Philadelphia Phillies: Cliff Lee Trade Now Looks Genius

As Cliff Lee gracefully cruised through the Mets lineup last night, Ruben Amaro’s justification for bringing him back to the club continued to grow and grow. Lee is having yet another monster year on the mound, sporting a stellar 2.82 ERA and a league-leading five shutouts.

The day it happened, trading Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners for a couple of prospects seemed like a catastrophic mistake. Looking back even today, it was a mistake. Amaro got his man in Halladay, but at what cost?

The pitcher that had led the team to its second World Series in a row, while putting together one of the best second-half performances by a pitcher in Phillies history, was gone. One ace was traded for another. Clearly, a few unproven prospects were not worth giving up an entire year of the potential Lee-Halladay tandem.

After nearly two years since the trade went down, that awful, unbearable, unthinkable trade has created what is now the best team in baseball.

Many critics scoffed at the Phillies’ offseason signing of Lee, wondering why the team even bothered trading him in the first place.

But, had Lee had a spot on last year’s roster, Amaro would never have even considered making a move for the Astros’ Roy Oswalt. Many were hesitant to part ways with fan-favorite J.A. Happ, but his 6.26 ERA in 2011 is enough to make the trade look like a flat-out steal.

Last year, Oswalt pitched well enough to put Lee’s departure on the backburner of the minds of Phillies fans everywhere. Even this year, Oswalt has the potential to be a key factor in the team’s quest in bringing another World Series back to Philadelphia.

In addition, the prospects the Phils received from Seattle continue to play a role in the minor league system, most notably reliever Phillippe Aumont. The 22-year-old right-hander has an impressive 2.55 ERA for both the Reading Phillies and Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs this season, and is well on his way to becoming a major league pitcher, possibly as early as next year.

In an offseason in which Scott Boras client Ryan Madson becomes a free agent, it’s comforting to know that, with Aumont, the profusion of young, talented relievers isn’t stopping with Michael Stutes, Antonio Bastardo and Michael Schwimer.

Of course nobody, including Amaro himself, could have predicted such a fortunate turn of events that followed from his rushed and convoluted three-way trade of Lee to the Mariners. It was, still is and will always be a mistake.

Amaro’s fixing of that mistake is stemmed largely from luck. But, in the end, what does it matter what luck had to do with it? Amaro managed to turn one of the biggest mistakes of his career into an afterthought of fans everywhere. 

Because of that, and that alone, he’s a genius.

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