Cubs, Halladay would be a tough fit — 5:43 p.m.

The Cubs would love to trade for Blue Jays right-hander Roy Halladay, but they would need to clear salary to pull off such a move, major-league sources say.

Jim Hendry has a tough task ahead him. (Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images)

Thus, a deal is unlikely.

The Cubs’ offseason will consist of trading outfielder Milton Bradley, finding a new center fielder and perhaps supplementing the bullpen. The team also could end up with Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, perhaps in a three-way deal involving Bradley.

Halladay?

He will earn $15.75 million next season in the final year of his contract. The Cubs already have $42.375 million committed to three starting pitchers — Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly.

Left fielder Alfonso Soriano is too expensive to be moved. Ditto for outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez probably is too valuable for the Cubs to trade.

That leaves first baseman Derrek Lee, who will earn $13 million next season in the final year of his contract and possesses a full no-trade clause.

The Blue Jays would not want Lee’s money. The Braves are among the teams looking for right-handed power, but they would need to off-load a salary — probably right-hander Derek Lowe’s — somewhere else.

It’s all rather complicated and all speculation at this point.

Still, as one friend of Cubs GM Jim Hendry says, “Jim has pulled rabbits out of hats before!”

Season in seven words: “Start fast, end slow, go home. Repeat.” …

Hero: Roy Halladay remains a rock, but Adam Lind was one of the big-boy league’s six or seven best hitters and Aaron Hill wasn’t too far behind …

Loserhead: Vernon Wells lapped Barry Zito as the game’s worst contract. Even though he took responsibility for his non-performance — “nobody has stunk worse than I have,” etc. — that ain’t enough to prompt Jays fans to give him a mulligan for the past two seasons …

Key need: A serious bounty in the inevitable Halladay deal. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to quell the anti-Cito sentiment before it explodes into full-fledged mutiny, either …

Prognosis: Screwed by geography.

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Seriously, what the hell?  They went from “meh” last year to one of the best rotations in baseball seemingly overnight.  I mean, of course you have Halladay who’s consistently been one of the best pitchers in the game, and Burnett who when he’s on his A game is a legit ace, but Dustin McGowan?  Shaun Marcum?  Jesse Litsch?  I want to know what they’ve been eating and/or drinking…that Canadian water must add some miles per hour to their fastballs.

All joking aside, these guys are good, and they’re all young, but who knew they’d all put it together at the same time.  McGowan showed flashes last year with his near no-hitter, as did Marcum.  Litsch had a few decent starts but tailed off.  Not this year, though.  They’ve helped solidify the Blue Jays’ pitching staff and the team as a whole, and they’re still hanging around in the AL East when a lot of people picked them to have a sub-.500 record.  Some even picked them to finish 4th behind the Rays.  Those three young guys have helped them out tremendously, though.  Through May 7, their stats stand at:

McGowan: 7 starts, 42.2 IP, 2-2, 2.95 ERA, 34 K, 17 BB

Marcum: 7 starts, 48.2 IP, 4-2, 2.59 ERA, 44 K, 16 BB

Litsch: 6 starts, 33.1 IP, 4-1, 4.32 ERA, 23 K, 7 BB

All of them have great control, can strike guys out when they need to, and McGowan and Marcum both have less hits than innings pitched.  Litsch has 38 hits to 33.1 innings pitched, which isn’t terrible at all, but I’m sure they’d like for him to change that statistic.

If the Jays want to have any shot of contending, they need those guys to keep performing.   I think that all three will have a cold streak, all young pitchers seem to, which will take them out of any playoff hunt that they were previously in.