Braves Exchange Vazquez for Melky

And... the Phillies biggest competition in the National League East just got weaker! The New York Yankees traded Melky Cabrera to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Javier Vazquez.

Melky is a career .269 hitter and has a career .716 on-base plus slugging percentage. He has five major league years under his belt, and he is only 25.

Vazquez, a former Yankee, is 142-139 with a 4.19 career ERA. Vazquez pitched excellently with the Braves last season. He went 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA in 219.1 innings pitched. He struck out 9.8 batters per nine.

The Yankees got the better end of the deal. Melky's decent, but the Braves are losing a solid pitcher, who pitched well for them last year. A good pitcher is arguably more valuable than an average outfielder, at best. Pitching can be hard to come by; there is a lot of outfield depth throughout the league.

With Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and Derek Lowe, the Braves have a solid rotation, but it won't be as strong without Vazquez. The Yankees, on the other hand add Vazquez to a rotation that already involves CC Sabathia and A.J Burnett.

This could open the gate for a return of free agent Johnny Damon. Right now, the Yankee outfield consist of Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson. Brett Gardner would be the next best on the depth chart, but knowing the Yankees, they would want to do better.

In other MLB news, the Blue Jays acquired Brandon Morrow from the Seattle Mariners. Morrow would have been a great piece in the deal for Cliff Lee. Morrow is somebody that the Phillies need -- a reliever. Even if it wasn’t Seattle, plenty of teams would have listened on a Lee offer, so the Phils could have gotten more in return.

Speaking of the Lee trade and relievers, the Phillies are interested in Fernando Rodney. Rodney is seeking a 2-year $12 million deal. If that deal goes down, I won’t be happy. Some of that money could have belonged to Lee. The Angels are also interested.

Is it True: Lee for Halladay?

A couple days ago, Ken Rosenthal "had a hunch" that Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee could be traded in the same deal. Either he knew what he was talking about, or he had one lucky guess. Ken Rosenthal's hunch appears to be 100% accurate.

The Phillies are reportedly close to getting Roy Halladay. Cliff Lee would go to the Seattle Mariners for prospects. Those prospects would go to Toronto. The Phillies don't appear to be going anywhere with a Cliff Lee extension; Lee might require $23 million per year, and might want to test the free agency market. On the other hand, Halladay may sign for the Phillies cheaper, due to the chance to contend. Halladay wants around $20 million per year. He would want a contract extension before waving his no-trade clause. The Phillies have been rumored to offer him 3-4 years as of now.

But the deal is not official.

The Phillies may have to give another prospect for the deal to be complete. Michael Taylor seems to be the appropriate choice: major league ready, a great prospect, but not the Phillies top prospect. The Phillies are already losing their ace (granted, they get a better ace in return), but they shouldn't have to give up their best prospect, Drabek, who is now rumored to be involved in the deal.

But if Drabek is dealt, does that mean that Lee still goes? We have yet to find out. There are so many rumors surrounding this trade, that it's almost impossible to keep track of.

Michael Taylor, Travis D'Arnuad, Dominic Brown, Kyle Drabek, J.A Happ, Joe Blanton, Cole Hamels, the Phillie Phanatic, a Schmitter, the Liberty Bell, the bat boy, a dead Veterans Stadium jail cell rat, Chase Utley's hair gel, Ruben Amaro himself, a cheese steak, 6 beer men, FIVE World Series rings, Chris Wheeler's toupee, two beat writers to be named later, and a partridge in a pear tree have all been rumored to be in the deal (well, not the last few!).

We'll see what happens, but one thing is official: the Red Sox and John Lackey agree to a five-year deal. Why is this important? Because the Angels have now lost Chone Figgins and Lackey. If the Mariners do land Lee, watch out. They've made some improvements and could be a surprise after finishing last year at the bottom of the American League West.

Before The Deadline

The Detroit Tigers acquired Jarrod Washburn from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Luke French and Mauricio Robles.

Washburn is 8-6 and has a 2.64 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP in 133 innings. He is a free agent after the season.

The Mariners later rejected six offers for Feliz Hernandez.

The Marlins acquired Nick Johnson from the Washington Nationals for Aaron Thompson.

The Twins aquired Orlando Cabrera for prospect Tyler Ladendorf.

The Boston Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price. Because of the deal, the Sox traded Adam LaRoche to the Braves. LaRoche was just traded to Boston not too long ago. The Red Sox acquired Casey Kotchman in the deal.

The Rockies acquired Joe Biemel. The Yankees acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. for Chase Weems. Also, the Cincinnati Reds will acquired Scott Rolen for Edwin Encarnocion.

The San Diego Padres dealt Jake Peavy to the White Sox for Aaron Poreda, Adam Russell, Dexter Carter, and Clayton Richard. Unlike before, Peavy accepted this trade. Peavy may not even pitch this season because of an injury.

Pirates Sellers At Deadline

With all the hoopla surrounding Cliff Lee, the Pittsburgh Pirates moves were overshadowed.

The Giants just finished a three game sweep of the Pirates. Moments later, a Pirate switched clubhouses, joing the G-men.

The Pirates traded Freddy Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants for minor league pitcher Tim Alderson. The 20 year old Alderson was ranked the Giants fourth best prospect and 26th best prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America.

Because of a knee injury, Sanchez proposed a 3 year $20 million offer to the Pirates, which they turned down.

Sanchez is batting .296 with 6 HR and 34 RBI. He won the 2006 batting title.

It wasn't the only move the Pirates made. The Pirates and Seattle Mariners made a seven player deal.

The Mariners acquired Jack Wilson and Ian Snell for Ronny Cedeno and minor leaguers Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock. The Pirates will also pay almost all of Snell's and Wilson's contract for the remainder of the season.

Griffey Signs With M's

Ken Griffey Jr. decided to sign with his former team, the Seattle Mariners just days after he denied signing with the Atlanta Braves.

Griffey, who spent 11 years with the Mariners from 1989-1999, will act as an occasional designated hitter. The deal has a $2 million dollar base and could increase to $4 million.

The future hall of famer who helped saved the Mariner franchise from moving to Tampa Bay is a career .288 hitter with 611 home runs and a .919 OPS while being plagued with injuries.

Phillies Sign Madson; Other Updates

The Philadelphia Phillies signed Ryan Madson to the same contract he turned down just days before. The only difference is this contract includes incentives.

The contract is worth $12 million over 3 years. This buys out Madson's last year of arbitration and 2 years of free agency.

Madson was 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA in 2008. He had his ups and downs throughout the year, but for the most part, Madson got the job done, especially in the playoffs, where he went 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA. Madson earned just $1.4 million in 2008.

Nick Markakis agreed to an extension with the Baltimore Orioles. The deal, the third largest in Orioles history, is 6 years worth $66 million.

In 3 Major Leagues years, the 25 year old is a career .299 hitter with a .851 OPS.

The Mariners avoided arbitration with Felix Hernandez, agreeing to a one year $3.8 million deal. Hernandez, 22, was 9-11 with a 3.45 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 2008.

Other notable players avoiding arbitration: Huston Street, Jorge De La Rosa (Rockies), Bobby Jenks, (1 year, $5.6 million, White Sox), Kevin Gregg (Cubs), Mike Gonzalez (Braves), Duaner Sanchez, Jeremy Reed (Mets), Jorge Cantu, Jeremy Hermida (Marlins), Mike Napoli (Angels).

Note: Former Phillie Tadahito Iguchi will return to Japan for the rest of his career.

Deal and No Deal

The New York Mets went from a team with one of the worst back end bullpens to potentially one of the best. The Mets acquired relief pitcher J.J Putz in 12 player, 3 team, blockbuster trade.

Mets receive:

J.J Putz, Jeremy Reed, Sean Green from Seattle Mariners.

Mariners receive:

Franklin Gutierrez (from Cleveland Indians)

Aaron Heilman and Endy Chavez (from Mets)

Minor Leaguers: Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Jason Vargas, Ezekiel Carrera

Indians receive:

Joe Smith (From Mets)

Luis Valbuena (From Mariners)

Putz will likely be the setup man for newly signed Francisco Rodriguez. Putz missed much of the 2008 season due to injury. Putz has a career 3.07 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.

While a big blockbuster trade was made, another was called off. The San Diego Padres called off the Jake Peavy to Cubs deal, which invovled the Phillies. The Phillies would have acquired Mark DeRosa, but would of had to give up one of their top prospects.

Therefore, I'm happy this deal didn't fall through. DeRosa would fill in for Chase Utley, who may be out until June at the very latest. When Utley returns, DeRosa could of played some outfield, but otherwise, there isn't much use for him. I'd rather save our few prospects. As for the Putz trade, not so much happy, but that's baseball.