Opinion

The Phillies’ recent trade for Roy Halladay has been the talk of the town.

They acquired baseball’s premier pitcher. The only pitcher who could be better than Halladay right now would be Tim Lincecum.

The Phillies made a risky move trading away their ace pitcher Cliff Lee, but that makes the deal all the more interesting. Will the big risk equal a big reward? Or will it go down in flames?

Now that John Lackey is off the table, there are three basic categories under which the high-profile free agent pitchers lie.

The first group consists of pitchers like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smolt—future Hall of Famers who are past their primes but still have some gas left in the tank.

That's right. Few will have the courage to agree with me, but I'm sayin' it anyway.

In 2009, the San Francisco Giants' superlative right-hander, Tim Lincecum, won his second consecutive National League Cy Young award.

The East Coast establishment of Major League Baseball watched in horror as the Freak made it two-for-two—two full years in the Show, two Cy Youngs—and did so in dominating fashion:

2009: 15-7, 32 GS, 225.1 IP, 4 CG, 2 SHO, 68 BB, 261 K, 2.48 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 6.7 H/9, 10.4 K/9, .206 BAA, .271 OBPA, .290 SLGA, .561 OPS

As they did throughout last week's winter meetings, rumors continue to swirl today about a potential trade between the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres.

The proposed swap would send San Diego's two-time All-Star first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez, to Boston in exchange for what would presumably be a package of top prospects.

If you're a Houston Astros fan who would love to see hard-throwing lefthanded Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman wearing an Astros uniform, you'll most likely be very disappointed.

Right now, it looks like Jose Valverde has a far better chance of re-signing with the Astros (something he almost certainly won't do) than the 'Stros do of acquiring the defecting Cuban pitcher.

The hand-wringing that has occurred over the last three days across the Philadelphia region has now subsided. The deal is done, and now all that is left is the debate over whether it was the correct one.

For all of the complaints about the enormity in terms of prospects given up and the departure of Cliff Lee in the process, this deal is positive for the Phillies' future.

I hope Chicago Cubs fans are gearing up for another six months of disappointment, because this winter isn't giving any indication that 2010 will be any better than the season it will follow.

The Cubs closed their 2009 season with one singular goal: Unload Milton Bradley. The marriage was a failure almost immediately, and GM Jim Hendry made it clear when he sent Bradley home for the last few weeks of the season that he couldn't be back in Chicago next year.

Ladies and gentleman, the return of JAYRC. He is a permanent writer here at the site and will start shouldering a huge chunk of the load once a computer issue is resolved...

On Sunday, Billfer of Detroit Tigers Weblog had a link suggesting that the recently non-tendered Kelly Johnson would be getting a healthy amount of consideration from teams.

In the article, Dan Wade of Baseball Daily Digest had this to say:

(Aaron Torres is a journalist whose work has been published by Sports Illustrated and syndicated by USA Today and AOL.com. To read all of his work, including this article in its entirety , please click here, or visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com )

Out of every sport, baseball is the one I go furthest back with.

On Monday, I profiled some of the potential landing spots for Garrett Atkins, who was non-tendered by the Rockies.

I expected the Orioles to be one of the main suitors for Atkins' services given their need for a third baseman and a power hitter. As I wrote at the time: