The Indians have agreed to trade Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to the Phillies for Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, and Lou Marson according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. Here's their explanation of the deal from each side's perspective:
The Phillies would get Lee without giving up any of the three players the Blue Jays initially wanted for Halladay — left-hander J.A. Happ, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Dominic Brown.
Francisco would fill the Phillies' longstanding need for a right-handed hitter off the bench. Lee would give the Phillies four left-handed starters, along with Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ and Jamie Moyer. But Happ or Moyer could go to the bullpen once right-hander Pedro Martinez is ready to pitch in the majors.
The Indians, meanwhile, would get four of the Phillies' top 10 prospects according to Baseball America's pre-season rankings. Carrasco was rated second, Marson third, Donald fourth and Knapp 10th.
This is obviously not good for the Dodgers. The second best team in the National League just added one of the best pitchers in baseball without giving up any major league contributors. It should be really fun if we meet up with them again in the playoffs though.
I think this is a big win for the Phillies, getting Lee without having to give up either Kyle Drabek or J.A. Happ. They must have a thing for lefties though, their top three pitchers (Hamels, Lee, and Happ) and hitters (Utley, Howard, and Ibanez) are all left-handed. I wonder if this makes it any more likely that the Dodgers trade for an impact starting pitcher...