In his first appearance in a Phillies uniform Lee pitched 9 innings and gave up just 1 run. Not a bad start.

All the talk leading up to the trade deadline was about Roy Halladay and his many suitors. Then a funny thing happened, despite all that talk he is still in Toronto, but there were a number of big time deals that could have a huge effect on the rest of the season. So lets take a look at who the winners and losers of the trade deadline were.

Winners

Philidelphia Phillies: The Phillies win this trade deadline with quality over quantity. Cliff Lee is the reigning AL Cy Young winner and all they gave up was 4 of their prospects, and managed to keep their top 2 prospects which most experts thought they would have to trade to get one of the top tier pitchers. Now the Phillies are the favorites in the NL and are poised to repeat as World Champs. O and Ben Fransisco is a decent backup in the outfield.

St. Louis Cardinals: In the past few weeks I have commented in the power rankings that the Cards needed to give Pujols some help in the batting order. I guess they listened, the Cards added three bats to the lineup, all of which were important for different reasons. Mark DeRosa brings 20 HRs to the Cards lineup which is desperate for power outside of Pujols, Julio Lugo finally gives the Cards a decent second baseman and a .300 hitter. Finally the addition of Matt Holliday is the biggest of the three, Holliday will bat behind Pujols. Not only is he another great bat but he makes opposing pitchers throw more strikes to Pujols. The Cards are ready for a playoff run now.

Cleveland Indians/Pittsburgh Pirates: I grouped these guys together because they both are winners for the same reason. Both have absolutely no fucking chance at the playoffs. So what did they do? Reorganized for the future. The Indians lose Garko, Martinez, and Lee but in return they get a number of highly regarded prospects, highlighted by Masterson, Carrasco, and Barnes. The Pirates got rid of pretty much every solid veteran on their team (Sanchez, Wilson, Snell) for young prospects (Clement, Alderson, Ascanio).

Seattle Mariners: The Mariners lose Jarrod Washburn, who is pitching extremely well recently, but they add a number of young starters who can start now. Luke French out battled Zach Grienke in his MLB debut earlier this season and should be the 4th or 5th starter, Snell has been out of this world in his Triple A assignment and should add another solid pitcher to the Mariners rotation, and Wilson and Hannahan are two solid bats which should reinforce the Mariners lineup. If they manage to resign Washburn in the offseason they are easily the winners of this trade deadline.

San Fransisco Giants: The Giants have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball but their lineup leaves something to be desired. So at the trade deadline the Giants addressed their biggest need by adding Ryan Garko, the hard hitting first baseman, and Freddy Sanchez, an All Star second baseman. Both are noticeable improvements over the current starters, and all they had to give up was a couple pitching prospects which is fine because the Giants didn’t have room for more pitchers on their roster.

Losers

Toronto Blue Jays: Not only did the Jays not trade Halladay after almost a month of speculation that they would, but they also traded Scott Rolen for a group of unimpressive players. The Jays have almost no shot at the playoffs and Halladay’s stock is as high as it has ever been, JP wasted his opportunity to add some impressive prospects for the future. The trade that did go through was awful, Rolen was a fan favorite and one of the team leaders, now he is in Cincinnati and all the Jays got was a .209 batter who is inconsistent in the field and a couple of decent pitching prospects. Terrible!

Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers are feeling the effect of their last trade deadline move, trading for CC Sabathia. It got them into the playoffs but now they are reeling as a result. It was a boom or bust trade, and now its looking like a bust. In order to get CC they had to trade all of their best prospects so they had no one to trade this deadline. The Brewers needed to make a move to keep up with the Cards and the Cubs but were handcuffed by last years trade. Now the Brewers have to hope that players like Hart, Hardy, and Cameron step up their play if they want to make the playoffs.

Chicago Cubs: Like the Brewers, the Cubs needed to make a move to keep up with the Cards who added 3 bats to their lineup. With their playoff hopes on the line all they could come up with was a couple mediocre starting pitchers. The Cubs lineup already had the talent to make the playoffs but the pitchers were under performing, so this is a good deal but not enough. The Cards are now the easy favorites to win the division and the Cubs fans are going to have another depressing October.

Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays were moving up the AL East standings, just 6 back from the Yankees and 4.5 behind the Red Sox, but that’s done. The Yankees winter moves are finally starting to pay dividends and they are looking like the class of the AL and the Red Sox added Victor Martinez and Casey Kotchman to their lineup which was struggling away from Fenway. The Rays did nothing and as a result their playoff chances are looking worse by the day. They better hope their their starting rotation, which has the talent to be one of the best in baseball, can recover from a bad first half (31-30) and carry the team past the Red Sox and Yankees.

San Diego Padres: The Padres future is looking dim. They traded away their best pitcher (Peavy) and one of their better batters (Hairston) for young MLB players and prospects. Both of the players received from Oakland have an ERA over 8 and do not project to be anything more than the 5th starter or a middle reliever. Richard and Poreta look to be solid in the future but are hardly equal value for Peavy, a Cy Young pitcher. The Padres will bad bad for a while.

- KC Roberts