Phils land Halladay; Lee to Mariners
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Phils land Halladay; Lee to Mariners
Daily News staff
The Phillies announced today that they have acquired righthander Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays, and in a separate trade sent lefthander Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor league outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-handers Phillipe Aumont and Juan Ramirez, according to general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.
The Phillies traded minor league righthander Kyle Drabek, outfielder Michael Taylor and catcher Travis d’Arnaud to the Blue Jays. Halladay agreed to a 3-year, $60 million contract extension with the Phillies that includes a $20 million vesting option for a fourth season.
Halladay, 32, went 17-10 with a 2.79 ERA and nine complete games in 32 starts for Toronto in 2009. He led the American League in complete games and shutouts (4), finished second in innings (239.0), third in ERA, tied for fourth in wins and quality starts (22), and was fifth in strikeouts (208).
“Roy is known as the best pitcher in baseball and will have instant respect,” manager Charlie Manuel. said “He’s a number one, a blue chipper and I expect him to stabilize our pitching staff. Roy brings a great work ethic and tremendous character and he’ll have a big presence in our clubhouse. As an organization, our goal remains the same – to get back to the World Series and win it again.”
Lee was acquired by the Phillies from the Cleveland Indians on July 29, along with outfielder Ben Francisco, in exchange for four minor league players. Lee was 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts for the club. In the 2009 playoffs, the 31-year-old went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts.
“It’s never easy trading a player of Cliff’s caliber, but we felt it was the right move to make at this time,” Amaro said. “We’ve acquired three players that we think have big upsides and will strengthen our player development system.”
Gillies, 21, played last season with Class A High Desert where he hit .341 with nine home runs, 42 RBI and 44 stolen bases in 124 games.
Aumont, 20, was 2-6 with 16 saves and a 3.88 ERA in 44 combined games between High Desert and Class AA West Tennessee last season.
Ramirez, 21, was 8-10 with a 5.12 ERA and one complete game in 28 games (27 starts) for High Desert in 2009.
"We are very excited to have Cliff Lee on board in the Seattle organization," Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a statement. "It goes without saying what a quality pitcher and competitor he is and what he will mean to our ballclub and organization.
"I also want to congratulate Philadelphia and Toronto on how this whole deal was handled. We gave up three very nice prospects to Philadelphia. I think they will be a nice piece of the Phillies' future, and I want to thank Tyson, Phillippe and JC, and let them know we'll be rooting for them as they progress toward the majors. It was not an easy decision for us, but we could not pass up the opportunity to add a pitcher of Lee's ability to our major-league team."
Halladay, Hamels, Blanton, Moyer, Happ. How are the Phillies a better team than the one who went to the World Series last year? Lee was undefeated in the playoffs. How much better is there than undefeated? How are the Phillies better off after 2010? Last I looked Halladay will be making $20 million. Moyer and Blanton are finished after 2010, so who will your 4 and 5 be? The Phillies are serving Kool Aid and our beat writers are the servers. The reality is that Amaro screwed up. He traded 7 out of the top 10 prospects when he could have gotten Halladay for three prospects last summer. What was the urgency of trading Lee yesterday when he doesn't draw another paycheck until April 15? Was there a better deal to be had by the end of spring training. Worst case scenario is that Lee would have pitched in 2010 and they would have lost him in free agency gaining two 1st round draft picks, which are just as valuable as the "prospects" they received yesterday.— jrquixote- No. You still sign Halladay to the extension since he was supposedly the easier of the 2 and you still have Hamels and Happ as far as I can tell.— Captain
- I don't understand why we couldn't just hold onto to Lee for this season, pay the extra $9MM and let him go next season, picking up 2 prospects in return...An extra $9MM increases your chances of winning a World Series in 2010...The stadium was at 102% capacity last season...the owners are printing money...A payroll of $140MM is a lot, but why not go for it! You already depleted your farm system...— Discostu
- I agree with juanz...you people are nuts....the Phillies are in a better position now because Halladay is locked in for three additional years after this one where as Cliff would've walked after this year because he wanted CC money and that just ain't happening! I hope the people talking all this junk today aren't pushing and shoving too much at the parade next year...because they are the firt ones to hop on the band wagon when we're winning. Damn Jimmy was RIGHT, this city has a TON of fair weather fans....the funny part is right now this is a great move and the Fair Weathers ( you know who you are ) are complaining. Annoying! Great Job Rueben!— flyers2009
- Let me understand this, The Phillies balked at trading 4 prospects for Halladay in July so they traded 4 to rent Lee for 4 months and now trade 3 more prospects that they said no to in July to get Halladay now sent Lee to Seattle for 3 prospects that may not be as good as what they sent to Cleveland to rent Lee where is the logic behind all this? was it all for Ben Francisco— eaglesman1
- the way the 2011 free agency landscape shakes up, they were gonna lose out on a bidding war for Halladay to either Boston or NYY... Lee is gonna command CC money and, say the Phillies don't win the WS next year, there's no way they'd pay that
- If I spend $20 million I am not cheap, but I do not own a $1 billion franchise. If I did, and I failed to pay $9 million for Lee, who everyone agrees is worth probably at least twice that then, yeah, I'd be cheap too. "Cheap" is relative. Relative to the money they are bringing in, including all the TV revenues, the Phillies cheaped out on Lee.— Scoop
- Apparently everyone became greedy. I remember getting stiffs like Cory Lidle, Ugeth Urbina, and Eric Milton. Now we get the best pitcher in the league and it's not enough hahaha. This town kills me. Great job Amaro, I applaud you.— malvaro38
- hahaha I'm driving the Halladay bandwagon PhilsPhan83. Love that guy already— malvaro38
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- 50 years I watch this team and it's always the same thing...sparrows in a nest. Cheap, cheap, cheap.— m8roth
- Well the Philly fans are at it again. Let's sign Halladay, Lee, Lacky, Bay, Holliday and not trade anybody. Oh yeah, and we should sign every washed up player out there. They hope that Lee goes undefeated. The kids in the Cleveland deal go the World Series five times and they won't root for the Phils again. AND finally, they want to bring back Dawk. Just a few years ago people you were saying you would sell your first born for a World Series.— NC Dennis
- Here's an idea....everyone that doesn't like the trade....go buy a Yankees Jersey and root for them since they are now the defending champions.....don't watch this team.....and DON'T go to the parde when they win in 2010....they don't need you there and neither do the real fans of this team. "Fair Weathers Not Wanted! Stay Away" should be posted at every gate at Citizens Bank Park. It's a sad state of affairs. What a joke this fan base has become...spoiled brats!— flyers2009
- Look at the trades in isolation (including the deal to get Lee in the first place) rather than comparing Aumont to Drabek: Carrasco, Knapp, Donald, Marson for Francisco, Gillies, Aumont, Ramirez + 1/2 year of Lee This seems ok to me. Then: Drabek, Taylor, D'Arnaud for Halladay seems like an improvement over last year's price: Drabek, Brown & Happ for Halladay I'm worried about the farm system - it's the only effective way to deal with the coming departures of Howard, Rollins, Werth, etc ... Clearly the Phils are signaling that they're looking past this year, though. We'll just have to see...— philly_in_DC
