...you have not had the chance to watch much Halladay in your life. You have to take into account that he pitches in the AL East, which has been a slaughterhouse for pitchers, during his tour with the Jays. He’s just as good as Peavy and Webb, and better than Haren IMO. Hallday’s strikeouts have been down every since he started getting injured, but he’s been able to adapt to still find success.

I know it’s a long time ago, but his performance during his Cy Young season was absolutely dominate. Even more so when you consider that the 26 HRs he gave up that season were so out of character for him. Very unlucky in that regard, when he has never given up over 19 in any other year.

He’s easily one of my favorite pitchers in the league.

but i’ll back you up on Santana….. I think there’s even MORE backlash from Braves fans for the dislike of Santana. I mean, sure, you’re an idiot if you dont acknowledge that he’s got talent. But there are three reasons (one aforementioned) that I think its just harder for us Bravos peeps to swallow:

1. He’s a Met. End of story.

2. As Braves fans, we are automatically going to scoff at any pitcher, and any rotation (except for the A’s big 3 a handful of years ago and possibly the Padres’), and say to ourselves “Sure, _ pitched well. But, was his name Maddux, Smoltz, or Glavine?” I mean, I think with the combo of that trio we had for years, and the luxury of having Smoltize be a LIGHTS OUT CLOSER (please let it happen again!!!), any pitcher is going to be held in a lower esteem. We are just flat out spoiled. Santana, Shmantana, or Beckett, we’re going to have some dislike for them.

3. This is a whim, a thought, a fleeting idea that maybe i’ll get flak for, but here goes. Andruw Jones. What does a talent-declining, non-producing one time CF great have to do with Santana? I’ll tell you. Torii Hunter. Another seemingly unconnected name? Well, for many years, we had the entire league bragging about and promoting Torii Hunter, while the entire NL stopped hitting to AJ and stopped running on him so his stats decreased. Granted, AJ is a heavy loser with zero work ethic nowadays, but during those times, Torii would get like the top 1 play on sportscenter doign things that AJ doesnt need to b/c of his wits and his jump to the ball. I think that led to a dislike of the Twins (since Kirby Puckett might not be enough), which would definitely help with the Santana hatred.

whew. If i could only write my paperwork for work with such fervor and confidence.

...it’s hard to find numbers that put Santana down. The guy had a stretch between 2004 to 2006 that was one of the greatest of all time (if you really want to see an amazing stretch check out Pedro’s between 1997 to 2003…had a WHIP of over 1.00 only twice and had the lowest WHIP of all time in 2000: 0.74!). He pitched over 228 innings in all three seasons, with an ERA under 2.90 in each one, a WHIP of 1.00 or lower in each one, over 235 strikeouts in each season, and all the while composing a K/BB of 4.91, 5.29, and 5.21. He won the Cy Young in 2004 and 2006, and should have won it in 2005 also…he had better numbers than Bartolo Colon but the voters always get a boner for the pitcher with the most wins (just like Webb over Smoltz). Simply put…the guy has been the best pitcher in the game for a long time.

Chipper is…well, Chipper is Chipper. The best superstar in the game that everyone has forgotten about. His defense ranges from average to above average, with a very strong arm. He has shown a decrease in range the past few years, but it isn’t like he’s going to kill you. I still feel like he plays the bare-handed slow roller better than anyone in the majors. But we all know that he really shines in the batters box. The guy has landed on the MVP ballot 11 times (including his rookie year) in his career because he’s played the game at such a high level for a very long time. Between 1998 and 2003 he had an OPS of above .900 every season, including a 1.074 during his MVP season. He had 8 straight years of 20+ HRs and 100+ RBI. And this was all in his prime! Now he is playing better than ever! In 2005 and 2006 he did not have enough PAs to qualify for the title, but he could have been 9th in OPS in 2005 with .968 and 8th in OPS in 2006 with 1.005. Last year he did qualify and was 4th in OPS behind only A-Rod, Big Papi, and Carlos Pena with his 1.029 OPS. This year he’s 2nd so far behind Utley with a 1.145 OPS.

Much like the Smoltz/Webb deal, it’d be impossible for me to pull the trigger on this deal. Chipper is my favorite player of all time, and the fact that I’ve been able to enjoy watching his entire career is certainly special too me. I’m getting choked up just thinking of it.

If this trade is being proposed when both men are 28 years old, I think you have to go with Chipper. But it’s not. And as far as an objective view with the focus solely on winning baseball games now and in the future, I think whoever is getting Santana is going to win the trade.

*Just read that the gigantic douche-bag Jayson Stark voted Chipper as the best player in April. Duh.

Umm…okay?

Who do you think is a better hitter than Chipper? I’m just curious.

+1

/yawn

Because when you choke again, we will all be laughing at how much you spent on a team that can’t even make the playoffs.

...you are still commenting on players that are D-backs. No offense, just find it amusing.