Plan B Gets an A

By: Matt

It seemed like a match made in heaven. The Philadelphia Phillies, reigning World Series Champions, were a division winner with pitching woes. The Toronto Blue Jays were a rebuilding team with a disgruntled ace. The outcome seemed obvious, the Phillies would trade the Jays a handful of prospects for Roy Halladay. No other team had the prospects to satisfy the Jays. No team was as desperate for pitching help as the Phillies, whose playoff ace, Cole Hamels, had been consistently inconsistent in 2009. It only seemed like a matter of time before the Phillies and Jays reached a deal. Names such as Michael Taylor, Domonic Brown, JA Happ, and Kyle Drabek were thrown out as potential centerpieces, but despite the depth of talent in the Phillies farm negotiations reached a snag. The Jays wanted Drabek and Brown, the Phillies refused to trade either, and neither organization would compromise. Fans were sure that eventually one GM would give in, but neither did. In the end, the Phillies gave up on Roy Halladay and chose their plan B: trading lesser prospects for reigning AL Cy Young Winner Cliff Lee.

At first, Phillies fans were confused, Cliff Lee was the 2008 CY Young winner, but he was also 9-7 in 2009 and appeared to be far less dominant than in 2008. After four starts one thing is obvious: the fans were wrong. While Cliff Lee was only one game over .500 in Cleveland people failed to realize that as an Indian Lee received, arguably, the worst run support of any pitcher in baseball. After one month as a Phillie Lee has re-established himself as an elite pitcher and undeniable ace. In 2008 CC Sabathia joined the Milwaukee Brewers to help in a late season run. Sabathia was dominant with the Brewers, making himself a candidate for the NL Cy Young award despite only playing half a season in the National League. Amazingly, through five starts, Cliff Lee has been better than Sabathia. Sabathia was 4-0 with a sub 2 ERA but Lee is 5-0 and has a .680 ERA and 2 complete games with more strikeouts and fewer walks than Sabathia. Throughout the first half of 2009 it appeared that pitching would be the Phillies Achilles heel, now it is one of their greatest strengths. By not making the trade for Roy Halladay the Phillies were able to keep JA Happ, a Rookie of the Year candidate with a record above .750. The Phillies also signed Pedro Martinez, whose pitch velocity has returned to the low 90’s, well above his high mark while with the New York Mets. Today, the Phillies have a staff that features a true ace in Lee, a potential ace in Hamels, two workhorses in Joe Blanton and JA Happ, and two interchangeable, crafty veterans in Pedro Martinez and Jaime Moyer. After struggling to hold off opponents through the early months of the season, the Phillies now have 6 qualified starting pitchers and a tie for the fewest losses in the NL. Nobody knows if the Phillies newfound pitching success will last, but what people do know is that thus far, Plan B Lee gets an A+.