Time to focus on the Wild Card...

What a difference a Ross Gload home run and a Wednesday afternoon trade can do to a teams outlook. It appears the Phillies acquired Ben Francisco and Cliff Lee for Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson. Toronto wanted too much for Halladay, and Philly was able to get Lee and another bat while not giving up Drabek, Haap, or Dominic Brown. Now, Phillie fans see a future rotation of Lee, Hamels, Haap, and Drabek - pretty sporty...

The deal is similar to the Braves-Rangers deal from two years ago in that the Braves got a piece they thought would put them over the top without giving up all of their top prospects. The Braves did, however, give up all top-tier prospects and the deal does not look so good in hindsight. The difference with the Phils-Tribe trade is that Philly is more likely to lock-down Lee than the Braves were Teixeira.

So, who did Philly give up? We know they kept Brown(.318/11/43), their #1 prospect (all according to Baseball America). They also kept Haap, their #9 prospect, and one of the big keys to their better play as of late. And, of course, the untouchable Drabek, their #5 prospect (11-2 2.78 in A/AA). But they did give up prospects ranked #2 (Carlos Carrasco),#3 (Lou Marson),#4 (Jason Donald), and #10 (Jason Knapp).

The most interesting guy is Marson, because he is one of the top rated catching prospects in the minors and paves the way for a Victor Martinez deal later in the week. Marson is hitting .294 in AAA and is about ready to make the jump to the bigs.

Carrasco is a big-time starting pitching prospect and will be in the Indians rotation very soon. He is a big guy at 6'3 and throws hard.

Donald is a slick fielding SS who has struggled a bit in his transition to AAA. After hitting .307/14/54 last year, his bat hasn't been there in 09. A top prospect nonetheless.

Knapp was a 2nd round pick last year and is a 6'5 RHP. He projects very well and was very good after signing last summer.

We likely won't know who got the better of this for several years, that is, unless Lee is WS MVP. I think that if any club knew they would win it all by having to give up 4 or even 5 of their top prospects, they would pull the trigger immediately.

Time to scoreboard watch the Cubs, Rockies, and Giants...