What's All The Fuss About?

So for about a week now we’ve heard so much about this Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee deal. I don’t see what’s so hard to get here. The controversy is the Phillies are trading away Cliff Lee, their best pitcher by far from last season, unhittable,  great personality, fan favorite, Cy Young winner, etc… I could go on about how great Cliff Lee is. But this isn’t just about Cliff Lee. This is about the Philadelphia Phillies now and their future, and I support the move.

The Phillies just completed a very complicated trade with the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. Sending 3 of their top prospects to Toronto landing the Phils pitching stud Roy Halladay. GREAT! The Phillies not only have what is arguably the most dangerous batting order in baseball, but now TWO Cy Young winning starting pitchers… Not so fast. These 3 minor leaguers they just sent to Canada were highly touted talents, the future of the ball club. To re-coop that hit Philadelphia sent Cliff Lee to Seattle for their 3 top prospects, a monster outfielder and their 2 top pitching hopefuls. But why not keep Lee AND Halladay? It’s simple, MONEY. Roy Halladay just signed a 3 year, $60-million contract extension, which is much less than he would have earned on an open free agent market. Halladay took less money to play for a winning team with a shot at a championship, I love that. But with the Phillies resigning all their young talent the past few years their pay roll has been skyrocketing. Cliff Lee is a free agent after next season, and he’s already been saying how he wants a new contract comparable to CC Sabathia’s long term $100-million deal. The Phillies were in no way, shape or form ever entertaining the idea of giving a 33 year old pitcher who’s 2 years removed from a season ending surgery that type of money or length to his contract. So rather than keeping Lee and adding Halladay, they thought it’d be wiser to trade Lee to replenish the farm system.

Now I’m not entirely in love with the idea. I think the current Phillies roster is loaded with young stars and they aren’t starving for prospects because they don’t have many players on their way out. What good are a bunch of minor leaguers when the big club is packed with youth who are all under contract for a few years each? I think the best thing the Phils could have done is keep Lee with Halladay and make a huge run at another World Series Championship. But I do think they upgraded in the trade. Tons of media are questioning if the Phillies got better at all with this trade, really? Really?! Roy Halladay, ever heard of him? He’s only been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball for about 10 years now. A shoe-in Hall of Famer, Cy Young winner, career 3.43 earned run average. Need I go on? Yea, Cliff Lee was great last year, but Roy Halladay has been great his entire career. They’re very similar pitchers in my opinion. Everything Lee has been made famous for the past 2 years, Halladay has been doing forever. They’re the same age, both have overpowering stuff, ground ball pitchers(which is a big deal playing in Philly’s small Citizens Bank Park), they’re both innings eaters, both boast low ERA’s and high strike out totals. But the thing is Halladay does everything Lee does just a little better and is a more proven pitcher by far. Like I said, they’re the same age, but Halladay has been in the bigs 4 seasons longer, has 60 more wins, Halladay has had 7 seasons with a sub 3.50 ERA, Lee has done it twice. Roy Halladay has three 200 strike out seasons, Cliff Lee has never gotten to 200. Halladay has 49 complete games, the most of any active pitcher, and three times more than Cliff Lee, this is a very easy thing to over look, but in Philly, with a shaky bullpen, this is huge. Roy Halladay is just a career elite pitcher and while Cliff Lee has been big as of late, he is just not on the level that Halladay is.

Like Lee, I could go on about how great Roy Halladay is. So do I think the Phillies improved? Yes. Cliff Lee is great, he dominated the last two seasons. But he is not Roy Halladay, who has dominated the last decade. Every Phillies fan would have loved to see both pitchers in the red pin stripes, but the Phillies’ brass opted to get something in return for Lee rather than let him walk away into free agency. The Phillies are still the best team in the National League and are still in every way World Series contenders.

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