Phils - Acquired Lee

Philadelphia Phillies - Acquired P Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians for P Carlos Carrasco, P Jason Knapp, C Lou Marson, and SS Jason Donald

Something like this was almost considered a fait accompli after the Halladay-to-Philly trade fell through.  Lee’s not the pitcher that Halladay is, but the Indians still fared pretty decently in the trade.

From the Phils standpoint, they’re almost definitely a playoff team, but with a rotation that hasn’t been scaring anyone this season.  Lee instantly becomes the go-to guy for the Phillies and even if they gave up some interesting prospects with upside, they can be happy that they got to hang onto Michael Taylor and Kyle Drabek.

Carrasco’s still an excellent prospect at a position the Indians sorely need, though he’s still prone to have games where he leaves everything hanging.  The ERA for Lehigh Valley doesn’t look great at first glance, but he’s still dominating hitters when he’s on and doing it with a B+ fastball and if he puts it all together, will be a solid mid-rotation pitcher for the Indians.  Donald’s stock has dropped a lot this season, but he’s still a prospect and worth keeping an eye on.  Knapp is a pitcher the Indians really wanted and I think he has the highest upside of anyone in the trade, a solidly-built hard thrower who has dominated the Sally League this season.  Marson’s a very good defensive catcher who walks a lot, but he really needs to hit for more power unless he wants to be a rich man’s Mark Johnson.

Reasonable trade for both sides as they both accomplish what they needed to here.

2009 ZIPS Projection - Cliff Lee
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                 W    L    G  GS     IP    H   ER   HR   BB   SO   ERA
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Year-to-Date     7    9   22  22  152.0  165   53   10   33  107  3.14

Rest-of-Year     7    3   13  13   89.3   89   34    8   17   67  3.43
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Total           14   12   35  35  241.3  254   87   18   50  174  3.24

2009 ZIPS Projection - Carlos Carrasco
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                 W    L    G  GS     IP    H   ER   HR   BB   SO   ERA
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Year-to-Date     5   10   20  20  108.0  125   72   22   45   81  6.00

Rest-of-Year     3    5   12  11   59.0   67   38   10   30   40  5.80
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2009 ZIPS Projection - Lou Marson
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                AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
——————————————————————————————————————

Year-to-Date   233   32   61  12   0   1   20   28   48   3 .262 .341 .326

Rest-of-Year   159   21   41   7   0   2   15   19   34   1 .257 .338 .334
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2009 ZIPS Projection - Jason Donald
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                AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
——————————————————————————————————————

Year-to-Date   236   29   53  15   2   1   16   13   59   6 .225 .275 .318

Rest-of-Year   185   23   45   9   1   4   19   14   44   4 .244 .304 .360
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Year-to-date totals include minor-league translations, if applicable.