Phillies Trade For Halladay

As everyone knows by now the Phillies traded for Roy Halladay. I would like to dissect this trade. There are some good things and some negative things. Let's look at the negatives first.
First, the Phillies traded away Cliff Lee who pitched unbelievable last year. It seems like they were trying to "dump" his salary because they have a strict $140 million payroll. So they traded Cliff Lee to the Mariners for three prospects. Now, Phillippe Aumont is suppose to be the best out of all of the prospects the Phillies received. Aumont supposedly has a good fastball but he is working on his secondary pitches. It sounds like that he is no where near Kyle Drabek at this point. They also received prospects Tyson Gillies who is legally deaf and wears a hearing aid in each ear and J.C. Ramirez. I can tell you I know absolutely nothing about either of them, besides that little tidbit on Gillies. It sounds like that the Phillies didn't get that much prospect wise in return for Lee. It seems that the Phillies were very anxious to get rid of Lee and his salary.
The Phillies traded the Blue Jays Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, and Travis d'Arnaud. In July, Drabek was an "untouchable." What is the difference now? The difference has to be that Cliff Lee wasn't willing to sign to a long-term deal with the Phillies. Prospect wise it looks like the Phillies lost overall in their farm system.
It seems that the Phillies have a two year window where they can make some severe damage. After the 2011 season Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Brad Lidge, Raul Ibanez, and Shane Victorino are all eligible for free agency. I think Amaro knows that it is just not possible to re-sign all of those guys to big time contracts. So by signing Halladay to a three year extension solidifies a star player after 2011. It is frustrating for us Phillies fans to watch Cliff Lee go but in the long run it might end up being a smart decision. Unless we watch Drabek pitch his way to Cooperstown. But let's not think that way.

The positives for the Phillies is obviously getting Roy Halladay. He has pitched 200 plus innings in the last four seasons and he has thrown nine complete games in the last two seasons. He is an innings eater who will go deep into games (similar to Lee) but don't expect him to have nine complete games in 2010. He still very well can but if the Phillies are in a game in the seventh inning and there down by a run and Halladay is due up to bat, there most likely going to take him out. Due to the fact that Halladay will be pitching in the National League will help him maybe ERA wise but hurt him in the complete game department.
Putting all of the Roy Halladay talk aside, there is 110 days until Opening Day and it should be a fun and entertaining season.

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