Anyone following baseball this season?

[coolmoors]

Well, I forgot who else was in the trade, but finally there's been a Halladay trade.

[dfreely]

It was a 3-team trade. Halladay went to the Phillies, Cliff Lee went to the Mariners and both teams sent prospects to Toronto I believe.

Seattle could really compete next year.. they now have a great 1-2 combo in both the rotation (Felix and Lee) and the lineup (Figgins and Ichiro), and in the process they weakened the best team in their division (the Angels) by taking away Figgins. They also traded Silva (one of the absolute worst contracts in baseball) for Milton Bradley, who is problematic, but is a good hitter when he gets it going.

[dobie516]

The Phillies got the the best right-hander in baseball in Halladay, and all the fans here are doing are complaining that they didn't keep Lee too. It seems like the didn't have the payroll to keep both, but should have gotten some higher level prospects for Lee.

[dfreely]

I don't think they were ever going to keep Lee anyways, since there was so much talk about him exploring free agency next year. I think Lee later said he wanted to stay with the Phillies after he was traded, but it was still smart for the Phillies to replace him with Halladay, who is a better pitcher with a better track record, and more importantly, one that they're sure they can lock up for multiple years.

[dobie516]

The Phils have most of their everyday players locked up for the next few years. Adding Halladay to the mix should make them stronger, and certainly in the running for another championship. They still need some power off of the bench and relief help.

[coolmoors]

New trade in. Javier Vazquez to the Yanks for Melky Cabrera and Mike Dunn. Boone Logan is also going for, I believe, a prospect to be named later and cash.

[dfreely]

The prospect is some low A pitcher.

Rather strange deal, I know Atlanta wanted to shed payroll and already have 5 other starters, but they got very little in return. Feels like they could've gotten a lot more for Javy.

[dobie516]

That deal really helps the Yanks who have had a quietly productive off season.

[coolmoors]

Jason Bay signs with the Mets.

[dfreely]

Even as a Mets fan, I'm not too excited about the Bay deal. They needed starting pitching, a catcher and a first basemen a lot, lot more than they needed a left fielder, especially considering they have a such a highly-touted prospect in that position (Fernando Martinez), as well as another solid outfielder in Angel Pagan.

Interesting tidbit though - when the current Mets GM Omar Minaya was managing the Expos, he traded Bay to the Mets for a utility player. A few months later, the Mets traded him away to the Padres.