The Football Fan Spot

I think this may be the biggest trade ever in the history of anything. Has there ever been a bigger trade in sports history? Maybe when the Cowboys traded Herschel Walker to the Vikings for their entire team, their next like ten draft picks, and half of their owner’s soul, but this is different. This one is actually fair. Two, count ‘em two, former Cy Youngs switching teams in the same deal, as well as 7 top prospects switching teams as well. I don’t even want to think about all the work that went into this deal because I know how hard it can be for even the smallest deal to get done, but this one, 4 teams, 11 players, 6 million dollars changing hands, these GMs must not have slept for days to get this one done. Maybe that explains a few things here, more on that later, but anyway, I’m not going to talk about how it got done because that’s its impossible. Its done, let’s make sense of it.

Deal for Phillies

Receive: Roy Halladay, 6 million dollars, and prospects Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and Juan Ramirez

Give: Cliff Lee, and prospects Travis D’Arnaud, Michael Taylor, and Kyle Drabek

Honestly, its hard to make a call on the prospects here because the only one I’ve actually seen play is Kyle Drabek, but I can assume that they are getting close in value to what they are giving, maybe a little less because Drabek seems like a future ace. I’ll just focus on Cliff Lee for Roy Halladay. I don’t understand the move. Halladay is a great pitcher, don’t get me wrong, and I think he’s better than Lee, but Lee is proven in that park, in that city, for that team, in that league. When a player changes teams, there are so many things changing, so many variables that could go wrong and then all of a sudden the player isn’t who you thought he was, especially when changing leagues and facing batters he’s never faced before. Remember Barry Zito? Halladay is better than Zito, but imagine a few years ago when Zito was still with the A’s. If you had heard that the A’s were trading Zito for someone that was slightly lesser of a pitcher, but had been proven in both leagues, you would have said that A’s won that deal. However, a few years later, Zito is in the NL and pretty much sucks. Lee is not as good as Halladay, but he’s proven in both leagues and younger. He fits the team. He’s proven with the team, with the ballpark, the league, the city, the fans, etc. Halladay hasn’t done that get and, though I would never hope this, in a few years, he might not as the dominant starter he is now. I don’t understand the move here.

Deal for Mariners

Receive: Cliff Lee

Give: Prospects Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and Juan Ramirez

Again I’ve never seen any of these prospects play or even heard of them, all I know is that Baseball America, who I trust for prospect rankings, has Aumont and Ramirez ranked as their top two pitching prospects. However, I like the deal for them. Cliff Lee is not Erik Bedard. He’s not injury prone and overrated. He’s a legit ace who has success in the AL, which is key. They need an ace and he and Felix Hernandez, assuming they don’t go and trade him now, make a hell of a 1-2 punch atop their rotation.

Deal for Athletics

Receive: Michael Taylor

Give: Brett Wallace

Straight prospect swap, Billy Beane has done well with scouting young talent in the past, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Deal for Blue Jays

Receive: Brett Wallace, Kyle Drabek, Travis D’Arnaud

Give: Roy Halladay, 6 million

Bye bye face of the franchise. Hopefully these prospect pan out or their fans are going to have a riot. I have never seen Brett Wallace play, but from what I know about him he’s a 2008 1st round pick, who has been traded twice already, once for Halladay once for Matt Holliday (talk about a lot to live up to), he’s a natural 3rd baseman who is going to have to play 1st in the future because of his size, and he has a huge bat. D’Arnaud was one of the Phillies top ten prospects and plays a position of need for the Jays. However, all I can say for now is these guys better be good.