The Seattle Mariners are part of a three team deal with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies that will send Roy Halladay to the Phillies, and net the Mariners All Star and Cy Young award winning pitcher Cliff Lee.
After losing out on All Star CF Curtis Granderson in the one blockbuster trade completed at the Winter Meetings between the Yankees, Tigers, and Diamondbacks, Jack Zdureincik smartly held off of the Tigers ridiculously high asking price of P Phillipe Aumont, P Brandon Morrow, and P Shawn Kelley, to start negotiations for Granderson.
Instead he is essentially making the same trade, but is netting arguably the best left handed starting pitcher in the game to pair with arguably the games most valuable starting pitcher, Felix Hernandez.
This deal is going to end up as the most prominent blockbuster trade in recent baseball memory. It's not everyday you see two aces, arguably a pair of the games best pitchers, swapped in the same deal.
The prospects being swapped have not been finalized yet, in total, the Mariners are trading three players and two of three will be Aumont, and Morrow, along with someone like Carlos Truinfel, Shawn Kelley, Michael Saunders, as the third player included.
For anyone criticizing the Mariners for a slow Winter Meeting period, this blockbuster seemingly trumps all others made, or that will be made, in recent trade history.
For anyone bummed out the Boston Red Sox snagged SP John Lackey, turn that frown upside down.
If the Mariners wind up giving up Morrow, Aumount, and Truinfiel, for Lee, Zduriencik should be hailed as a genius by Seattle Mariners followers. Losing Aumount is what stings the most, but you have to give something to get something. Truinfel is seemingly blocked in the infield for the next several seasons, and Morrow is an inconsistent pitcher who should be considered a project with insane potential.
No matter what the price, Jack Zdureincik just landed the Seattle Mariners another staff ace in exchange for players with an insignificant impact on the MLB roster.
Has to be a bad day to be an Anaheim Angels fan, after dealing with the Mariners snatching of All Star 3B Chone Figgins, the Angels also lost out on their own staff ace, John Lackey.
To make matters worse, the two All Star pitchers being swapped in this three way trade were both primary trade targets for the Angels. Not only have they lost Figgins, Lackey, and lost out on Halladay and Lee via trade, they have to now watch Lee getting shipped to the arch rival Mariners.
Zdureincik is not done either, having only added $17 million so far with Figgins and Lee, the Mariners still have $33 million left from the bloated Bavasi contract purge they experienced this off season. With the Red Sox possibly out of the Jason Bay hunt with the acquisition of Lackey, that leaves the Mariners with the Mets, and what is sure to be a very aggressive Angels' team that has watch a pair of their best players leave, as the main suitors for Bay.
The Angels off season budget was declared at around $12 million, this, of course could be a smokescreen.
Signing Bay would take more than that, and wouldn't leave money for the void in the starting rotation, or other needs they want to address. Unless that $12 million figure is simply a bluff to mask their interest in anyone, they probably do not have the financial wherewithal to outbid the Mariners or Mets.
I believe all signs point to the Mariners signing Jason Bay, and if Michael Saunders was included in the Lee trade, Bay to Seattle is all but a done deal unless someone seemingly goes all out with a $20 million annual offer.
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