Halladay Blockbuster Complete

It looks like the deal is complete. It’s two separate trades. Cliff Lee goes to Seattle. The Phillies get Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and Juan Ramirez for Lee. For Halladay, the Phillies trade Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, and Travis D’Arnaud to Toronto. The Phillies also get $6 million.

The Phillies and Halladay have agreed to an extension. The contract is an average of about $20 million per year, taking Halladay through 2013.

Michael Taylor will likely be traded to Oakland for Brett Wallace.

I'm not a fan of this trade. The Phillies barely got anything in return for the ace they gave up: Cliff Lee. Aumont, a reliver, doesn't macth Drabek. Plus, I thought Drabek was "untouchable." If Drabek was going to be in the deal, why not trade him last July for Halladay?

The Mariners are the clear cut winners of this deal. If the Blue Jays get Wallace, that doesn't put them too far behind. Wallace is projected to be bettert than Taylor. Halladay is great; he's better than Lee and it'll be scary to see what he does switching from the American League to the National League. However the Phillies -- well, they gave up way too much.

Drabek & Taylor Named Paul Owens Winners

As seen on Phillies Nation.

Right-handed pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor were named the 2009 Paul Owens Award winners for best pitcher and player in the Phillies organization.

Drabek, arguably the Phillies most prized prospect in the farm system, went 12-3 with a 3.19 ERA in Single-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. The 21 year old struck out 150 batters in 158 innings and opponents batted .239 against him. Drabek was recently shut down for the remainder of the season.

Taylor batted .320 with 20 home runs, 84 runs batted in, and stole 21 bases in Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Taylor, 23, had a .944 on-base plus slugging percentage. He hit for the cycle on August 12.

Taylor Promoted, Knapp DL'd

As seen on Phillies Nation.

Top prospect Michael Taylor has been promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 23 year old batted .333 with 15 home runs and 65 runs batted in with Double-A Reading. In addition, he had an on-base plus slugging percentage of .977.

In other minor league transactions, Jason Knapp has been placed on the seven-day disabled list with shoulder fatigue. Knapp is 2-7 with a 4.01 ERA. He is eligible to come off the disabled this weekend, but will likely miss another week.

BA's Top 25 Prospects

Baseball America released their mid-season top 25 prospects today. The list features three Phillies:

17. Dominic Brown, OF
(Season with A+: .299 AVG/.379 OBP/.540 SLG/.919 OPS/9 HR/38 RBI/14 SB)

23. Michael Taylor, OF
(Season with AA: .340 AVG/.405 OBP/.583 SLG/ .989 OPS/ 15 HR/ 64 RBI/ 17 SB)

24. Kyle Drabek, RHP
(Season with A+ and AA: 9-1/108.1 IP/2.58 ERA/110 SO/ 136 BB)

In addition, Jason Knapp was listed in the top 50.
(Season with A: 2-6/84.2 IP/ 3.40 ERA/ 1.13 WHIP/ 111 SO/ 36 BB)

Jason Heyward, an outfielder in the Braves system was ranked number one. With A+ and AA, he is batting .300 with 10 HR. His OPS is .911.

Tim Beckham, the Rays first round pick in the 2008 draft, was ranked 20th.

Pharm Phriday: All Star Edition

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs have three players headed to the All Star Game. Andrew Carpenter, Mike Cervenak and Andy Tracy were selected to represent the International League All Stars.

Carpenter is 7-1 with a 2.75 earned run average in 14 games. Carpenter earned his first Major League win when he was called up earlier this season to start against the Washington Nationals.

Cervenak is batting .311 with 10 home runs and 66 runs batted in. Cervenak, 33, was selected to be an All Star last season, but did not play due to his promotion to the Major Leagues. Tracy is tied for second in the International League in home runs with 14.

IRONPIGPEN gives the complete I.L Roster.

The Reading Phillies have four players selected for the Eastern League: Joe Savery, Neil Sellers, Michael Taylor, and Vance Worley.

Savery and Taylor were selected by the fans. Savery leads the Eastern League with 10 wins. He also has a 3.08 ERA Taylor leads the league with a .348 batting average. Taylor is second in the league with a 1.009 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Sellers is batting .300 with 8 home runs and 44 RBI.

Worley is 5-4 with a 3.63 ERA. As always, Phoul Ballz gives a great interview with his most recent being with Worley.

Both All Star games will be held on July 15.

Pharm Phriday: 5/29

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (AAA): 19-27, 5th in INT North

Miguel Cairo, who was just designated for assignment has joined the IronPigs and is batting .357 with 1 HR and 5 RBI.

Jason Donald has been struggling, batting just .234,but has missed the last couple games due to a hamstring injury.

Antonio Bastardo pitched 7 scoreless innings in his last outing. In 13 innings, he is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. IRONPIGPEN predicts that he will be the next prospect to be called up. With Brett Myers injured, that prediction doesn't seem far off.

Reading Phillies (AA): 25-20, 3rd in EAS South

Michael Taylor continues to dominate. His .322 AVG, 8 HR, 33 RBI, and .960 OPS leads the team by far.

Neil Sellers is also having a decent year at third base. He is batting .313 with 5 HR, 19 RBI and a .863 OPS.

Vance Worely has been stellar in the 57.1 innings he has pitched. His ERA is just 2.83. Even more impression his WHIP: 0.91.

Clearwater Threshers (A+): 22-20, 2nd in FSL North

Dominic Brown: .338 AVG/ 6 HR/ 33 RBI/ .989 OPS

Yohan Flande: 5-1/ 3.38 ERA/ 40 SO/ 1.33 WHIP

Kyle Drabek: 3-1/ 2.91 ERA/ 52.2 IP/ 11.5 K per 9 / 1.18 WHIP

Lakewood Blue Claws (A): 27-19, 1st in SAL North

Travis D'Arnaud is batting just .185, but leads the team in RBI with 25. Phoul Ballz has an interview on the catching prospect.

Tyler Cloyd: 5-2/ 3.08 ERA/ 1.07 WHIP/ 8.86 SO/BB

Call of the Day: In July of 1993 Mickey Morandini hit a grand slam off San Francisco's Dave Righetti in the eighth inning of an 8-3 win.

"Righetti stretches... 1-2 pitch... swing and a well-hit ball to deep
right... this ball is a grand slam, a grand slam home run Mickey Morandini and
the Phillies have broken this game wide open!"

Pharm Phriday: 5/15

This edition of Pharm Phriday is a bit more laid back. It was featured on Phillies Nation earlier in the week, but I updated the stats.


The Phillies Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, are 14-19, 5th place in International North League.

Standout Star

Mike Cervenak: .328 AVG/ 3 HR/ 22 RBI/ .832 OPS

Jason Donald and Carlos Carrasco are two minor leaguers that everybody has their eye on. Donald has been up and down so far this season, but is tearing up lefties. He is hitting .421 against them. Overall he is batting .254 with one home run and 13 runs batted in. His on-base plus slugging percentage is .679. He has played the majority of the time at shortstop, but has played a few games at third base.

Carrasco was off to a terrific start, but has struggled in his last four starts. In his first three starts he lacked run support from the IronPigs so he had no wins to show for it. In 35.1 innings, he has 37 strikeouts, but is 0-4 with a 6.62 earned run average and allowed 1.75 walks per innings pitched.

Kyle Kendrick is 2-2 with a 3.75 ERA in seven starts. He has allowed a lot of hits (39 in 36 innings), but has been able to escape jams.

The Double-A Reading Phillies are 18-13, and in 3rd place in the Northern Eastern League.

Standout Stars

Michael Taylor: .310 AVG/ 6 HR/ 23 RBI/ 5 SB/ 9.65 OPS

Vance Worley: 3-0/ 2.11 ERA/ 0.86 WHIP/ 34 SO/ 38.1 IP

Class A Advanced team, the Clearwater Threshers, are 18-15. They are in 2nd place in the Florida State League North.

Standout Star-

Dominic Brown: .317 AVG/ 6 HR/ 26 RBI/ .974 OPS

Dominic Brown has been the standout star by far, but Kyle Drabek is a player to watch. So far he has rebounded nicely from Tommy John surgery. He is 3-0 with a 2.21 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He has struck out an amazing 51 batters in 40.2 innings.

The Class A Lakewood Blue Claws are 18-14. They are in 2nd place in the Northern South Atlantic League.

Jason Knapp is the player to watch for the Blue Claws. Overall he is 2-3 with a 3.82 ERA and 1.06 WHIP, but was practically lights out in his first four starts. He was rocked in two of his outings, but his 53 strike outs in 37.2 innings is unbelievable.