Roy “Doc” Halladay has been one of the best pitchers in the major leagues last decade. He’s been a terror to both AL and NL teams during his 16 year career mostly spent with the Blue Jays. Now as the Phillies ace has had injury problems the last two years. At the age of 36 the great right hander may be meeting father time face to face.
Halladay has been dealing with right shoulder problems the last two years which isn’t a great situation to have for a star pitcher who wants to go out on his own terms. The last two years he has been merely a shell of the dominate pitcher we are accustomed to seeing on a 5 day basis. His record the last two years is 13-12 with a 5.24 era, this year has been very rough during his 7 starts he only has a 2-4 record with an 8 plus era. These are struggles that the 2x Cy Young winner hasn’t seen in years.
Is one of the best pitchers of our time done? I sure hope not but one thing is for sure is Doc comes back from this latest surgery after a 3 month or more lay off he won’t be the same pitcher. Doc is in the last year of deal with the Phillies and with his recent run with the knife he may not command as much money as originally expected. He’s due for 20 million this year so he shouldn’t be hurting for cash but I hope one of my favorite pitchers gets to go out on his own terms and isn’t forced out by a bum shoulder.
For those that appreciate good pitching make sure you pay your respects to the work that Doc has done during his career. We may not see him at his best anymore but we know the foundation he has laid during his career.
