Halladay Deal: Hmmm

The Roy Halladay deal seems inevitable now. From what it looks like, we will give up Cliff Lee, Kyle Drabeck, and Michael Taylor and in return get Halladay and a couple picks from Seattle.

If it shapes up that way, I'm sure people will have many conflicting emotions. What do you think?

Phillies still trying to close Roy Halladay deal

One thing seems pretty clear right now: the Phillies will get Roy Halladay and give up Cliff Lee. The rest of the story...only time will tell.

What we are hearing right now is that in addition to Lee, the Phillies will likely also send Kyle Drabeck and Dom Brown or Michael Taylor and possibly another player to the Blue Jays. Both teams like Brown, which might be a big part of the equation. It appears that all of the Phillies prospects will go to Toronto and all of Seattle's prospects will go to the Phillies. One of Seattle's prospects that is rumored to come to Philly is Phillippe Aumont, one of their top right-handed pitching prospects.

Reports are that Halladay will get a three-year extension (through the 2013 season) with at least $60 million guaranteed and vesting options to push the deal even further. Toronto may also give the Phillies $6 million dollars to help pay for Halladay's $15.75 million dollar salary this year.

This is a bit of a puzzling deal, but obviously the Phillies realized that they would not be able to re-sign Cliff Lee. As much as I am sure we all wanted Lee to stay, Halladay is admittedly the better pitcher and we look to be getting a discount on the deal. Let's just wait to see exactly what happens before making any judgments.

Player Options

I was never clear on what decided whether or not a player could be sent or "optioned to the minors." Here are a couple definitions.

Options
If a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the active major league roster, he is said to be on optional assignment—his organization may freely move him between the major league club and the minor league club. If a player is on the 40-man roster and not the active 25 man roster for any part of more than three seasons, he is out of options and may not be assigned to the minors without first clearing waivers. However, if a player has been optioned in three seasons but has less than 5 full years of professional experience, he may be optioned to the minors in a fourth season without being subject to waivers. A full season is defined as being on an active pro roster for at least 90 days in a season.

Designated for assignment
A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the 40-man roster. This gives the team time to decide what to do with the player while freeing up a roster spot for another transaction, if needed. Once a player is designated for assignment, the team has ten days to do one of the following things: the player can be traded, the player can be released, or the player can be put on waivers and, provided he clears, outrighted to the minors. A player who is outrighted to the minors is removed from the 40-man roster but is still paid according to the terms of his guaranteed contract. A player can only be outrighted once in his career without his consent.