The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Toronto's Roy Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award Tuesday, easily beating Chicago's Esteban Loaiza.

Halladay, who won a major league-high 22 games, received 26 first-place votes and two seconds for 136 points from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Loaiza, who went to spring training with a minor-league contract, had 63 points.

Halladay, a 26-year-old right-hander, finished 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA this year, winning 15 consecutive decisions from May 1 to July 27 and tying for the AL lead with nine complete games. He had never won more than eight games in a season before he went 19-7 in 2002.

Halladay's wins came in his last 30 starts; he was 0-2 in his first six.

"It was an unbelievable ride for me," Halladay said.

GM MEETINGS: Arizona ace Curt Schilling and Milwaukee slugger Richie Sexson were among the players being mentioned as trade talks heated up at the general managers' meeting at Phoenix.

The Diamondbacks seemed willing to explore sending Schilling to the New York Yankees, and several teams were interested in Sexson.

Neither Yankees general manager Brian Cashman nor Diamondbacks GM Joe Garagiola Jr. would talk about a possible trade.

Schilling, who represents himself, has said he didn't want to pitch in the American League. But Diamondbacks managing general partner Jerry Colangelo told KTVK-TV he had spoken with Schilling and the right-hander was willing to consider waiving his no-trade clause under the right circumstances.

"If there's a deal that makes sense for him and for us, I think he has an open mind now, and I appreciate that," Colangelo said.

Yankees infielders Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano could be trade possibilities.

Schilling will earn $12 million next season on the final year of his contract, half of it deferred.

Colangelo confirmed that the Diamondbacks are talking with the Brewers about Sexson, who will earn $8.6 million next season.

The Brewers are under orders from their board of directors to slice payroll to the $30 million range, and that will make it difficult to afford to keep Sexson and Geoff Jenkins, who will make $8.25 million this season.

ASTROS: Right-hander Dan Miceli became the first of the 210 free agents to sign, agreeing to a $600,000, one-year contract with Houston. The Astros acquired the reliever from the Yankees on July 29, and he went 1-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 30 innings with Houston.