PHILADELPHIA — Looking for an ace to bolster their so-so rotation, the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee on Wednesday from Cleveland, marking the second straight year the Indians traded the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.
The World Series champion Phillies gave Cleveland four minor-league prospects for Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco.
“I’m going to miss all these guys here, but it’s an opportunity for me to help a team that’s in first place,” Lee said. “They’re the defending world champions. So as far as that goes, I’m excited.”
The NL East-leading Phillies sent Triple-A pitcher Carlos Carrasco, infielder Jason Donald and catcher Lou Marson along with Single-A pitcher Jason Knapp to Cleveland.
Last year, Cleveland dealt CC Sabathia, then the reigning Cy Young winner and in the final year of his contract, to the Brewers. Sabathia helped the Brewers into the postseason before signing a $161 million, seven- year contract with the Yankees.
“Losing one Cy Young winner one year and another one the very next year is probably hard for a fan to swallow. But it’s the nature of the game,” said Lee, whose contract includes an $8 million club option for next season.
Philadelphia pursued Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay but shifted its attention to Lee because Toronto’s asking price for the six-time all-star is high. The Phillies balked at trading top pitching prospect Kyle Dra- bek, who was the 18th overall pick in the 2006 amateur draft.
Philadelphia acquired Lee without giving up Drabek, rookie left-hander J.A. Happ, who was 7-1 going into Wednesdaynight’s start at Arizona, or highly touted minor-league outfielders Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown.
“One of our goals was to try and acquire a top-of-the-rotation guy, somebody we felt was going to make a difference, and we think that Cliff certainly can do that,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “We gave them four very good baseball prospects, and that hurts. When you want to acquire talent, you have to give talent, and that was part of the deal here.”
Lee, who turns 31 next month, gives the Phillies another top starter to join Cole Hamels. The left-hander is 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts this season after going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA last year. Jamie Moyer leads the staff with 10 wins, but he is 46 and has a 5.32 ERA.
The addition of Lee means Philadelphia has to drop someone — possibly Rodrigo Lopez — from its starting rotation. Lopez, though, is 3-0 with a 3.09 ERA in four starts.
