Halladay, Lackey, Lee on Move

December 14th, 2009 | by Ray Flowers |

Huge news today all over the ball field highlighted by three of the top-15 arms in the AL switching rosters while a national icon nicknamed Godzilla also switched his address.

Lackey Joins Red Sox

My thoughts on the John Lackey to Red Sox deal? A great move that gives the club the best top of the rotation in the AL as Lackey will team with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. To read more about the move (a reported 5-year, $85 million deal) and what can be expected from Lackey in 2010 click on the link to Breaking Down: John Lackey.

My Twitter account was blowing up all day with updates on the above deal, as well as those that I’m about to discuss. You can sign up to follow me at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter Page. Come say hi, it’s really a great source to check in with all day for updated info while I’m busy plowing through feature length articles.

Did you catch the Fantasy Buffet Podcast this morning by the way? I think I’m pretty darn good answering the questions, at least better than running the show and asking them. Ted Carlson joined me on Monday, Kyle Elfrink was unavailable, and the show went well, but I’m clearly more effective at blabbing answers than pushing buttons. Luckily I’ll be returning to my more familiar an effective role on Tuesday. The show is Monday through Friday, 8-9 AM PST, for those of you that want to give it a listen.

Matsui to Angels

I wrote a breakdown of the Hideki Matsui to Angels’ deal that is being widely reported, and it should be posted sometime on Tuesday at Fanball. A quick synopsis follows:

1- Matsui is still a nice bat, though expecting anything more than last year’s .274-28-90 effort will likely lead to disappointment.

2- The move out of Yankee Stadium to Anaheim might not be as negative as you think.

3- The Angels might use the fact that they lost Lackey and only spent $6.5 million on a 1-year deal for Matsui to sign Jason Bay. After all, they have millions left to throw at a player and Bay would look great in the middle of that lineup.

And last but not least, the biggest deal of the day.

Halladay to Jays, Lee to Mariners

This deal has been reported by everyone, but all the details are still a bit foggy and could take another day or two to be ironed out. Here is what we think we know about the 3-way deal.

Phillies receive: Roy Halladay
Mariners receive: Cliff Lee
Blue Jays receive: C Travis D’Arnaud, OF Michael Turner, RHP Phillippe Aumont
(a late report said that Aumont was not in the deal but Kyle Drabek was).

There could be more names added to the deal, we are still trying to lock it down, but it’s a huge deal for the Phillies and Mariners.

So why did the Phillies do this, basically shipping out one top of the rotation ace for another? Here is what we think is the reason: money. Apparently Lee wanted a CC Sabathia-like deal to remain with the Phils, something like 7-years and $160 million. The Phils decided there was no way they would do that. Therefore, they parlayed Lee in the deal to bring in Halladay, who not only is a better pitcher, but one who was willing to sign a more reasonable deal with early reports being that Halladay will sign a 3-year, $60+ million deal with at least one, and possibly two, option years tacked on.

In total, the Phillies upgraded slightly on the hill, kept their payroll at an acceptable level by not giving a massive extension to Lee, and also seemingly held on to their top minor league talent that they were unwilling to move at the trade deadline when they tried unsuccessfully to add Halladay.

As for Lee, he gets to pitch in a nice pitcher’s park in the Northwest, though we’ll have to see if the club is willing to give the soon to be free agent (2010 is his last year under contract) the massive dollar figures he wants to serve as the #2 arm in their rotation behind Felix Hernandez.

All in all this was one hell of a day for the middle of December. I need to take a break now, pull back on some spiked eggnog, and truly reflect on yet another wonderful day at my job.

Cheers.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Hideki Matsui, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Michael Turner, Philllippe Aumont, Roy Halladay, Travis D'Arnaud, Vladimir Guerrero