. Colorado Rockies - Watch out for the Rockies. They're only 1 game out of the Wild Card and have played fantastic since Jim Tracy took over as manager. They have a ton of good, young players who are finally putting it together.

Needs - I doubt they'll trade for one, but they could use another starting pitcher. It seems they're obsessed with adding a bullpen arm or two, but who isn't right now. They have pretty good depth in the outfield and infield, so I doubt they'll trade for another bat.

Potential Targets - The Rockies would love to get LaTroy Hawkins back. He's pitched extremely well down in Houston. The Astros would most likely ask for Garrett Atkins, but I don't see the Rox doing that one straight up. The Orioles have two relievers that are on the Rockies radar as well. Danys Baez and George Sherrill are on the block and either could help out Colorado.

Trade Strengths - Garrett Atkins for one. Todd Helton is having a good year, Ian Stewart is the 3rd baseman of the future and Clint Barmes has made a good transition to 2nd base. If they stay in the race I don't see them trading Huston Street, but nothing would surprise me. They also have a pretty good backup catcher in Yorvit Torrealba they could move.

Well, I hope you've had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. The only thing we can do now is see what happens!