MLB: Breaking Down Halladay to Philly, Lee to Seattle
After months of speculation Toronto has apparently agreed to finally trade ace right-hander Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for three prospects. The Phillies, in turn, have agreed to send ace lefty Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for three prospects. The deal is contingent upon Halladay agreeing to a contract extension with Philadelphia and passing a team physical.
The Phillies acquiesced to the Blue Jays demands of giving up Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor once they were able to find a comparable package of prospects from the Mariners in exchange for Lee. Essentially the Phillies are giving up Cliff Lee to have Roy Halladay in their rotation next season.
Ultimately, Halladay does not give the Phillies a significant boost next season. Lee has won 36 games and posted a 2.89 ERA over the last two seasons while Halladay has won 37 games and posted a 2.78 ERA. The biggest difference between the two being that Halladay is more of a power pitcher who typically strikes out over 200 hitters a year while Lee is more of a finesse pitcher who relies on superior control to get batters out.
What Halladay does give the Phillies is a bit more long term security as Lee has already announced his intent to enter the free agent market after next season and the Phillies were not confident they would be able to compete with other teams bidding on Lee. Lee will most likely command a five or six year contract next winter and the Phillies typically d0 not give out those kinds of deals to pitchers.
The Mariners now have that second established pitcher to pair with Felix Hernandez next year currently giving them the best 1-2 punch in the West. The addition of Lee also means they can move Ian Snell and Ryan Rowland-Smith further down the rotation where they belong for the time being.
In addition to landing Halladay the Phillies are getting the Mariners top two pitching prospects in Phillippe Aumont and Juan Ramirez as well as outfield prospect Tyson Gillies.
Aumont is a former first round selection who struggled at AA ball last season and is still probably a year or two away from being big league ready. He went 2-6 with 16 saves and a 3.88 ERA between Advanced-A and AA ball this past year.
Ramirez is another young low level prospect with a lively arm that has struggled with his control at times. He has yet to pitch above Adavanced-A level ball and is still a few years away from making the majors. He went 8-10 with a 5.12 ERA and hit 17 batters for High Desert of the California League last summer.
Gillies is a speedy outfield prospect who hit .341 with 14 triples and 44 stolen bases for High Desert last season. He is considered to have similar tools to that of Michael Taylor whom the Phillies are giving up in the Halladay deal.
In addition to the aforementioned Taylor and Drabek the Jays are also getting catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud. The Blue Jays have reportedly flipped Taylor over to the Athletics for third base prospect Brett Wallace whom the A’s got in the Matt Holliday deal last summer.
Drabek is probably less than a year away from being major league ready after going 8-2 with a 3.64 ERA in AA ball last year. Drabek is a solid strikeout pitcher who has pretty good control for a pitcher his age.
D’Arnoud hit .255 with 13 homers for Lakewood in A ball last summer.
Wallace hit .293 and cranked out 20 homers between AA and AAA ball last season. There are some questions as to whether he has the defensive skillset to handle playing third base at the big league level and he does strike out quite a bit. Offensively he is ready to be an every day player at the big league level, but, he still needs some work defensively unless the Jays plan on moving him to first base or the outfield.
In Taylor the A’s are getting someone with some pop in his bat who could potentially hit lead-off for them. Taylor had 137 hits in 116 games in the minors last season and hit .320 with a .395 OBP. He also had 20 homers, stole 21 bases, and drove in 80 runs.
Overall, the Phils are getting the guy they have coveted since the Jays made it be known that he was available, the Jays are getting the mix of prospects they wanted, and the Mariners are getting the established starting pitcher they needed to add to be contenders in the West next season.
