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NEW YORK — Roy Halladay has a lot on his mind — and that's something to concern the folks in the board rooms of both the Toronto Blue Jays and team owner Rogers Communications Inc.
Doomsday looms.
The state of their team is, first and foremost, a consumer confidence issue — and these days consumer confidence is high only when Halladay is on the mound. So when the club's lone All-Star Game representative starts sounding like someone doing some deep thinking about things — when frustration mixes in with his natural introspection — well, it's time to listen.
Of course, Halladay should be starting tonight's All-Star Game.
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American League manager Terry Francona got it all wrong when he explained the decision to start Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians tonight as being because "from the very first start of the year, to three days ago, he's been the most outstanding starting pitcher in the league."
Rubbish. It's Halladay's fifth all-star selection, and Lee's first. Halladay has just one less win than Lee's 12 this year. His earned-run average of 2.71 is less than half a run higher than Lee's. True, Lee has just two losses and Halladay has six, but three of Halladay's losses came in consecutive complete games.
Halladay's response to the snub was vintage. "Not a priority," he said.
What is a priority, at some point, is playing on a winning team.
At yesterday's media availability session, Halladay said he is not yet ready to "turn the page on the 2008 season," let alone his career with the Blue Jays. But he agrees the first half was a massive lost opportunity, given the New York Yankees' pitching woes and the Boston Red Sox' injury concerns. It is, in a word, disappointing.
"Those are the things we talked about going into spring training," Halladay said yesterday. "Teams are going to have things like that happen sometimes and you need to take advantage of it. Obviously, that's what the [Tampa Bay] Rays have done.
"You don't expect either of those teams will struggle for too long and if they do, you have to capitalize on it. We haven't done it so far, and it is tough when you see that. There was a little bit of a window."
Halladay expanded on his comments later, telling The Canadian Press it was "hard to keep doing the same things each year" and "not see a progression."
"We sit down every spring training and we talk about the same things and it's almost like a little bit of Groundhog Day. That definitely gets frustrating."
Halladay put the Blue Jays on the clock yesterday when he said he wants to see the team continue to go in the right direction the next two years.
The Blue Jays have had the kind of first half that sets the stage for a front-office shakeup. It's already cost manager John Gibbons and three coaches their jobs. When Halladay signed his three-year, $40-million (U.S.) extension in 2006, he made clear the comfort zone the team created was an important consideration.
"I haven't thought about it," Halladay said about the possibility of a front-office change. "The people we had as coaches were also a big part — Gibby and [former third-base coach Marty Pevey] and all those guys — they were a big part of why I liked things here.
"But when changes happen, you look at the people coming in, and you kind of decide at that point," he said. "I'm a big fan of Cito [Gaston, who replaced Gibbons last month].
"You can't predict the future," Halladay said. "I like to see what people are about and go from there. But obviously, I love J.P. [Ricciardi, the Blue Jays' general manager] I'd love to have him stay. But again, I think you address the issues once they come up. It's hard to do that in advance."
Whether it's Ricciardi or somebody else in the GM's office in 2009, Halladay is having the kind of year that warrants negotiations on a further extension. The problem is, the Blue Jays are having the kind of year that causes franchise players to start thinking about the desire to, as Halladay put it, "readjust" after 2010.
Halladay likes Gaston, who he credits with making the Blue Jays' clubhouse more "accountable," and of course that would appeal to him. It's a huge part of Halladay's game, along with steadfastness.
It's the kind of thing that has allowed Halladay to have more complete games (seven) than any team in the majors.
It makes him a throwback and if you want to help lower the curtain on the last season in the game's grandest stage, Yankee Stadium, who better to do it than a throwback. Cliff Lee? I don't think so.
