Alex Anthopoulos may be walking into the perfect storm.
He has Roy Halladay out there. Available.
And he has both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox interested ... interested to the point of panting.
This was not the case approaching the July 31 non-waiver deadline.
"It's different for a couple of reasons," one executive said this week.
"In July, teams had options like Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez was on the market. Boston made moves, but to add offence.
"Philadelphia did well getting Lee but, had they dealt for Halladay, it would have been Halladay on three days rest in Game 5 against CC Sabathia, not Joe Blanton. Lee couldn't do three days."
The World Series showed that the team with the best pitching horses wins and the Yanks won with Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett and Sabathia.
"Even if Pettitte comes back, Halladay is a need for the Yanks, much moreso than (outfielder) Curtis Granderson or some of the names you see out there," the executive said.
Swing away Sunday
They asked me to carry a torch, but I am still carrying one in each hand for Shania Twain and Patsy Cline ... Baseball Canada's Jim Baba who was inducted into the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame this week, spends his nights watching nephew Darroll Powe of the Philadelphia Flyers. Powe has started the NHL season with six goals, zero assists. Said an announcer: "He is 6-0 ... and going for the Cy Young." ... Kingston's Donald S. Cherry was at the True Patriot dinner supporting a Military Family Fund which raised $2.5 million for families that lost loved ones. Paddy Carson, whose son, Capt. Breen Carson, is serving in Afghanistan, gave Cherry a wristband he now wears to show support for Canadian men and women serving. The wristbands are made by Roots ... Nice to see Phil Cuzzi as off-season work at the France-Ireland World Cup qualifier ... Confirm or deny: The NHL is running the Dallas Stars ... Bureaucratic Ottawa has worn off on Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson. He wants to be a Senator for life and challenge Pakenham's Lowell Murray as the longest-serving member of the Senate ... Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are the first country music-NHL match since Drake Berehowsky and Mindy McCready ... Brent Sutter dresses down Dion Phaneuf in the dressing room and it's news? What in the name of Punch Imlach, Mike Keenan and Bert Templeton do you think happens between periods?
Labour pains
Covering baseball labour negotiations in New York, Scottsdale or Washington, D.C., was so much easier when Atlanta Braves lefty Tom Glavine was around. Union boss Donald Fehr, smartest man in any room (or park) would often drop $216 words. No problem, I'd check with Glavine, a union leader, for the translation. We called Glavine our Donald Fehr decoder ring. Years ago, I suggested to Glavine that he could not retire until Fehr did. He complied. Glavine was released by the Braves on June 5 and Fehr stepped down 18 days later.
Now, Fehr is on the labour front with the NHL Players Association, Glavine is available to help hockey scribes and he knows his way around a rink, having been drafted in the fourth round by the Los Angeles Kings in 1984.
At baseball's 1991 all-star game at the SkyDome, we asked Glavine if he ever dreamed about playing on the same line as Wayne Gretzky.
"He might have played on my line," Glavine said jokingly.
And finally
Now that the Bills have fired another coach, why not hire Buffalo's best hometown-proud coach: Don Gilbert, who guided the 1975 Gee-Gees to an undefeated College Bowl win ... Sympathies to former Jays scout Wilbur "Moose" Johnson, who lost his wife, Margie, Tuesday. Johnson identified Robbie Alomar when the Jays were in search of a second baseman in 1990 and recommended to Pat Gillick that he claim Tom Henke from the Texas Rangers in the compensation draft ... The Jays have hired area scouts Martesse Robinson and Bob Hamelin, who both worked with Dana Brown with the Washington Nationals... To say Rex Ryan is the best NFL coach to have lived in Toronto is like saying Orel Hershiser is the best Dodgers starter from the GTA ... And hey, what ever happened to Steve Simmons?
BOB.ELLIOTT@SUNMEDIA.CA
