According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the Angels are interested in Blue Jays’ ace Roy Halladay, but only if he’s interested in agreeing to a long-term deal with them.

The Yankees, Red Sox and perhaps Phillies are among other teams interested in what’s expected to be a select group in the bidding for the Blue Jays superstar.

Executives with multiple teams interested say they believe Halladay’s value is enhanced if he’s willing to sign on long term, and that Toronto’s take will be diminished greatly if Halladay prefers to wait to sign until he becomes a free agent after the year. But the Angles are at least one team that will walk away from talks without a long-term deal in hand.

Halladay has a full no-trade clause and is known to want to go to a perennial winner. He is also believed to strongly prefer a team that trains in Florida, as his winter home is just outside Tampa. Halladay rejected the Rangers last year but could be slightly more open to the Angels. Halladay’s agent, Greg Landry, has said they will consider opportunities on a “case-by-cases basis.”

According to Heyman, Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos has said that he’s willing to consider trading Halladay within the division, which makes little sense. For a new GM to want to make a division opponent better sounds ridiculous, but if he receives a package that is too good to be true then he might have little choice.

If Anthopoulos is willing to deal within the division, the Yankees make sense. They obviously have the money to make Halladay happy long-term and the Bombers train in Tampa. But whether or not they have the package to entice Toronto is a whole other story.

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