As I watched Roy Halladay mow down the Red Sox yesterday en route to his 44th career complete game and 4th such feat this season, I was forced to ask myself this: Why the hell does J.P. Ricciardi want to trade ‘Doc’? Seriously. It feels like de-ja vu all over again but with the Jays ace instead of Jake Peavy. I mean come on. The guy has been absolutely dominant this year. His 11 wins rank 2nd in the majors, and he’s top 5 in the AL in ERA, K’s, 6th in Innings Pitched and has 1 complete game less than Zack Greinke, who leads the majors in that category. Despite all this, some part of the Jays front office seems to want to cash in Halladay for a bunch of prospects. And yes I can see the temptation, but if you ask me, unless you’re getting some guy who is of equal caliber to Doc, then it’s just not worth it. It’s not worth it because of the energy that having Halladay on the mound that day brings to the team. The Fans. Hell. The broadcast crew. They know they’re about to watch one of the majors premium pitchers. They know that everytime this guy toes the rubber, their team has it’s best chance to win, with it’s number 1 guy on the hill. The players know that. Halladay’s teammates have an elevated confidence level because of him. The players on the opposing bench are a little nervous. They know how good he is. Hell. there might be some fear in there somewhere. And for the fans out there, this is what you pay to see. The great matchups. Yesterday it was Halladay vs Ortiz in the first inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. Want more evidence? How about the noise inside Rogers centre as Doc went full on Jacoby Ellsbury with 2 out in the 9th? And the subsequent roar from the crowd when he struck out the Red Sox’ speedster with a nasty cutter that tied Jacoby right up inside?