Drabek made the call, but his agent had not yet heard from any of the teams mentioned in the reports. The next morning, he did hear from the Phillies, who confirmed to their former top prospect that he was part of a complicated series of deals.
Lee went to Seattle for prospects, Halladay was traded to Philadelphia, and Drabek, outfielder Michael Taylor and catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud left the Phils' system for Toronto. The Blue Jays immediately flipped Taylor to Oakland for infielder Brett Wallace.
Though Halladay and Lee claimed most of the buzz from that set of trades, the Phils' decision to sacrifice Drabek was significant for an organization excited about his talent. During the first set of negotiations with Toronto in July, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was highly reluctant to part with the 22-year-old righthander. Manager Charlie Manuel once compared Drabek to Tom Seaver and said he hoped his team would not move its top prospect.
But when talks resumed in November, new Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos held firm on his position that Drabek be a necessary component of any deal. All of those machinations were unknown to the pitcher, who spent the off-season long-tossing and lifting weights.
Then, very abruptly, he became a Toronto Blue Jay.
"Initially, I think he was shellshocked, and he didn't know what to expect," said Phillies pitcher Mike Zagurski, Drabek's best friend in the organization. "Now he's getting to meet some of the guys and kind of realizing that they are no different than what we have here."
