Phillies Deadline Deals – the One Made and the One Not Made

Well, the baseball trade deadline has passed and the Phillies made one key acquisition – Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians. While they did have to give up some prospects, they did hold onto the top prospects that the Blue Jays wanted for Roy Halladay. You may recall a couple weeks ago, I said that the Phillies should be willing to part with the likes of J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor just to acquire a player most consider the best pitcher in baseball.

So now that the Phillies did not make that deal but traded for Cleveland’s ace, Cliff Lee, I figured I would share my thoughts. First, as for Cliff Lee, while he is not Roy Halladay, he is an exceptional pitcher in his own right. Of course, well known is the fact that last year he won the AL Cy Young Award. As of today, his record this season is 8-9 with a 3.02 ERA and 113 strikeouts and 35 BB. However, do not let his win/loss record concern you. In pitching for the Indians, he was not getting run support. Run support is usually not a problem for the Phillies offense.

In his debut for the Phillies the other night, Lee pitched a complete game, giving up only 1 run and striking out six. In addition, he also helped himself at the plate going 2 for 4 including a double and he also scored a run. The end result was a 5-1 victory over a potential playoff team in the San Francisco Giants. Clearly, Cliff Lee is also the real deal. While he may not be Roy Halladay, Lee clearly is an upgrade in starting pitching for the Phillies and will be a very good 1-2 punch with Cole Hamels.

What did they give up for Lee? The quick answer is not much. First of all, the Phillies will able to keep all their top prospects, including the three players I mentioned above as well as Dominic Brown who is an outfielder in A Clearwater who the Blue Jays also coveted. The Phillies surrendered pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp, along with shortstop Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson. Carrasco is probably the best known of these prospects. The last two years, the discussion in spring training was whether he would be able to pitch his way into the starting rotation. Every time he’s been given an opportunity to do so, he has not faired very well. I’ll be honest, I do not know that much about Jason Knapp.

As for the other two, I think that Lou Marson has a chance to be a nice ball player. He was called up last September when the league allows for expanded rosters and he performed well. He also came up earlier this season when Carlos Ruiz spent some time on the disabled list. Since the Indians dealt their all-star catcher in Victor Martinez, hopefully Marson will get some playing time in the majors and I wish him well. As for shortstop Jason Donald, I think it’s pretty clear he was going to have to wait a while to play regularly for the Phillies considering Jimmy Rollins place on the squad. All in all, I do not see where the Phillies gave up much of their future roster to acquire Cliff Lee.

However, there are two criticisms I have of this acquisition. First of all, Cliff Lee is a left handed pitcher and secondly, he’s not Roy Halladay. Cliff Lee being left handed makes the starting rotation very left hand dominant. Lee, Hamels, Happ & Moyer are all left handers. The only right handed starter that I believe should remain in the five man rotation is Joe Blanton. Only time will tell, but I just hope that having a left handed heavy starting rotation does not come back to bite them. I was wrong about Ibanez making them too left handed heavy at the plate, so let’s hope the same is true in this case.

As for Cliff Lee not being Roy Halladay, that concern was more centered around my fear that another contender like the Dodgers or Cardinals in the National League or the Angels or Red Sox in the American League would trade for Halladay. I truly believe that the Phillies have a chance to do something special with this group of players and that is win multiple titles. The last thing I wanted was for another legitimate contender to land Halladay. Fortunately, the Blue Jays stuck to their guns and continued to ask for the world. As a result, Halladay is still in Toronto and will be a non-factor come October.

As with all trades, only time will tell if the Phillies made the right deal in getting Cliff Lee and holding onto their top prospects. For now, GO PHILLIES!! Their magic number to win the NL East is 54.