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//  Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Cliff Lee to the Phillies: Grading the Trade

Thursday, July 30, 2009
Posted by Phillip Lee

After weeks of agonizing talks with the Blue Jays to acquire ace Roy Halladay, Phillies GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., decided to settle for someone else; Cliff Lee

The Angels were also in hot pursuit of Lee but they could not figure out a package good enough to bring Lee to Los Angeles. Specifically, the Indians were looking to acquire some young pitchers in return for Lee. The problem though, was that the Angels were in pursuit of Lee because they lacked pitching. Thus, they didn't have any "tempting" pitching prospects to include in the deal.

Prospects such as Nick Adenhart, Sean O'Sullivan, Jordan Walden, Nick Green, or Brok Butcher are top pitching prospects in the Angels organization, but most of them are years away from being Major League ready and they lack depth in talent.

Neither Lackey nor Weaver have performed like aces this season and the 3-4-5 guys in the rotation (Santana, Saunders, Palmer) are holding onto their spots not because they are performing well but because no one else is there to replace them especially considering Moseley and Escobar are on the DL. Palmer is 9-1 this season, but thats a result of being in the bullpen for a while and good run support in starts. All in all, the Angels have had to sacrifice the already depleted pitching to acquire Lee.

In addition, it makes perfect sense to send the Lee, the former CY Young Award winner, to the National League than to send him to the Angels. Granted, it would be the difference of facing Lee maybe twice a season as opposed to maybe just once or never, the Indians could sleep more easily that they could avoid seeing Lee at all next season.

Cliff Lee has posted a record of 7-9 this season despite a 3.14 ERA, with 107 K's, 33 walks, and a WHIP of 1.30 in 152 IP this season. He's not performing as well as his 2008 campaign but those are "ace-type" numbers.

The Indians are currently 4thin AL Central and figure to be in rebuilding mode. Lee is due only $8 million next season but those are hefty numbers for a team looking to shave money and rebuild. They also sent the struggling left-fielder Ben Francisco along with Lee, who is hitting .250 with 10 homeruns and 33 RBI's.

At the start of trade talks, the Phillies wanted to add another ace to their rotation as a preparation for the post-season. The World Series champions already have their ace Cole Hamels and both Blanton and Moyer have pitched fairly well this season. Even with J.A. Happ, who is having a tremendous season, the Phillies wanted security in their 1-2 punch.

Logically, they went after the best starter out there and were in hot pursuit of Toronto's Roy Halladay. As the trade deadline loomed closer, the possibility of acquiring Halladay grew smaller and smaller due to Halladay's price tag. J.P. Ricciardi understood that Halladay was the biggest available player out there and used that to his favor to land the biggest deal possible. The problem is that Ricciardi may have wanted the biggest deal in the history of baseball which neither the Phillies nor anyone else was willing to do.

Understanding this, the Phillies opted to pursue Lee instead of Halladay. It's kind of like shopping for a suit. You could get a $5000 suit at Emporio Armani or you could get $100 suit at Macys. They essentially serve the same function so why not save $4900?

The Blue Jays wanted two top tier prospects in both J.A. Happ (7-2, 2.97 ERA) and top Kyle Drabek; a price much too steep for any team.

Instead the Phillies gave up four quality prospects in right-handers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, shortstop Jason Donald, and catcher Lou Marson in exchange for Lee and Francisco.

So settling for the second best available made more sense for the Phillies than stretching it to get the best. With the addition of Lee, the Phillies will now have four lefty pitchers in the rotation, but the recent acquisition of Pedro Martinez should even things out come the playoffs. In addition, Lee has a $9 million club option next season which is a bargain for an ace.

A             For the Phillies

If the Phillies pulled off getting Roy Halladay for roughly the same price than it would have been an A+. All in all though, Lee seriously bolsters the rotation and puts the Phillies as frontrunners to repeat last season. If the Phillies were in contention to win again this season, the addition of Lee makes them almost a sure thing to go deep in October. Francisco gets overshadowed by Lee but with Ibanez aging, Francisco is a great addition to back him up just in case something happens. All of this while keeping their top prospects, Amaro Jr. pulled a great deal.

B-            For the Indians

The Indians did great in another move to rebuild their roster. They were able to trade Lee for four quality prospects to give them more depth in the minor leagues as well as shave some salary space. Although Lee's contract is miniscule for the type of player he is, the Indians will be glad to save as much money possible for the future. They could have waited though till the winter or even next season for a team to actually give up top prospects for Lee. Not to say that the prospects they got in return don't have much value, they could all become integral players for the future Indians, but the Indians could have done a bit better.

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