Today the Philadelphia Phillies signed the hard former CY Young Award winner right hander Roy "Doc" Halladay. But this deal wasn't gonna come cheap and it wasn't like any other signing. The Phillies would have to give up their ace Cliff Lee and three Phillies prospects to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Seattle Mariners and some how the Oakland A's got on in this deal as well. This was probably one of the biggest trades ever in the 130 years in this game and was defiantly a blockbuster deal in hand. The Phillies would send Cliff Lee to the Mariners for three prospects. In return the Phillies got pitching prospects Phillippe Anmont, J.C. Ramirez and outfielder prospect Tyson Gillies. Now to get Halladay the Phillies would have to give up outfield prospect Michael Taylor who got traded to the Oakland A's for prospect Brett Wallace, catcher prospect Travis d'Arnaud, and the number one pitching prospect for the Phillies Kyle Drabek to Toronto. In return the Phillies would get the ace they have wanted since last July Roy Halladay and $6 million dollars from Toronto.
The Phillies got Halladay on a three year deal till 2011 through 2013 for $20 million a year, plus a $20 million vesting option for 2014. But some people in this city did not agree with this move at all. A lot of people wanna know why the Phillies couldn't have kept Lee and added Halladay on the team? Well here it is, the Phillies have to stick to their $140 million dollar budget that was already getting tight at the moment and could afford to keep both Lee and Halladay on the same team. Another reason is that, Cliff Lee was going to walk after the 2010 season to test the free agency market, plus Lee wanted a C.C. Sabathia deal of $160 million dollars for 3 years that was never going to happen. Another reason is that, the Phillies didn't know if Lee was going to do a contract extension if he was going to walk, where in Halladay case he was willing to do that and the Phillies raped him up for three long years. But now people are saying why couldn't we keep Lee and Hallaway on the same team for one year and see what happens? Well the reason for that is prospects, is whole deal was about prospects in witch the Phillies have a lot of as you know in the past. Since they were giving away 3 of their best prospects they needed to fill in those lost prospects. Also Cliff Lee was already going to make 9 million dollars this year, so they took Halladay and got rid of Lee. But here's something I didn't understand is why didn't the Phillies get rid of Joe Blanton who will be a free agent after the 2010 season and keep Lee? Also Blanton was only making 2-3 million dollars less than what Cliff Lee was going to make, so if they would gotten rid of Blanton that would have made some room on the Phillies payroll and could have kept Lee with Halladay for 1 year. But the Phillies had a different view on this deal, they didn't wanna have just one good year with both Lee and Halladay. They wanted to have 3 good long years with just Halladay and if they could have kept Lee that would of been just extra points for the Phils. Instead of not shooting themselves in the foot by not signing Halladay at all they did just in case this opportunity would have never came around again. Instead Joe Blanton stayed and Cliff Lee was shipped out and Roy Halladay arrived on time.
Just the question is now now how will this move pen out for the Phillies? Well I think this move was ok, I mean the Phillies gave up 4 prospect in July for Cliff Lee and now just gave up 3 prospect for Halladay in total that's 7 prospect to get a CY Young for a CY Young. Also what makes no scenes is why didn't the Phillies do this move earlier when Toronto wanted both Michael Taylor and Kyle Drabek when now they just gave up both guys for Halladay? Now the big question comes in now, how good will Cole Hamels be this year? We saw in 2009 he didn't live up to the hype "Hamels" he was in the 2008 World Series. Basically this all folds on him, cause I'll tell you something if he doesn't get back to the pitcher he was 2 years ago the Phillies will wish they would have held on to Cliff Lee just for one year. But the talk is said, what would you rather have Cliff Lee stay for 1 year than walk and not get Halladay after he's gone? Or have Roy Halladay for 3 plus years and have a chance to win another World Series and fill that ace spot in the rotation? Or have both on the same team for just 1 year and have one of the most dangerous pitching staff in all of baseball? That's just something we will never find out.
Cliff Lee in 2009 had a really good season with the Phillies after coming over from the Cleveland Indians with a 3.39 ERA, 7 wins and 4 losses as a Phillie. Also Lee was 4-0 in the postseason with a 1.56 ERA. But overall Lee finished with 14 wins, 13 loses and an ERA of 3.22. As for Roy Halladay in 2009 was one if not one of his better years. Halladay finished with 17 wins, 10 losses, and an ERA of 2.79, yet Halladay has never made the playoffs in fact he doesn't know what the word playoff means nor does he know what the feeling is like pitching in the playoffs, neither did Lee but he sure looked like he knew what he was doing. Don't get me wrong Halladay is defiantly by far one of the best pitchers in our time besides Tim Linecum from the San Fransisco Giants. Also Halladay is a big time pitcher and is a very smart pitcher. He knows how get ahead in the count and put down big time hitters such as Alex Rodriguez from the New York Yankees. Just know this, I think the Phillies did an alright move, but could have saved all this drama if they would have just gotten Halladay to begin with where they wouldn't of have the trouble of giving up a big FAN favorite in Cliff Lee. So the table is set, Lee is a Mariners, Halladay is Phillie and the Phillies lost probably all their best prospects to the Indians and the Blue Jays for two of the best pitchers in the game. One who stayed for not even a half a year and the other who will be here for the next 3-4 years. It’s funny how so much can change in one deal. Cliff Lee you will be missed in Philadelphia. Roy Halladay welcome to the City of Brotherly Love. P.S. don't forget to have a Philly Cheese Steak! This is Beyond a big time trade, this is Beyond Baseball.
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