Take Rosenthal’s word with a grain of salt

After chastising Jerod Morris via split screen on ESPN a few months back about the “power of the written word”, apparently Ken Rosenthal has forgotten all about those morals that he so passionately stands by. Just take a look at the headline from a piece he posted this morning:

Jays’ Halladay all but gone in Toronto

I guess a few innocent comments made by J.P. Ricciardi has Rosenthal convinced that the Blue Jays are shopping Roy Halladay and that his days in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform are numbered. Ken, where did you get that inclination that Halladay is a goner – was it this prototypical comment by J.P. Ricciardi?

“We have to see what’s out there. I’m not saying we’re going to shop him. But if something makes sense, we at least have to listen. We’re more toward listening than we’ve ever been.”

Ken, you should know better than anybody that comments like this from a General Manager should be taken with a grain of salt. For years, we’ve heard the same old song and dance from Ricciardi like “nobody on this team is untouchable” and “we’ll do anything to better this team”. So why all of a sudden does one of these statements mean that Roy Halladay is almost certainly going to be traded?

Rosenthal says “Once this process starts, it’s almost impossible to stop”. Actually, remember how Jake Peavy was shopped around to about five or six different teams this season? Last time I checked, Peavy is still playing so the San Diego Padres.

This Roy Halladay trade talk doesn’t faze me because his name has been mentioned in this context before, but it’s Ken Rosenthal and the way that he presented this news that angers me. Maybe I’m just in denial that the Blue Jays are considering trading away the cornerstone of their franchise, but I highly doubt it’s as likely as Ken Rosenthal is making it out to be.

He was so passionate and so angry at a blogger for writing a post on how Raul Ibanez is NOT on steroids, yet Rosenthal turns around and does the very same thing writing an article with unsubstantiated evidence saying Halladay won’t be a Blue Jay for much longer.

What ever happened to the power of the written word, Ken?

Similar thoughts on this topic over at Drunk Jays Fans.