Phillies still trying to close Roy Halladay deal
by Scott Butler 12/15/09
One thing seems pretty clear right now: the Phillies will get Roy Halladay and give up Cliff Lee. The rest of the story...only time will tell.
What we are hearing right now is that in addition to Lee, the Phillies will likely also send Kyle Drabeck and Dom Brown or Michael Taylor and possibly another player to the Toronto Blue Jays. Both teams like Brown, which might be a big part of the equation. It appears that all of the Phillies prospects will go to Toronto and all of Seattle's prospects will go to the Phillies. One of Seattle's prospects that is rumored to come to Philly is Phillippe Aumont, one of their top right-handed pitching prospects.
Reports are that Halladay will get a three-year extension (through the 2013 season) with at least $60 million guaranteed and vesting options to push the deal even further. Toronto may also give the Phillies $6 million dollars to help pay for Halladay's $15.75 million dollar salary this year.
This is a bit of a puzzling deal, but obviously the Phillies realized that they would not be able to re-sign Cliff Lee. As much as I am sure we all wanted Lee to stay, Halladay is admittedly the better pitcher and we look to be getting a discount on the deal. Let's just wait to see exactly what happens before making any judgments.
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