Living in the Wake of the Flood

So, brother Wake has been staying with us for a week and a half while taking some continuing education classes at SMU. I really enjoyed having him around for the time he was here. We talked about some different things, we cooked some good food, discovered some fine local beer, meandered around my neighborhood and just hung out. He learned the TV shows I am enslaved by, and he also was able to witness my laziness firsthand (as if he needed a reminder). He got to spend more time with Nicki than ever and realized again how much of an urban environment the Metroplex is. He left for Connecticut today with a planned stop at his brother-in-law's home near Paris, Texas. I will miss him. No question he was the proper choice for Best Man at my wedding over 25 years ago.

Roy Halladay talk
There has been much talk around Dallas about the Rangers acquiring pitcher Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays to bolster their chances of making the playoffs. The Blue Jay's asking price for Halladay is steep. They need top quality prospects that are near certainties to make the jump to the major league level this season or next in order to build the team to compete in baseball's toughest division. The Phillies had been the most likely new team for Halladay but the management of that team decided against selling the future for the season and a half that Halladay is under contract for.
The likelihood of the Texas Rangers being able to resign Halladay after his current contract expires is not good. Big time pitchers command very high dollars in the baseball world and the Rangers ownership group is not fiscally prepared to shell out that level of pay to one arm again. So one has to look at what it is a trade would bring to the team.
While the action of going out and getting an ace would let fans and veteran players like Michael Young know the seriousness about winning the team has, how much impact would it actually be likely to have?
The Rangers at this point have 63 games remaining in the regular season. A starting pitcher will likely make no more than 9 starts. Assuming Halladay arrives ready to pitch effectively (he has lost 2 of his last 3 starts), one might expect him to go 7-2 in that period at best. Rangers' starters have done a very fine job all season long and it could be argued that they would likely amass a record of about 6-3 or 5-2 with a couple of no decisions in the same games Halladay might start.
So that leaves us with the conclusion that the Rangers would be giving up 3 or 4 prospects for one or two more wins in the regular season. That is a price I feel is too steep.
If the goal of obtaining Halladay is for a run in the post season, it makes more sense to trade for him. But Halladay hasn't pitched in the post season and baseball history is littered with superstars with gaudy regular season numbers that performed poorly in the post season (think ARod for recent flops).
The Rangers have concentrated on developing a productive farm system the past few years. Let's not deviate from that to reach for what could easily turn into fool's gold in the end. I will root hard for this team to make the playoffs. But I wasn't expecting it to happen this year anyway, so I will be keeping an eye on the future, too.