$$$$$ - We got it, let's use it.

Jerry Crasnick wrote a fantastic article on ESPN.com yesterday, reporting on how GMs and other baseball bigwigs feel about a variety of topics - from Matt Holliday to Instant Replay.

One question caught my eye, and it asked which player was more difficult to trade: Milton Bradley or Vernon Wells? All of the 20 anonymous GMs answered Wells.

As Crasnick points out, it's got nothing to do with Wells being a bad guy. In fact, most would argue that Milton Bradley is the biggest dick playing baseball today. He can't get along with anyone on any team. No, if it was a personality contest, Wells would win by a landslide.

The GMs pick Vernon Wells because of his contract. He'll make $12.5 million in 2010, followed by $23 million in 2011 and $21 million in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Wells signed this ludicrous contract after a career year in 2006, and then-GM J.P. Riccardi felt it would be wise to lock him up long-term. He locked him up, all right.

Wells will be nearly impossible to move, because of his less than stellar performance (.260, 15 HRs, 66 RBIs in 2009) and the money he's owed. Riccardi's poor decision to sign Wells might be a way for The Mets to get Roy Halladay.

I gushed about him in "Fixing the Mets" Step Three. You might say I have a man-crush on him. Well so be it. I do. I have a man-crush on Doc Halladay. The guy's a machine. He's a perennial Cy Young candidate. And he throws CGs every other start! Oh and did I mention that he'll be a free agent after 2010?

That's right, Halladay will be a free agent after 2010, and Toronto won't be able to afford his contract demands. He's earned a payday from somebody, and it's not likely to be The Blue Jays. He's got Yankees written all over him, but Toronto isn't going to want to have to face him 3 or 4 times a year. I expect Toronto to trade Halladay either this winter or at the deadline this year, so they can maximize his value with a slew of prospects. The problem with that theory is that I don't believe the Mets have the prospects to land him.

This is why we need to make it about more than just prospects... We need to make it about giving Toronto a bail out from the bad debt they have in Vernon Wells. I propose a modest package of minor league talent and perhaps a Mike Pelfrey or John Maine in exchange for Halladay and Wells... and we have to pay a good portion of Wells' contract.

The rotation would be fortified with the best 1-2 punch in baseball, and Wells is an above-average defender and would be a serviceable LF. Who knows... perhaps a change of scenery might be all he needs to get back to the form he showed in 2006.

If we can afford to make this offer, we'd definitely be a team built to win now. Like right now. Like 2010. And 2011. And maybe even 2012.

The conclusion of "Fixing the Mets" will be up later today...