Why move a guy who has saved 72 games for you over the last two seasons into the rotation?  In the modern game elite closers are tough to come by and are worth their weight in gold.  Another thing to consider is the fact that Feliz has never thrown more than 127 innings a season at the professional level.

Irregardless of the fact that moving Feliz to the rotation is a bit of a gamble in general is the fact that they are handing the closer role over to a guy whose arm looks to be shot.  It would be one thing if they were getting the Joe Nathan of three or four years ago, but this is a guy who missed all of the 2010 season due to a bum elbow and never looked particularly sharp last season for the Twins.

It is not as if it was a case of Nathan needing to knock off the rust at the beginning of the year.  Granted he was better down the stretch than he was at the start of the year, he simply was not that good in general last season.  He did convert all six of his save opportunities the last two months of the season, but he did so while posting a 5.06 ERA.

It would be one thing if they went out and signed Johnathan Papelbon to take Feliz’s spot but Joe Nathan seems like a step back for the Rangers.  This move also makes one wonder if they do not think they have a shot at re-signing C. J. Wilson.

Don’t get me wrong Werth is a very good player and one of the better bats available on the open market this winter, but we are talking about a guy who has never hit over .300 and never driven in over 100 runs in a single season in his career getting roughly $18 million per year over the next seven years.  The only thing he has ever led the league in is doubles, at least Holliday is a career .317 hitter and averages 111 RBIs for his career, and at least he has a batting title and RBI crown to his credit.  Honestly if you are going to break the bank on a free agent outfielder this winter why not go for Carl Crawford who is a 4-time All Star and over three years younger than Werth?

As crazy as the Werth deal is I cannot help but wonder if Cliff Lee is even going to remotely live up to the contract he is about to get.  There are talks of Lee getting six or seven years at well over $20 million per season.  This is a pitcher who turns 32 next season and has only really pitched at a Cy Young caliber level one time in his 9 year career.  He is a guy who has only ever won more than 14 games twice in his career.  Lee owns a 3.85 lifetime ERA and has only ever posted a sub-3.00 ERA once in his career.

Cliff Lee is a very good pitcher and would be the ace on a lot of teams around the majors and is a great big game pitcher, but one really has to wonder whether a 31-year old pitcher is worthy of a 7-year deal when the odds are he will not be a top flight starter by the end of the deal.  At his age, odds are, he probably has, at most, only four or five years left as a top of the rotation pitcher.

One would think that teams would have learned from the last couple of pitchers who got the long term big dollar deals at the age of 29 or later.  Johan Santana and Barry Zito have not even remotely approached living up to the contracts they received.  Zito is a lot closer to Lee in terms of the level he had pitched at during his career up to the point he got the big contract.

The team that is lucky enough to land Cliff Lee will be getting an All Star caliber pitcher for the next couple of years, but one really wonders whether they will live to regret it five years from now when they will likely be paying $20 million to an aging lefty entering the twilight of his career.

This deal means the Yankees will now have a payroll of at least $205 million next season despite the proclamation they needed to slice roughly $30 to $35 million off of last year’s payroll that topped $207 million.

The choice of Winn is somewhat interesting given he had the lowest OPS amongst everyday outfielders last season.  However, he is only a season removed from being a guy coming off his third .300 season and 4 years and 7 double digit home run seasons.  Winn used to be a guy a team could pencil to hit .285 to .300, hit double figures in home runs and steal 20 to 30 bases a year.

He still has some speed, he stole 16 bases last season, but Winn’s home runs dropped to just two and he hit just .262 for the Giants in 2009.  At the age of 35 is Winn showing his age, or, did he just have a down season?

Whatever the case may be it should be interesting to see whether Winn has enough left to beat out Brett Gardner or Nick Swisher for one of the corner outfield spots or whether he is simply being brought in to be a defensive replacement late in games.  Winn is still a good defensive outfielder and is definitely better than Damon or Swisher when it comes to playing defense.

Manager Bob Geren has already proclaimed Sheets to be his ace and opening day starter.  If healthy Sheets gives the A’s the top of the rotation starter they were missing last season.  Brett Anderson led the Athletics with 11 wins and Trevor Cahill threw the most innings with 178.2.

While Sheets’ stuff us unquestioned giving someone who has a history of injuries and sat out all of last season $10 million is a bit of a gamble.  Sheets has not thrown 200 innings since the 2004 season and has made 30 starts once since then.

This will either be a stroke of genius for Billy Beane or folks will be scratching their heads wondering why he was so willing to give Sheets $10 million knowing his extensive history of missing several starts a season.  It is somewhat surprising that this was not an incentive laden deal worth up to $10 million.  If it were me I would have wanted to add kickers for starts, innings, and wins.

In the past the Yankees simply would have cut a check for a guy like Damon but those days appear to be over.  Instead they are trying to find another corner outfielder on the cheap.

With Xavier Nady coming to terms with the Cubs and Johnny Gomes close to going back to Cincy the Yankees options for a minimal salary player to play left or right field are getting slimmer.

I am kind of surprised the Yankees have not had discussions with Garrett Anderson.  He played for $2.5 million for the Braves last season, had a decent year at the plate, and has his share of post season experience.  He is also potentially a better defensive player than Damon is right now.  It seems like Anderson would be a good fit for the Yankees.

As for Damon it remains to be seen where he ends up.  It was thought that San Francisco might have an interest until they decided to go in a different direction in an attempt to upgrade the offense.  The Braves are still believed to be in the mix as well.  There were also reports surfacing the past few days that Oakland had an interest, but, that seems less likely after the A’s just dropped $10 million on Ben Sheets.

There has been recent speculation that Damon may be contemplating retirement given he is attracting little more than a nibble from prospective teams.  Damon reportedly still wants to play but he may need to swallow his pride and come way down on his asking price to do so.  One begins to wonder if Johnny Damon is becoming a victim of Scott Boras’ pie-in-the-sky notions of what is players are worth.

Pineiro is coming off arguably the best year of his career winning 15 games and posting a 3.49 ERA for the National League Central Champion St. Louis Cardinals.  He has always been considered someone that has enough talent to be a quality big league pitcher but has battled injuries throughout his career.

Joel was considered an up-and-coming starting pitcher after winning 16 games and sporting a 3.78 ERA in 2003 for the Seattle Mariners at the age of 24.  His career began to derail the following year as he battled through a series of injuries.

At the age of 31 the Angels are getting a pitcher who re-made himself under the tutelage of Cards’ pitching coach Dave Duncan.  He is expected to take Lackey’s spot in the rotation and should end up battling Joe Saunders for the #3 starter spot behind Jered Weaver and Scott Kazmir.

Holliday’s agent, Scott Boras, comes out with a bit of egg on his face as he maintained that Holliday deserved a Mark Teixeira type of contract and came up way short on delivering one for his top client in this year’s free agent market.  He desperately tried to find another team to bid against the deal that the Cardinals had on the table but could find no takers.

There were other teams reportedly interested in Holliday, but, without any those teams being the Mets, Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, or Cubs Boras did not have any luck driving up the market value for Holliday.  No other teams were willing to go above and beyond what the Cardinals were offering.

The short term payroll implications are not too steep for the Cards as the bulk of his salary is covered by the salaries of Troy Glaus and Adam Kennedy that came off the books at the end of the season.  It also ensures the Cards should contend for the next two years with Pujols and Holliday anchoring the heart of the lineup.  The long term implications remain to be seen as it is unknown how much it is going to take to lock Pujols up to a long term deal.

It could put the team in a position where they are always having to fill out the roster with players willing to sign one year deals for minimal amounts in hopes they can parlay that into a longer term contract elsewhere, or, young players who are not yet arbitration eligible and are essentially playing for the league minimum.

Hopefully the deal does not hurt the team’s chances to field contending teams down the road.  They had to do this deal though if they want to have any prayer of re-signing Pujols.  He is only going to tolerate so many more years of re-treads like Troy Glaus and Ryan Ludwick hitting behind him in the order.  They need to have a legit All Star caliber hitter in the lineup that teams are going to take seriously hitting behind Pujols.  Holliday fits the bill and will go a long way to help the team to re-sign him.

The deal is said to be an incentive laden one with a base salary of $9 million and a $5 million player option for 2011 and a $1 million buy out.

If he has fully recovered from last year’s shoulder surgery Beltre potentially gives Boston an enhanced defensive presence at third, but, it remains to be seen what he is going to do at the plate.  Beltre’s production dropped off significantly due to his shoulder problems last year.  When he was healthy he was typically good for 25 homers and 80+ RBIs with the Mariners.

He has never approached the numbers he put up with the Dodgers in 2004 when he hit .334 with 48 homers and 121 RBIs leading to speculation that he was using performance enhancing drugs prior to landing his free agent deal with the Mariners.  If healthy he gives the Red Sox a solid bat to stick in the five or six spot in the lineup but he does little to address Boston’s hole at the clean up spot.

Byrd is coming off a career year in which he posted career highs with 547 at bats, 155 hits, 42 doubles, 20 homers, and 89 RBIs.  Byrd is a solid player but I am not sure he significantly improves the Cubs from a talent standpoint.  He is a bit more stable personality than Milton Bradley is, but, Bradley is the better offensive talent.

He is also not a particularly strong defensive outfielder and is more suited to playing a corner outfield position as opposed to center.  With a weak defensive left fielder in Alphonso Soriano can the Cubs afford to have a mediocre center fielder?

Rick Ankiel probably would have been a slightly better fit for the Cubs.  He would give the Cubs a bit more pop than Byrd does and Ankiel is an above average center fielder defensively.

The agreement comes on the heels of reports last week indicating that Bay had no interest in playing for the Mets.  The assumption was that Bay was holding out for an offer from the Angels or Mariners, who were rumored to be his top choice from day one.  There were also rumors floating around the last few days that the Red Sox were toying with the idea of jumping back into the fray.

But it was always believed that if he got a five year deal he would sign on the dotted line.  While he did not get the fifth guaranteed year he was looking for it is reported that the fifth year will kick in if he meets certain performance incentives believed to revolve around a minimal number of plate appearances.

After a disappointing season in which the Mets hit a meager 95 home runs, Daniel Murphy led the team with 12, in the maiden season of their new ballpark GM Omar Minaya made it a point to this off season to go out and get a bat to stick in the middle of the order.

Assuming Carlos Beltran and David Wright return to form next season the Mets should have a formidable heart of the order.

With the Bay deal wrapped up Minaya likely will turn his attention to rebuilding a starting rotation that featured just two 10-game winners and one pitcher throw over 170 innings last season.  The Mets were rumored to be interested in John Lackey before he signed with Boston and are said to have a strong interest in Joel Piniero who won 15 games and posted a 3.49 ERA for the Cardinals last season.

Veterans Ben Sheets and Erik Bedard are still on the market and could probably be had for minimal incentive laden deals.

The expectation is that DeRosa will play third base for the Giants with Pablo Sandoval moving to first base.  However, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that DeRosa simply ends up at first base.

This move means the Giants will likely end their pursuit of Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, unless they think he can play outfield for them.  While DeRosa is a nice addition for the Giants one wonders if Uggla is the better fit though.  While DeRosa is coming off a season in which he hit a career high 23 home runs he did have off season wrist surgery and has never been one to put up big power numbers.

The Giants have a need for a thumper to give Sandoval some protection in the lineup and Uggla is a guy who one can typically count on for 30 homers and 30 doubles every year.  Uggla is also five years younger than DeRosa.

It just feels like the Giants have more work to do this off season if they want to contend in the West next season.

On the one hand I like the move in the sense that he gives the Yanks some depth in the rotation in the event that Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain do not win a spot in the spring or if Andy Pettite has nothing left to give them.  One begins to wonder if Hughes is even going to be given a shot at winning a spot in the rotation this spring with the addition of Vazquez.  They now have six potential starters for five spots.

The reason I do not like the move is Vazquez pitched for the Yankees before, was rather unimpressive, and did not seem to be able to handle the pressure of pitching in New York.  Is it any co-incidence that he has been an overwhelmingly better pitcher in the National League as compared to the American League?  At the very least he will probably give the Yanks 200 innings but will he be any more effective than say Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes would have been in that spot in the rotation?  It seems somewhat debatable that he will be.

The other reason I do not like the deal is Vazquez is a fly ball pitcher and the way the new stadium plays in the Bronx one would think the Yanks would be wanting to acquire more ground ball oriented pitchers.

This basically amounts to a salary dump for the Braves who were desperate to dump one of their higher priced starting pitchers to cut payroll back.  With Nate McClouth already established in center field Cabrera will likely be moved to one of the corner outfield positions.

The two other pitchers changing hands, Mike Dunn and Boone Logan, are basically throw-ins that will likely have little to no impact on their new teams next season.  Logan should compete for a spot in the Yankees bullpen but do not look for him to be that guy who is used to setup Mariano Rivera.

The New York Daily News speculates that there is some thought around baseball that the San Francisco Giants might be a good fit for Damon, however, it also goes on to say that it doubts the Giants are willing to give Damon the three year deal he is looking for.  Damon would be a nice addition for the Giants, but, does he give them someone to compliment Pablo Sandoval in the lineup.  He would be a good bat to stick in front of Sandoval but he does not give them the protection for Sandoval that they are looking for.

ESPN’s Buster Olney suggests that St. Louis would be a good fit for Damon.  On some levels this would make sense.  Damon is that type of gritty player that Tony LaRussa typically favors, however, the Cards need to spend money on someone who can get behind Albert Pujols in the order and not in front of him.  Besides it really does not make sense for Scott Boras, the agent who represents both Damon and Matt Holliday, to present Damon as an option knowing that the Cards are the only serious bidder on Holliday.  He stands to make more money on getting Holliday signed than he does Damon.

He has always had an interest in playing for the Atlanta Braves as it is close to his home in Florida, but, he would have to take a significant pay cut to play in Atlanta.  The Braves really are not in a position to give a guy like Damon the type of money he is looking for.

In the end Johnny Damon my regret not taking the two year offer worth $18 million the Yankees were offering earlier in the week.  Either he or Boras do not seem to have a real grasp on what his market value truly is in a down market.

Once the Red Sox dripped serious money on John Lackey and signed Mike Cameron to a two year deal it became readily apparent that the Red Sox were willing to let Bay walk and move on with their lives.  The Red Sox last known offer to Bay was for $60 million over four years.

With Vladimir Guerrero struggling to stay healthy last season and his numbers dipping significantly the last two years it was believed that the Angels were interested in Bay to plug in the lineup behind Bobby Abreu and Kendry Morales giving them some protection.  The thought was that Bay would play left field while Juan Rivera would move to DH.  The Angels are no longer believed to be in the hunt following their signing of Hideki Matsui to be the DH next season.

It has been believed for several weeks that the Mariners were the front runners to land Bay.  The Mariners desperately need a thumper to plug into the middle of the lineup and Bay has ties to the Pacific Northwest having grown up in British Columbia and playing college ball at Gonzaga.  Since the Mariners traded for Milton Bradley on Friday the speculation now is the Mariners are no longer interested in Bay.  Bradley does not satisfy their need for a cleanup hitter though and given that they traded a comparable salary, Carlos Silva, for Bradley they may not be out of the mix entirely.

The Cardinals were only believed to have an interest in Bay if, or when, Matt Holliday signs with another team.  As it is Holliday has yet to sign with anyone and St. Louis appears to be the only team with a significant offer on the table for Holliday.  Until Holliday decides what he is going to do one should not expect the Cards to make any kind of an offer on Bay.

As it stands right now the Mets have the last known offer being made to Bay, reportedly $65 million over four years.  The consensus seems to be that if the Mets were to tack on a fifth year Bay would sign today, however, it is believed that Mets GM Omar Minaya is not looking to spend more then $75 million on a corner outfielder and tacking on a fifth year would put them close $80 million.  One begins to wonder if Bay would be amenable to $75 million over five years.  It was believed, initially, that Bay turned down Boston’s initial offer due to the length and not the dollar amount.

If there is another team courting Jason Bay they are being very discreet about it and nobody seems to know who that team might be.

Rumors have ranged far and wide as to the fate of Holliday ever since the season ended.  Initially it was believed the market for Holliday was going to consist of the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and maybe the Mets.  Those are the only teams believed to be willing to give someone a $100 million dollar contract these days.

This, of course, is a knee jerk assessment by the media that just assumes these days have money to burn and are willing to spend whatever it takes to win the World Series.  What they fail to realize, though, is a lot of teams are scaling back this winter due to the economy and fans not having the extra income to spend on tickets and merchandise like they have in the past.

The Yankees have decided to try and scale back the payroll a bit this winter, besides, they have no need for a player like Holliday.  On top of that, after breaking the bank on Teixeira, A. J. Burnett, and C. C. Sabathia last winter, they need to start planning for two or three years down the road.  They need to figure out how to pay for Derek Jeter’s next contract as well as potentially locking up younger players like Robinson Cano, Joba Chamberlain, and Phil Hughes to long term deals.  The Yankees are basically holding on to the core of the ’09 team so there is no need to run out and obtain a bunch of big name talent the way it did last season.

The Red Sox were said to have a preference of re-signing Jason Bay as opposed to grabbing Holliday who is likely going to command more money than Bay ends up signing for.  The Sox offered Bay four years at $60 million and were not willing to go higher than that.  With that said they obviously do not have the stomach for Holliday at this point.  The addition of John Lackey further removes them from the Holliday conversation.

Until they signed Hideki Matsui the Angels were the only high profile franchise that made sense to go after Holliday, but, now that they have Matsui under contract and have re-signed Bobby Abreu it makes them a less likely option for Holliday.  Where do they fit him into the lineup with Abreu, Torii Hunter, and Juan Rivera in the outfield and Matsui at DH.  It was initially thought the Angels would try and land Holliday to play left and move Rivera to DH.

Rumors have surfaced this week about the Orioles making a play for Holliday, but, those have been quickly shot down by ESPN’s Buster Olney who says the the Orioles had inquired about Holliday a couple of weeks ago but were not comfortable with what Boras was asking for in return and bowed out.  The O’s would be wise to hang onto their cash and reserving it for potential long-term deals with some of their budding young talent like Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, and Matt Wieters.

The Mets seem to be more interested in signing Bay than Holliday as well.  It is being reported that GM Omar Minaya does not want to spend more than $75 million for a corner outfielder which leaves Holliday out of the equation.

Ultimately, this leads only the Cardinals who are rumored to have offered Holliday a 5-year deal worth roughly $17 million per season which is what the Rockies offered him last winter before eventually dealing him to Oakland.  It is believed that Holliday has no objections to re-signing with St. Louis only that he has no intentions of signing for under market value to stay there.

The Cards are in no rush to up the ante simply because they do not think anyone else is in serious negotiations with Boras on Holliday and they are not about to start bidding against themselves for Holliday’s services.  In another off season where the economy were not such an issue Holliday probably could name his price and get it, but, teams are being cautious this winter as nobody knows what this season may held in terms of revenues and they do not want to potentially over extend themselves.

Until another legitimate offer can be confirmed for Holliday’s services one has to believe that the Cards are the only team in the running right now.  This is almost beginning to look eerily like last winter’s saga when another Boras client, Manny Ramirez, sat around waiting for that huge offer to come and ended up taking what the Dodgers gave him which was nothing close to the deal Boras claimed Manny was looking for.

As it turned out with Manny the Dodgers were the only team ever seriously interested in Manny despite what we heard about the Giants and other teams being interested.  As was the case with Manny I suspect is going to end up being the case with Holliday who seems to be destined to end up back in St. Louis for significantly less than Boras claimed his client deserved.

One really has to wonder how Beltre and/or his agent think he is going to get a contract even remotely close to the one he received from Seattle after the ’04 season.  Nobody is going to pay a third basemen who hit .266 and averaged 21 homers and 79 RBIs over the past five seasons that kind of money.  On top of that he is coming off a season which he missed 50 games due to a shoulder injury that required him to have surgery.  He hit just 8 homers and drove in 44 runs in 111 games last season.

Bottom line is nobody is going to give him any kind of a long term big money deal until he proves he is over his shoulder injury and is going to give them 25 to 30 homers a season.  Beltre is going to have to snap back to reality and come to grips with the notion that he is not going to get more than a one or two year deal for around $10 million per season until he re-establishes himself as a good everyday player and not play like a guy who is on the downside of his career.

The New York Post says Damon’s agent, Scott Boras, claims Damon deserves a 3 or 4 year deal and sources say Damon is not interested in playing for less than $13 million.

Damon could possibly get a deal worth $13 million per season, but, the problem is nobody wants to give a 36-year old player a three or four year deal when he may only have two more good years left in him.  The going rate for players Damon’s age and productivity seems to be two years for roughly $10 million per season which is what the Yankees were believed to be willing to offer him to stay with the team.

It is beginning to sound like another case of Scott Boras over-selling one of his clients.  It should be interesting to see how this plays out.  The Mets could swoop in grab him if they lose out on Jason Bay, however, I am not sure how Damon fits into their lineup and the Mets are in need of beefing up the middle of their order and Damon does not fit that profile.

The latest rumors on the matter have the Padres asking for both Clay Buchholz and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury in the deal.  One doubts that Theo Epstein has any qualms about parting with Buchholz to acquire an impact bat.  The addition of Lackey means Buchholz is now likely competing with Tim Wakefield for the fifth spot in the starting rotation and the Sox need an impact bat more than they do a quality fifth starter.

However, it seems unlikely the team is willing to part with Jacoby Ellsbury who led the league in both triples and stolen bases in 2009 and is a budding Gold Glover defensively.  One has to imagine Ellsbury is fairly untouchable right now and Epstein probably does not see enough upside in dealing their lead off hitter for a clean up hitter.

Stay tuned on this one, I have a hard time seeing a deal getting done prior to the season, but, if anyone can figure out how to get it done Theo Epstein can.

There are no rumblings of any other offers on the table for Bay, but, now that the Angels have lost out on both John Lackey and Chone Figgins they now have the cash set aside to re-sign Figgins and Lackey to make a run at Bay.

There is also some sentiment that with the Cliff Lee deal done the Mariners, who have always been rumored to have a strong interest, will turn their attention back to Bay.  It has been long speculated that Bay, who is a native of British Columbia and played his college ball at Gonzaga, would love to sign with Seattle as it gets him closer to the part of the world he grew up in.  There has also been rumors floating around that Bay is telling friends and family that Seattle is at the top of his list of preferred destinations for next season.

Seattle seems like the most logical fit right now.  Bay grew up in that part of North America and the Mariners have a need for clean up hitter.

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.