I think the reason I wanted Roy Halladay on the Yankees so much is because I liked what he brought to the table outside of pitching. It was his desire to win, his concern for his teammates, and his ability to mentor.
I've always thought that players who go into free agency are really saying "where's my money?" That never sits well with me. I hated it when Mariano and Posada went into free agency but they never really had any desire to play for another team. With Posada it was about money but for Mariano it was about years which tells me he just wants to play. To me testing free agency really questions how much they actually want to win and how much they would rather get paid to win. That is why I liked Roy Halladay's approach to all this. He was never about the money. He was tired of pitching for a team that's best accomplishment during his tenure was beating out the Red Sox for 2nd in the AL East a few years ago. His desire to win was never, in my mind questionable. He wanted to compete for and win a World Series.
Not many people have payed attention to why he set a deadline for the Blue Jays to trade him but I did. He didn't want his trade talks to be a distraction to the team as it was a year ago. Halladay even went as far as to say he would exercise his no-trade clause if he weren't traded before spring training. Clearly he is a great teammate and would have been great for the Yankees.
Lastly and probably the main reason I am upset about not landing Halladay was his ability to mentor, in particular his ability to mentor AJ Burnett. I love Burnett, I've said it before, I'll say it again, and it has been well documented how Roy Halladay helped AJ Burnett become a more complete and stable pitcher. If Roy Halladay could have influenced Burnett in a positive way and actually improve on the way he pitched last year the Yankees would have been unstoppable. Also there is this:
Look at that and tell me it doesn't look like those two are having fun out there.
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