Three years ago Roy Halladay was arguably the best pitcher in the National League, going 19-6 with a 2.36 ERA while finishing runner-up in the Cy Young voting to Clayton Kershaw after winning the award the previous season.
And now, as Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly tweeted, Halladay is retiring at age 36 after struggling through back and shoulder problems all year on the way to a 6.82 ERA in 13 starts for the Phillies. In addition to the ugly ERA he also averaged just 88 miles per hour with his fastball and it was sad to watch Halladay try to gut his way through starts.
Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that Halladay will sign a one-day contract with Toronto and retire as a Blue Jay. He was the Blue Jays’ first-round pick in 1995 and played in Toronto from 1998-2009 before being traded to Philadelphia.
Halladay ends his brilliant career with 203 wins, eight All-Star games, two Cy Young awards, a total of seven top-five Cy Young finishes, and a postseason no-hitter. The ground ball-getting, strike-throwing machine leads all active pitchers in Wins Above Replacement, winning percentage, and complete games.
MORE: Next stop for Halladay? Cooperstown
It’s gotten incredibly tough to predict the actual Hall of Fame voting at this point, but certainly from my point of view Halladay should be a no-brainer. Helluva career and a shame injuries robbed everyone of seeing a better final act, because Halladay was so much fun to watch.