Halladay to Philly in 3 team deal

[HCYanks]

Another point i've read that makes this stupid: Blanton is going to get a salary close to Lee's in arbitration. Why not deal him off to someone instead? He probably wouldn't get much of a return but then you get to have Cliff Lee instead of Joe Blanton. Or hell, if Amaro knew about this happening a few days ago he could have nontendered Blanton.

[Flash3]

i dont get this trade from the philly side.

halladay=lee basically, but they gave up some pretty good prospects to do the switch.....

[SharoneWright]

^

Halladay and Lee both traded for prospects.

Jays get a better package of kids than the Phillies as Halladay is the better pitcher.

Phils get the best pitcher, lock him up for at least 4 years, and restock the farm. Not too shabby.

[Avenger]

i dont get this trade from the philly side.

halladay=lee basically, but they gave up some pretty good prospects to do the switch.....

Lee wanted CC Sabathia money but he's not that good a pitcher and philly thought they couldn't afford him. Roy Halladay took 3 years 60 million to play for them, he could have easily gotten CC money with the Yankees or Red Sox.

[Dr Positivity]

i dont get this trade from the philly side.

halladay=lee basically, but they gave up some pretty good prospects to do the switch.....

It's two trades. First one is Halladay and 6 mil for Drabek, Taylor, D'Arnaud. Then Lee for Aumont, Gilles.

They couldn't afford having Lee and Halladay at once. So after getting Halladay they dumped Lee for prospects/money.

They preferred Halladay to just keeping Lee because the latter wasn't going to extend in Philly and wanted CC money. Halladay is extended for 3 years and makes them a contender the next 4 years...

The only thing I don't get is how the Mariners got Lee for so freakin little. I mean even if he bolts after a year, they get the two picks, which is worth nearly as much as what they gave up in prospects. My gut says that the recession has dominated so many teams that it's hard to move a 9 mil contract straight up, even for a great pitcher. But still, you're telling me the Red Sox, Mets, etc. wouldn't be biting on taking Lee for more than Aumont?

[dbodner]

They simply didn't want to be on the hook for that 9 million salary of Lee's. It was really about their strict payroll and didn't want it to climb ti 160 million.

And yet they're willing to spend money after this trade is done to go fetch some mediocre bullpen help like Fernando Rodney.

Halladay/Lee/Hamels/Blanton/Happ with a very good offense in that league makes you the hands-down favorite to win it all. Hell, if nothing big goes wrong that team has a chance to be historically good. It's the type of team that can handle some weakness in the pen.

That's the bittersweet part of this deal. Yeah, we got an incredible pitcher for 4 years (whereas before we only had a very good pitcher for one). But man, they could have won 105+ games with that staff. And to lose that, why? Because of $9 million?

Cliff Lee was one of the better post-arbitration bargains in baseball. If you need to cut $9 million, find another way to do so.