Phillies Lee-ve Jays, Halladay behind

It's a shame, in a way, that the Phillies couldn't work out a deal to get Roy Halladay. I was going to write an awesome parody of Madonna's "Holiday" with Halladay/Phillies lyrics. Oh, well. Toronto wanted too much in their initial trade proposal and apparently weren't willing to compromise, so the Phillies essentially told the Blue Jays the same thing that Dick Cheney once told Senator Pat Leahy. They turned around and got starting pitcher Cliff Lee from Cleveland along with outfielder Ben Francisco, for 4 minor leaguers: pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Jason Knapp, catcher Lou Marson and infielder Jason Donald.

Pluses:

• none of these four were among the players the Blue Jays wanted for Halladay
• he's going to make about $6.75 million less than Halladay
• they got a right-handed bat off the bench in Francisco
• Lee is the 2008 Cy Young award winner and pitching well (though not quite as spectacular as last year), and now he'll be pitching with a team that has great offense and great defense
  

Minuses:

• Lee is lefthanded, which could leave the Phils with four lefty starters -- Lee, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, J.A. Happ -- that could be a problem against teams with more big right-handed hitters (then again, if Pedro Martinez isn't sent to the bullpen once he's activated, either Moyer or Happ would be out of the rotation)
• Lee hasn't had the same kind of career-long brilliance as Halladay
• Lee is more of a fly ball pitcher; though he hasn't been giving up a lot of homers, he hasn't been pitching home games at cozy Citizens Bank Park

If we're not having a Halladay celebration, this is a fine backup plan. It keeps phenoms Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor (not to mention Happ) here and strengthens the rotation greatly. Between this deal and their 7-game NL East lead, the only worry the Phils have right now is the bullpen, due to the various injuries and Brad Lidge's continuing ineffectiveness.