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this guy,” Green said at the time.
    All the usual contenders—the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Angels—called Ricciardi about Halladay.
    â€œI tried to get in it,”Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “But Toronto told us to trade him in the division, it would have been twice the sticker price.”
    In many ways, Ricciardi’s talks with clubs other than the Phillies were hollow because Halladay had a no-trade clause and Philadelphia was the place he—and his family—wanted to go. Halladay admired the team’s roster and liked that it didn’t seem filled with egos. He believed the Phils knew how to win and could keep doing it.
    â€œThere was just something about the Phillies for all of us,” Halladay said.
    Even the pitcher’s oldest son, Braden, wanted his dad to be a Phillie.
    â€œHe didn’t like New York or Boston because we always got beat up by them,” Halladay said with a laugh in the summer of 2011. “So I think that turned him off a little.”
    Focusing on the Phillies as the July 31, 2009 trade deadline approached, Ricciardi sent his most trusted aides to watch the Phils’ top minor-league prospects.
    Finally, as Halladay prepared for what many thought would be his final start as a Blue Jay in Toronto on July 24, Ricciardi prepared his wish list. He wanted outfield prospects Domonic Brown and Anthony Gose, pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, and left-hander J. A. Happ.
    Amaro almost gagged on that price tag.
    â€œI couldn’t give up my top position prospect [Brown] and my top pitching prospect [Drabek],” he said later.
    Halladay made that start on July 24 in Toronto. “We love you, Roy,” shouted one fan, sensing that Halladay would soon be dealt. Phillies scout Charley Kerfeld popped in for the game just to make sure Halladay got on and off the mound healthy. The talks went on with the Phillies trying to build
a deal around a package that included catcher Lou Marson, infielder Jason Donald, pitcher Jason Knapp, and Happ. In some variations of the deal, the Phils may have been willing to include Drabek, but the Jays wanted more. Ricciardi’s job was on the line and he needed to make a big score for Halladay.
    â€œTo quote Sonny Corleone, ‘I’ve got to come out of this with more than just my you-know-what in my hand,’ ” Ricciardi said the day after Halladay’s July 24 start in Toronto.
    Ricciardi used his best sales pitch on Amaro.
    â€œRuben,” Ricciardi told Amaro over the phone. “You make this deal and you’ll be like Caesar riding through the streets of Philly after he just conquered the Gauls.”
    In another conversation, Ricciardi mentioned a famous Clearwater eatery in his appeal for the Phillies’ top prospects.
    â€œRuben, we’re talking about prospects here,” he said. “In three years, they’ll be serving me my breakfast at Lenny’s.”
    Even as he pursued his obsession, Amaro kept other options open. He needed starting pitching and he couldn’t limit his focus to one guy. In Cleveland, the Indians had put a “for sale” sign on Cliff Lee, and though he didn’t wear the “best pitcher in baseball” label, he had won a Cy Young Award and Phillies officials liked him. The Phillies’ front office juggled two pursuits—Halladay and Lee—as the deadline approached. On the morning of July 29, Halladay rose in his Seattle hotel room, thinking that this indeed might be the day he made his last start for the Jays. Talks between the Phillies and Jays had reached a point where the deal was going to get done or it wasn’t.
    â€œWe’re going to get one of them,” a Phillies official said that morning, referring to Halladay or Lee.
    A short while later, reporters who had followed the Jays to Seattle in anticipation of a Halladay trade, read Internet reports that Cliff Lee was hugging Cleveland teammates in the