Can you imagine the one-two lefty punch the Philadelphia Phillies will be trotting out this October? Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels back-to-back? This trade gives the Phillies a legitimate chance of repeating now and addresses their biggest need. If you can’t wait for the NLCS matchup of the Phillies and Dodgers (sorry Cardinals), well, you just don’t care about baseball. The Phillies really did a great job in their pursuit of an ace-calibre pitcher. Any time you can land a Cy Young award winner and not give up your top two prospects, you’re looking pretty good.
So, it’s starting to really look like the Blue Jays will be keeping Roy Halladay. With the Phillies now out of the market and the Dodgers reportedly dropping out today, there isn’t much out there right now in terms of suitors. So, like I said from the start, Halladay won’t be dealt.
Finally, you really have to hand it to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the midst of a record-breaking losing season, they’ve now essentially traded away every bankable veteran talent they had. Yesterday, they traded their entire middle infield in two separate deals.
Just after losing to the San Francisco Giants, they announced they have dealt their all-star second baseman (Freddy Sanchez) to them. Then, they decided to package their longest tenured player (Jack Wilson) with a pitcher who refused to be recalled to the big club (Ian Snell) and send them to Seattle. I’m seriously beginning to think that if the Pirates didn’t play in beautiful PNC Park, they’d have no fans at all by now.