What if "The Trade" happens?

Rather than talk about the Roy Halladay trade itself—that's been done to death—I'd like to give my thoughts on what might happen to the Jays assuming that the trade does happen.

Riccardi has set the "Jays Line" for July 28; if a trade doesn't happen by then, no trade will happen. Although, now JP is saying this is more of a soft line than a hard line. It's clear to me that JP wants to give himself a few days to get things done if Halladay leaves—I really think he'll be selling the farm. I'd love to see Wells go, but let's be honest here: no one is going to take that botched abortion. I still have have faith in Rios, his numbers are well below where they should be this year, but I'm not ready to call it quits on him just yet; Rios plays with heart, VDub doesn't. I just wish Rios wouldn't yell at little kids trying to get his autograph.

What scares me is that Rolen might also go if Halladay is traded. Rolen is making $11M this year, and he's set to make the same next year. Rolen is also a machine built in the future and sent back in time to completely dominate the game on the hot corner. Unfortunately, he just doesn't make sense on a post-Halladay. There are a few teams interested in Rolen (Red Sox, Dodgers, read somewhere the Phillies might be interested) but maybe few will be willing to pay his salary, and apparently Anthopoulos is saying that the Jays plan on keeping him through 2010.

Marco Scutaro is another big question. He's only making $1.1M this season, and set to be a free agent at the end of the year; you can expect he'll be getting a big raise. With the numbers he's been posting this year, it's looking more and more likely that Scutes could be classified as Type-A, and Riccardi damn well knows that; he knows he'll probably get a first round and sandwich pick if they don't resign him at the end of the season. However, in the days between the "Jays Line" and the deadline, if he's offered better compensation for Scutaro, he's likely to go.

Scutaro has been quite a pleasant surprise this year. He's posted great numbers, both offensively and defensively: Defensively, for all SS, Marco is tied for third in UZR/150, and is leading the position with a 0.993 fielding percentage; offensively, among SS, Marco sits in 7th with an of .378 OBP, 4th with wOBA of 0.357, 4th with a wRC of 66, and his BB/K of 1.36 puts him well ahead of second place Derek Jeter 0.88.