September inducted into Phillies Wall of Fame

Ninth month of the year, September, was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame on Thursday, becoming the first month to accomplish the feat.

The month will join such Phillies greats as Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Harry Kalas on the Wall of Fame, but is the first inductee to be enshrined as an active member of the team.

“Plain and simple, the Phillies aren’t the Phillies without you, September,” Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said during the ceremony. “It’s not just that you make us better players, but it’s also that you make everyone else in the league play like butt cheeks. We pretty much owe our careers to you, so from the whole team, we just wanna say ‘thanks, September.’ Don’t ever change.”

Following the ceremony, the Phillies announced the finalists for next year’s induction into the Wall of Fame which include Desi Relaford, Toby Borland, Kevin Sefcik and October.

More Halladay madness at the Winter Meetings

I think everyone is pretty numb to the prospect of the Phillies somehow trading for Roy Halladay by now — especially since we get to trot Clifton Phifer Christ out there every fifth day — but SI’s Jon Heyman is saying the team is jumping into the mix again.

These things rarely actually turn out the way we all think they will, but it’s looking like the Angels are in the best position to land Halladay with the Phils just sticking around to see how far the price may drop before they consider getting heavily involved.

Right now, the Angels are reportedly offering Joe Saunders, Erick Aybar and minor league OF Peter Bourjos for Halladay, which is a less than the summer asking price of Kyle Drabek, J.A. Happ and either Domonic Brown or Michael Taylor, but still pretty steep. I’d say a similar deal with the Phillies would involve Happ, Taylor and either Shane Victorino or a lower-level prospect, which is doable but still a bit much.

Not only is there the issue of the trade, but with Lee and Halladay’s contracts expiring after 2010, the Phils would essentially have to choose between one or the other, so this is looking like a one-year fling even if it gets done. Stranger things have happened, though. I think with the right combination of a World Series win next season and if Dave Montgomery knocks off a couple banks, we could work something out and keep both pitchers for the next 10 years and completely forget what it was ever like to watch losing baseball in this town.