Inside the Phillies: Oswalt a trade for Phillies future

It would have been easier for the Phillies to keep Cliff Lee.

It would not have been better.

Admittedly, that's an about-face from what appeared in this space in recent weeks.

But now that Ruben Amaro Jr. has acquired righthander Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros for lefthander J.A. Happ and a couple of single-A prospects, the assessment of the general manager's wheeling and dealing has changed for one obvious reason: Oswalt will still be around in 2011 and possibly in 2012.

Cliff Lee was not going to be in Philadelphia beyond this season.

For the remainder of this season and the entire following one, the Phillies have two Roys - Halladay and Oswalt - who are proven staff aces, and Cole Hamels, a solid No. 2 with the arm to become a No. 1.

The St. Louis Cardinals, with Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and rookie Jaime Garcia, are the only team in the National League that can come close to matching the top three in the Phillies' rotation, a significant fact should the Phillies make a fourth straight postseason appearance.

It could be argued that the Phillies would have had Lee for three-plus months and this entire season if they had simply chosen to pay him $9 million, and that is true. Team officials, however, were convinced that they were not going to be able to keep the lefthander beyond 2010.

Lee and his agent, Darek Braunecker, denied that was the case, but watch how much the New York Yankees pay the lefthander when he becomes a free agent this offseason and then decide if you think the Phillies could have still had Lee in 2011.

If you want to argue that Lee is better than Oswalt and therefore would have given the Phillies a better chance to win this year, go ahead. The truth is, they are both among the top 10 pitchers in the game. You can put guys like Halladay, Oswalt, Wainwright, Carpenter, Lee, Florida's Josh Johnson, the Yankees' CC Sabathia, and a few others in the same category. It would be the riskiest of gambles that one would beat the other on any given night.

Yes, Lee is having a better season than Oswalt, who will take a 6-12 record and 3.42 ERA to the mound when he makes his Phillies debut in Washington on Friday night.