Halladay to Phillies, Lee to Mariners in three-team trade

Posted on December 14, 2009

Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during a game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California on May 12, 2002. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Holy cow the Hot Stove League is burning HOT today! In a a blockbuster deal that gets baseball fans everywhere excited The Phillies, Blue Jays and Mariners have worked out a complicated three-team trade that will see pitcher Roy Halladay going to the Phillies and pitcher Cliff Lee going to the Mariners.

The Phillies have been going after Halladay since last season. The Blue Jays and Phillies could not come up with a deal in July of 2009 so the Phillies looked elsewhere and grabbed Lee from the Indians to bolster their starting staff. Now they have finally acquired the guy they wanted all along by swinging this deal that will have the former Cy Young Award winner Halladay joining lefty Cole Hamels to form a tough lefty/righty combo at the top of the rotation.

The big winners in this deal appear to be the Mariners who will now have an awesome twosome at the top of their rotation with Lee joining Felix Hernandez. I first shot Lee during an inter league game between the Indians and Giants in San Francisco back in 2005 (see below). At that time I had no idea who Lee was, but he made some real nice pictures with his pretty left-handed delivery.

Halladay has been the most dominant pitcher in the American League for the past decade and enters the 2010 season with a career record of 148-76. The six-time all star will have to adjust to pitching in the National league and the band box the Phillies play in, but I don’t think he will have any problems. As I prepare this story I am not happy with the lack of photographs I have of Halladay in my archive. Since Toronto only comes to Oakland once a year I have not had the chance to shoot him very often. I need more Halladay in my archive! He better pitch here in San Francisco when the Phillies come visit for three games in April.

Cliff Lee was a monster for the Phillies as soon as they got him last season and helped lead them to the division title. He was simply awesome in the post season and beat the Yankees twice in the 2009 World Series. Mariner fans should be THRILLED to add him to their ballclub. I can’t wait to shoot him this coming spring down in Peoria, Arizona. Lee has one of the best left-handed deliveries in all of baseball to photograph. His classic motion ends with a great leg kick that looks terrific from behind the plate (see above). The Mariners are going after the Angels HARD. This should be fun to watch in 2010.