While all the recent action surrounding the Phillies acquiring a pitcher was with Roy Halladay today they acquired Cliff Lee instead from the Cleveland Indians along with Ben Francisco for minor leaguers Carlos Carasco, Jason Knapp, Lou Marson and Jason Donald reports Jayson Stark of espn.com. 

In recent days most conversation was about the Phillies reluctance to trade Kyle Drabek and the Blue Jays insistence on his inclusion in a deal for Halladay.  The Phillies instead tried to get the Jays to accept JA Happ instead, but the Blue Jays only countered by asking for both players. 

This deal makes a lot more sense for the Phillies who are not desperate to get into the playoff or win a world series.  The team is largely intact from it's world series win last year and should win the NL East at this point.  By trading for Lee, the Phillies not only get to keep Drabek AND Happ, but they save themselves a chunk of change.  Lee is owed the remainder of his $5.75M contract for 2009 and the Phillies will have a $9M option on Lee for 2010.  Halladay, however, is owed the remainder of his $14.25M contract for this season and $15.75M for 2010.

Plenty to talk about with Roy Halladay trade rumors.

• The Blue Jays offer to the Phillies for Halladay is JA Happ, Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown.  Another source says the offer is Drabek, Michael Taylor, Jason Donald and Lou Marson while yet a third says the Phillies are considering this offer.  Either way, reports that Halladay will be traded to Philadelphia in the next 24 hours is premature.
• The Brewers are still negotiating for Halladay.  Danny Knobler of CBS Sports seems to think otherwise because they do not want to give up Alcides Escobar or Mat Gamel.
• The Dodgers still have a slight chance of trading for Roy.  The Jays are looking for two or three guys on the Dodgers ML roster.
• Jon Heyman of si.com feels the Blue Jays haul would be bigger if they take Happ instead of Drabek.  Sounds like a good plan to me: one (Happ) is a more proven commodity than the other (Drabek) and it's not like Happ is a stiff.
• The Reds are the latest entry to the Roy Halladay sweepstakes.  Seems unlikely that Roy would accept a trade to a team unlikely to make the playoffs.

The latest news and rumors from espn.com's Buster Olney.

• How to get Roy Halladay: "It's the guy who calls [Toronto GM] JP Ricciardi and says, 'OK, I want Halladay and I know the price is going to hurt, but let's get it done,'" said a baseball official.
• If the Phillies are going to land Halladay, they're certainly going to have to give up Kyle Drabek, Jason Donald and JA Happ, if not Michael Taylor as well.  Donald's injury might scare the Blue Jays away from even a solid offer like this one. 
• Derrick Norris, a fourth round draft pick by the Washington Nationals in 2007 has been playing very well for the Nationals Single A team.
• Olney feels that Jason Bay and Matt Holliday will set the market for the other depending upon who signs first.  Amazingly, it now seems like Bay will get more money than Holliday, who's struggled a bit in Oakland.
• Jarrod Washburn has been the subject of trade rumors over the last two years and recently hinted at retirement (that'll hurt his trade value).  Now he's saying he's interested in staying with Seattle after this season. 
• Russell Branyon and Erik Bedard could also bring a much better return to the Mariners if they resign them vs. moving them to another team.

Yesterday brought word that the Blue Jays are willing to listen to offers for ace Roy Halladay. Today there's plenty of reaction and speculation.  Let's take a look.

• An intial report has the Phillies as the "leaders" for Halladay, but that is likely only based on their obvious interest in acquiring a pitcher...any pitcher.  What can the Phillies really offer the Blue Jays?  Shortstop Jason Donald is considered their best prospect and after that they have a few 50-100 range ranked prospects, but not the haul that the Jays are likely looking for.
• Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated notes that the Jays were interested in Donald last year. 
• Heyman speculates about how impressive the Giants roster would be if Halladay were added.  That would give them four former Cy Young award winners AND Matt Cain.  Certainly Barry Zito and Randy Johnson are not the same pitchers, but they're pretty good for #4 and #5 pitchers. 
• While the White Sox would not trade Gordon Beckham for Jake Peavy Heyman says they'd consider moving the prospect for Halladay.  I don't entirely understand this unless they actually like that Halladay is only signed through 2010 while Peavy is under contract through 2013.
• The Cardinals seem unlikely to have the prospects to get a trade for Halladay done.
• Phillies general manager Rubin Amaro Jr. said that the Phillies do have the financial flexibility to add an ace pitcher like Halladay. 
• Joel Sherman of The New York Post confirms the sentiment that the Phillies are in the lead for Halladay and notes that the Rangers and Cardinals could be players as well (as we indicated yesterday).  
• In his discussion with Sherman Blue Jays general manager JP Riccardi noted that discussions with other teams has been very preliminary and while they're always interested in teams' best prospect, if they got a shortstop out of the deal, that would be preferable.  However, Halladay does have a no trade clause and has already provided Riccardi with a list of teams that he is not interested in playing for.  The Jays are able to afford Halladay for 2010 if they need to, so Riccardi is trying to give the impression that they are not desperate to move their star pitcher.  He does not, however, think they'd be able to resign him after 2010. 
• Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has given no indication that the team is interested in acquiring Halladay.  That's a bit of a misnomer.  I'm sure they're very interested, but just not for the price tag that it will realistically take to get him.
• Lyle Weber of mlb.com throws out major leaguers Erick Aybar, Joe Saunders or Ervin Santana and minor leaguers Brandon Wood, Sean O'Sullivan and Jordan Walden as possible pieces to group together in a package offer for Halladay.  It seems unlikely that the Jays would be interested in Aybar or Saunders, but Santana could get their attention along with Wood.

Buster Olney of espn.com gave us updates today about the various pitchers that are available and the teams going after them in his latest post.

The most obvious player is the Phillies who were looking for pitching at the start of the month when Chan Ho Park and Jaime Moyer were not pitching well.  Now that Brett Myers needs hip surgery (is this anecdotal, or are we seeing more hip surgeries recently?  Chase Utley, Mike Lowell, A-Rod and now Myers...) the Phillies border on desperate. 

Pedro Martinez doesn't seem to make much sense for Citizens Bank Ballpark and he'd like tax an already overworked bullpen with five and six inning starts. Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt are options, but both the Padres and Astros are expected to ask for significant compensation something the Phillies might not be able to afford.  Erik Bedard is another option, but the Mariners gave us so much (Adam Jones and Chris Tillman) they may try to ask for something similar in return which might not be worth it. 

That leaves the most logical option and the one that has been frequently mentioned already: Brad Penny of the Red Sox.  Boston is a good match for the Phillies because they're rumored to be interested in shortstop Jason Donald.  The Red Sox have been rumored to be interested in Jack Wilson as well becuase of the difficulty they've had at shortstop this year, but Donald may be more appealing.

Jayson Stark has a new column up on espn.com with a number of good rumors in it.

• The Padres are still interested in trading Jake Peavy despite their recent success. Clearly they don't believe they can sustain it. As far as Peavy is concerned the pecking order of teams he'd accept a trade to is: Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Cardinals and Astros. Everyone is familiar with the Cubs attempts to get Peavy and word is that the Padres are reluctant to trade within their division, removing the Dodgers and giants. Peavy's friend, Roy Oswalt, has done his best to entice management to make a trade, but Peavy's hefty contract is keeping the Astros away.
• Speaking of Oswalt, a few scouts who Stark talked to said that he had "lost his edge" and could probably benefit from a change in scenery. Rumor has it that the Phillies have already inquired to Oswalt's availability.
• Philadelphia's interest/need for a pitcher is well known. Earlier in the week there were rumors that the Phillies were interested in Brad Penny of the Red Sox. Stark reports that they've also had some inquiry into the following guys: Oswalt, Peavy, Brandon Webb, Roy Halladay, Doug Davis, Erik Bedard, Cliff Lee, Aaron Harang, Penny, Chris Young and Jason Marquis.
• If and when the Phillies do acquire a pitcher, they'll likely have to give up one of the following prospects whom clubs are rumored to be interested: "Lou Marson, infielder Jason Donald and pitcher Carlos Carrasco -- plus catcher Travis D'Arnaud, shortstop Freddy Galvis, pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Dominic Brown."
• The Braves want to take Mark DeRosa off the Indians hands, but seem unlikely to trade some of their young starting pitching to do so.
• Rumors about Jeff Francoeur's availability and who's interested in him are all over the map, but Stark reports that the Braves are "mostly listening" at this point.
• The Mets do not appear to interested in a quick trade to replace Carlos Delgado at first.
• Jonathan Sanchez is available from the Giants...for the right bat. They've already inquired, unsuccessfully, to obtain Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and Carlos Lee.