We even know, from major-league sources, that the Jays are open-minded enough to consider paying part of Halladay's $15.75 million salary next season to get better players in return and facilitate a deal.

The Phillies, stretched to their budgetary limit, might need the help.

They obviously would stand a better chance of winning the World Series if they had both Lee and Halladay, even if Lee was all but certain to depart after next season. But trading right-hander Joe Blanton, who stands to make about $7 million in salary arbitration, might not provide enough of a benefit in dollars and players.

Trading Lee, on the other hand, would help the Phillies save an additional $2 million or so in salary. Trading Lee also would bring the Phillies better prospects, enabling them to send fewer of their own top young players to the Jays.

The Phillies would not get as strong a package for Lee as they would give for Halladay. Nor would they get as strong a package as they gave the Indians last July; Lee had greater value then because of the possibility that he could influence two pennant races instead of one.

True, other teams might balk at acquiring Lee if they sensed that the Phillies were concerned about signing him long-term. But c'mon, we're talking about Cliff Lee. The free-agent and trade markets are so thin in starting pitching, the idea of getting Lee at a below-market salary for one season surely would cause some club to jump — and maybe even jump high.

The Dodgers would make sense; they long have coveted Lee. The Angels would make sense; they're in the mix for Halladay. The Yankees and Red Sox forever loom as possibilities, and even a mid-revenue team such as the Brewers could afford Lee.

I've got an even better possibility, though — and again, I'm just going on a hunch.

The Mariners.

We know that the M's are pursuing virtually every available starting pitcher. We also know that they would need to make a massive financial investment to sign right-hander John Lackey, the best pitcher on the market, and then extend righty Felix Hernandez, one of the best pitchers on the planet.

Acquiring and signing Halladay would create the same problem, assuming they could even pull off such a deal; the M's might not be willing to part with the necessary talent, and Halladay might not approve a trade to Seattle. One year of Lee, however, would make sense — a lot more sense than say, five years of Lackey, two years of Doug Davis or one year of Ben Sheets.

Best of all, the Mariners could make it work.

Two of the Mariners' top prospects, outfielder Michael Saunders and right-hander Phillipe Aumont, are Canadian. How appropriate: Anthopoulos is Canadian, team president Paul Beeston is Canadian and the organization is re-emphasizing all things Canadian. A Dominican infielder, Carlos Triunfel, also would figure to be on the Jays' wish list, along with an American catcher, Adam Moore.

The Jays would not land all of those players; they might get only two, with the Phillies providing the others. The Phils would be reluctant to put lefty J.A. Happ or minor-league right-hander Kyle Drabek in the same trade as Lee, but they could start their end of the deal with one of two minor-league outfielders, Domonic Brown or Michael Taylor, and go from there.

You want a blockbuster? A trade involving Lee and Halladay would make the three-team Curtis Granderson trade look like a yawner.

I'm not saying it will happen.

But such a deal would make perfect sense.