You may want to turn on Phillies-Reds...

[Roy H.]

Imagine if the Phillies still had Cliff Lee...  they'd be unstoppable.  (And they still could have made the Oswalt trade, too!)

I still don't understand why they picked prospects over Lee.  Finances, sure, but their revenue stream has to be pretty healthy after two trips to the World Series.

They wouldn't have been able to get Hallady without giving up Lee.

Sure they could have. 

Toronto sent Halladay to the Phillies for three minor leaguers: catcher Travis d'Arnaud, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor.

Each of those guys was in the Phillies farm system.  Philly then flipped Lee for prospects:

The Phillies dealt Lee to Seattle for three prospects: right-hander Phillippe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander Juan Ramirez.

The Phillies easily could have had both, they just didn't want to take on the salary commitment.  The worst part is, the prospects they got aren't even that good.

[Chris]

Imagine if the Phillies still had Cliff Lee...  they'd be unstoppable.  (And they still could have made the Oswalt trade, too!)

I still don't understand why they picked prospects over Lee.  Finances, sure, but their revenue stream has to be pretty healthy after two trips to the World Series.

They wouldn't have been able to get Hallady without giving up Lee.

By the way HOLY...  Watched the whole game it was awesome! 

It's to bad our Red Sox had to have such an injury riddled season. 

I didn't think there was any overlap in those trades.  I am pretty sure they traded their own prospects for Halladay, not the ones they got for Lee.  Trading Lee just allowed them to restock their system a bit.

[Q_FBE]

That was great!  I don't have a dog in this series but if I live to be 100, how many postseason no-hitters will I see?  3? 4?  And only 1 walk, too!  Good for Halladay.

And TPs for everyone in this thread, because this is the first time the word "no-hitter" appears in it.  Good work all.

I did not want to j--- it. That was spectacular, glad I made it home for the last three innings.

[Witch-King]

Well. Looks like I'm 'aboot to get to get trashed tonight -- the Cincinnati Reds were just shut-out by Roy Halladay in game 1 of the NLDS. What's worse is that Roy threw a no-hitter, only the second no-hitter in post season history. Where was Joey Votto tonight?



 

I'm just hoping the that the Reds can bounce back on Friday before the Phillies pick up any more steam. We only gave up four runs which is relatively decent for a team that thrives on playing defensive baseball, however if we aren't scoring runs ourselves then obviously we won't have many opportunities to win games from this stage of the season onward. I'm hoping Dusty can get our guys motivated for game 2 so we can put this loss behind us...

[Mike-Dub]

Imagine if the Phillies still had Cliff Lee...  they'd be unstoppable.  (And they still could have made the Oswalt trade, too!)

I still don't understand why they picked prospects over Lee.  Finances, sure, but their revenue stream has to be pretty healthy after two trips to the World Series.

They wouldn't have been able to get Hallady without giving up Lee.

Sure they could have.  

Toronto sent Halladay to the Phillies for three minor leaguers: catcher Travis d'Arnaud, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor.

Each of those guys was in the Phillies farm system.  Philly then flipped Lee for prospects:

The Phillies dealt Lee to Seattle for three prospects: right-hander Phillippe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander Juan Ramirez.

The Phillies easily could have had both, they just didn't want to take on the salary commitment.  The worst part is, the prospects they got aren't even that good.

The Phillies are trying to keep their payroll at around $140 million while making sure they have an ace for the future. There were no guarantees Lee would stay beyond 2010. Halladay's two preferred teams were thought to be the Phillies and Yankees. Indications are the Yankees offered a package that included top catching prospect Jesus Montero as the centerpiece.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/12/14/phillies.halladay.lee/index.html#ixzz11di0BgnK

You're right Roy it was because of payroll.  I too don't understand why they didn't keep Lee and just trade for Halladay.  They did admit that they made a mistake not keeping Lee when the traded for Oswalt though.

[wdleehi]

Imagine if the Phillies still had Cliff Lee...  they'd be unstoppable.  (And they still could have made the Oswalt trade, too!)

I still don't understand why they picked prospects over Lee.  Finances, sure, but their revenue stream has to be pretty healthy after two trips to the World Series.

They wouldn't have been able to get Hallady without giving up Lee.

Sure they could have.  

Toronto sent Halladay to the Phillies for three minor leaguers: catcher Travis d'Arnaud, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor.

Each of those guys was in the Phillies farm system.  Philly then flipped Lee for prospects:

The Phillies dealt Lee to Seattle for three prospects: right-hander Phillippe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander Juan Ramirez.

The Phillies easily could have had both, they just didn't want to take on the salary commitment.  The worst part is, the prospects they got aren't even that good.

The Phillies are trying to keep their payroll at around $140 million while making sure they have an ace for the future. There were no guarantees Lee would stay beyond 2010. Halladay's two preferred teams were thought to be the Phillies and Yankees. Indications are the Yankees offered a package that included top catching prospect Jesus Montero as the centerpiece.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/12/14/phillies.halladay.lee/index.html#ixzz11di0BgnK

You're right Roy it was because of payroll.  I too don't understand why they didn't keep Lee and just trade for Halladay.  They did admit that they made a mistake not keeping Lee when the traded for Oswalt though.

But they are sure to have Oswalt after this season instead of having to get into a bidding war over Lee with the Yankees.


Yes, it was a mistake at the time, but at least they were not afraid to admit it and fix it.