Roy Halladay + Bowl Picks

In case you've been dead for the last week, the Phillies have made a couple trades involving pitchers.. Roy Halladay is now in Philadelphia and Cliff Lee is not. I think if I read another Halladay/Holiday pun, I'm going to puke. Needless to say, this has been the epicenter of conversation among Philadelphia sports for the last several days. If I had to gauge what the ratio of positive to negative feedback from fans/media, it would probably be 20% positive and 80% negative. Being the reasonable and keen observer that I am, I'll look at it from both sides.

POSITIVES
Roy Halladay is a better pitcher than Cliff Lee. I know Lee was great for the Phillies for the short time he was here. I know he won a Cy Young award more recently than Halladay. But here's the ultimate kicker: Roy Halladay is going to the Hall of Fame, Cliff Lee, in all likelihood, is not. Roy Halladay career: 3.43 ERA, 148 wins, and an astounding (in this age of baseball) 49 complete games. Cliff Lee career: 3.97 ERA, 97 wins, 13 complete games. Cliff Lee is a great pitcher, no doubt about that, but Halladay will go down as one of the top 20 pitchers of all-time when all is said and done, possibly even higher than that. Halladay is who the Phillies wanted all along last year. They just didn't want to pay his price tag, so they settled for Lee. Bottom line, Halladay is an upgrade over Lee.

Cliff Lee would not have been a Philadelphia Phillie after this season. I know he came out and said he wanted to finish his career in Philadelphia. I'm sure he wanted to, but the Phillies wouldn't have been able to afford his asking price. He made it well known that he wanted Johan Santana type of money. With Ryan Howard's contract on the horizon, the Phillies have to save money wherever they can. They got Halladay to sign for 3 more years after this season for a cheaper price than Lee. The Phillies are not the Yankees for Red Sox. They just can't spend money however they please. Halladay over Lee is a fiscally smart choice.

Halladay is a better fit for the Phillies than Lee. He's a ground ball pitcher in a park where a seemingly routine fly ball can turn into a homer very fast. He's also a righty in a rotation that would have been four lefties and one righty if Lee had stayed. And let's not forget what the Phillies Achillies' Heel was last season: the bullpen. Halladay is a guaranteed 7 innings every time he goes out, if not more. He's going to help out the bullpen drastically.

NEGATIVES
Yes, the team could have had both Halladay and Lee this season. It would have stretched their payroll to their absolute maximum, but they could've done it. The opening day rotation of Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Happ, and Blanton would have been the best the in the league, no contest. They would have easily been everyone's World Series favorites and 100 wins would have been a very real possibility.

There's also the fact that the Phillies could have made this trade for Halladay last season, along with getting Lee. Dealing in what-ifs is a tricky business, but what if the Phillies had Halladay to pitch in that World Series? Would we be celebrating back-to-back titles right now? Would I have to deal with seeing Yankees World Series merchandise everytime I go to Modell's in New Jersey?

Besides the payroll factor, GM Ruben Amaro didn't want the Phillies' minor league system to be depleted of talent, which is why he got three of the Mariners top prospects. I understand the need to have talented players in the minors, because the team does have a future to worry about. But, as fans, would you rather:
a) Have three straight World Series titles, go down as one of the greatest teams of all-time, and be absolutely terrible for 10 straight season after that
OR
b) Win one World Series, fall short the next year, be competitive for the next 10 seasons, maybe win another title, but ultimately just be remembered as "another team"

Having been a Phillies fan through some terrible terrible seasons, I can say it's not an easy choice to make. But ultimately, if you have a chance to win it all, I think you have to go for it and not worry about tomorrow.

That's not to say I'm not excited for Roy Halladay in a Phillies uniform. He's going to be great, and this team is certainly the favorite in the National League once again. However, if we fall just short again this year, there's always going to be that big what if. This could have been one of the greatest teams of all-time. Now? We'll see.

BOWL PICKS

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno St over Wyoming

St. Petersburg Bowl: Rutgers over UCF

New Orleans Bowl: So. Miss over Mid Tenn State

Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon St over BYU

Poinsettia Bowl: Cal over Utah

Hawaii Bowl: Nevada over SMU

Little Caesars Bowl (is Little Caesars still in existence? If it is, how do they have money for a bowl game?): Marshall over Ohio

Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pitt over Tyler Hansbrough

Emerald Bowl: USC over Boston College

Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky

Independence Bowl: Georgia over Texas A&M

EagleBank Bowl: UCLA over Temple

Champs Sports Bowl: Miami over Wisconsin

Humanitarian Bowl: Bowling Green over Idaho

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska over Arizona

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Air Force

Sun Bowl: Oklahoma over Stanford

Texas Bowl: Missouri over Navy

Insight Bowl: Minnesota over Iowa State

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech over Tennessee

Outback Bowl: Auburn over Northwestern

Gator Bowl: Florida State over West Virginia

Capitol One Bowl: LSU over Penn State

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State

Sugar Bowl: Florida over Cincinnati

International Bowl: South Florida over Northern Illinois

Papajohns.com Bowl: South Carolina over UConn

Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss over Oklahoma State

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas over ECU

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech over Michigan State

Fiesta Bowl: The College University over Boise State

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Iowa

GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan over Troy

National Title Game: Texas over Alabama
It's a classic "two teams very close in talent but one team is still heavily favored because of what happened in their last games" game. Texas wins a close one.