NEW YORK - J.P. Ricciardi says Roy Halladay wants out of Toronto.
In the most unambiguous statement yet on the ace right-hander's feelings, the former Blue Jays general manager told SIRIUS XM Radio's MLB Home Plate channel that Halladay was ready to move on in the summer, and still is now.
"We wanted to trade Roy and Roy wanted to be traded (in the summer), as he does now. I think there's no secret that he would like to be traded," Ricciardi said Wednesday according to a transcript provided by the satellite radio service.
"I don't know how committed, at the end, our ownership group was to doing it. I will be honest with you, we did not get an offer that really made us sit there and say 'Wow, this is worth trading Roy Halladay for."'
New Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, who replaced Ricciardi on the final weekend of the '09 season, declined to comment.
In the summer Ricciardi said he explored trading Halladay after the right-hander told the team he wouldn't sign an extension before his contract expires after the 2010 season, and that he would test free agency.
President and CEO Paul Beeston repeated that again last month.
But Ricciardi is the first person to explicitly say that Halladay wants to be traded. The pitcher has intimated that by saying his top priority is playing for a winner, something the Blue Jays are unlikely to be any time soon.
Earlier this week, one of his agents told ESPN.com that Halladay, who has a no-trade clause, must be dealt by the spring or not at all.
The comments are also believed to be Ricciardi's first in public about the Blue Jays since his dismissal. He said the team's ownership must decide whether or not it wants to deal Halladay.
"This is a call that comes (from) beyond the general manager," he said. "A lot of these decisions are out of the general manager's hands as far as what ownership perceives as fan reaction and what the perception of the club (is) and the direction that they are going. I think any time you have a player of this magnitude, that's really an ownership call.
"I think that is what Alex is dealing with. I personally think, move the player and move on because ultimately the player is going to leave."
