After swinging and missing in their efforts to acquire big-time pitcher Roy Halladay this summer, the Sox are reportedly taking another crack at landing to Toronto ace –– hoping that the cost has come down since late July.

The Sox pursued Halladay hard this summer, ultimately balking at the asking price, a package built around both starter Clay Buchholz and low-minors standout pitcher/shortstop Casey Kelly.

Since the summer, Toronto has fired general manager J.P. Ricciardi and replaced him with Alex Anthopoulos. Halladay is reportedly back on the market, with the Red Sox in hot pursuit, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

The Daily News said the Sox are trying to wrap up a deal for Halladay before the Dec. 7 start of the winter meetings.

The Sox are likely hoping that Halladay’s price has come since midseason, when the Blue Jays wanted Buchholz and Kelly in addition to several other pieces. Since then, Buchholz has proved that he can be a viable starting pitcher in a pennant race, and Kelly has performed well playing shortstop in the Arizona Fall League –– though he projects as a better pitcher.

Now, with the prospect of fall pennant races no longer inflating Halladay’s value, and only a year left on his contract, the Sox will likely try to get away without including Kelly in the deal, replacing him with another quality arm like Stolmy Pimentel or Felix Doubront, while adding several other major-league or high-minors parts (among them Casey Kotchman, Mark Wagner or Michael Bowden perhaps?).

Keeping Kelly may be difficult; the Blue Jays have no shortage of suitors for Halladay, with the Dodgers, Angels, and Yankees also reportedly inquiring about Halladay in recent weeks, and the Dodgers ultimately deciding that the price is too steep.

The Yankees are reportedly not heavily involved in the bidding yet, but the danger of them prying away another coveted Red Sox prize after landing Mark Teixeira last winter looms large in the minds of the Boston fan base, if not the front office. Toronto surely knows this, and it may be another factor encouraging them to stick to their demands.

Halladay’s three-year, $40-million deal expires after this season, and all indications are that the pitcher wants to go to a team that is ready to win now. He is due to be paid $15.75 million in 2010, has a full no-trade clause, and any team that traded for him would likely need to sign Halladay to a lucrative contract extension for him to agree to the trade.

Toronto is reportedly open to allowing the pitcher to negotiate terms with prospective suitors before a trade goes through.

While Halladay obviously improves any club, the deficiencies that doomed the Red Sox in 2009 seemed to come in the batter’s box, not the mound. When the Sox were swept by the Los Angeles Angels in the first round of the playoffs, it seemed that the offseason focus might be on acquiring top bats, not top arms.

Still, cliches abound regarding the value of stockpiling starting pitching, and Sox manager Terry Francona said last week that every offseason, he asks general manager Theo Epstein to get him another pitcher. As one of the best, if not the best, in baseball this decade, Halladay would certainly fit the bill.

Halladay is 32 and will turn 33 early in the 2010 season. If possible, the 6-foot, 6-inch righty may even be improving with age.

In 2009, the Toronto workhorse threw 239 innings of 2.79 ERA baseball, compiling a 17-10 record while striking out 208 batters, the highest total he’s ever posted. His strikeout-to-walk and strikeout/walk per-nine inning ratios were among the best of his 12-year career. His 1.3 walks per nine innings was the best in the American League, his strikeout-to-walk the best in the majors. He stranded 79 percent of all runners who reached base, the best full-season total of his career.

His quiet, consistent greatness has led to a Cy Young award in 2003, and then since 2006 finishes of third, fifth, second and fifth again this year. He is a six-time All-Star who has led the league in complete games five times, and notched nine more this year.

Halladay relies on a hard, sinking fastball, a cutter and a curve, and occasionally mixes in a changeup.

A top three of Halladay, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester would qualify as the best the league had to offer, hands-down –– with a possibility for long-term dominance if Boston signs him to multi-year extension. Lester is under contract until 2013, with a club option for 2014.

Beckett is in the last year of his deal, and a Halladay acquisition would impact him, as well. If the Sox choose, they could resign Beckett to create a formidable staff for years to come. If Beckett’s demands are too great, his departure might hurt less with Halladay also capable of anchoring the rotation.

dbarbari@projo.com