Yesterday, we took a look at the 2009 trade the brought Roy Halladay to Philadelphia. The Phillies parted with three prospects, including the then untouchable Kyle Drabek, to get Halladay in red pinstripes.
Today, we move on to another ace in Cliff Lee. The Phillies emerged as a surprise team at the trade deadline in 2009, beating out the Yankees in the Lee sweepstakes. The Phils sent a then lucrative prospect package in order to acquire Lee (and Ben Francisco), creating a formidable duo of aces with him and Cole Hamels. Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp went to the Indians in the deal.
Fast forward to October 2009. After losing to the Yankees in the World Series, Ruben Amaro and the Phillies attempted to rebuild the farm by dealing Lee to the Mariners for some prospects who, at the time, were highly regarded. The Phils received J.C. Ramirez, Tyson Gillies and Phillippe Aumont.
Lee didn't stay away from Philadephia too long, agreeing to a five-year, $120 million deal with the Phillies prior to the 2011 season.
Let's take a look at the prospects involved in the two Lee deals:
On July 29th, 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies traded Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp to the Indians in exchange for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco
Carlos Carrasco - He might be the only one from the Phillies end of this trade that ended up contributing to the Indians. In 2009, he made his big league debut for Cleveland in September and went 0-4 over five starts at the end of the season, posting an atrocious ERA of 8.87. In 2010, Carrasco spent the majority of the season in Triple-A, posting a 3.65 ERA over 150.1 innings spanning 25 starts. He returned to the Indians to make seven starts in 2010, posting a 3.83 ERA in seven starts. That performance was good enough to give Carrasco a spot in the Indians rotation in 2011, when he started 21 games. Unfortunately, he needed Tommy John surgery at the end of 2011 and he missed the entire 2012 season. Carrasco flip flopped between the big leagues and Triple-A in 2013 and 2014, serving a pair of suspensions for hitting Kevin Youkilis. He rebounded this season for Cleveland though, going 8-7 with a 2.55 ERA in 134 innings pitched.
Lou Marson - Though Marson saw significant time on the Indians big league roster due to his catching ability, his offensive struggles were too big to ignore. Over the 2010-2012 seasons, Marson played in over 70 games for the Indians, but couldn't muster a batting average over .230. After just three games with the Indians in 2013, Marson was non-tendered and granted free agency. The Phillies invited Marson to Spring Training in 2013 via a minor league contract, but they released him in mid-March. In May of 2014, Marson signed a minor league deal with the Reds. He played just seven games with the Billings Mustangs, the Reds rookie affiliate.
Jason Donald - Donald was ruled safe by umpire Jim Joyce during Armando Galarraga's near perfect game in 2010. He last saw big league playing time in 2012 with the Indians. During the three seasons he spent with them, he hit just .257 with with seven homers and 43 RBI's. Cleveland traded Donald and Shin-Shoo Choo to Reds in a three-team deal that involved the D'Backs. He signed a minor league deal with Kansas City in 2013 and was traded by the Royals to Texas in 2014 for cash considerations. This past season, Donald played with both the Royals and Rangers Triple-A clubs, hitting .234 in 69 games.
Jason Knapp – Drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Phillies, Knapp never made it to the Indians. Prior to 2010, the right-hander was ranked 64th in Baseball America's top 100 prospect list. Injuries plagued Knapp's career as the Indians released him after his second shoulder surgery in 2012. Last season, he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and spent the year in Advanced 'A' Myrtle Beach, going 1-2 with a 2.78 ERA over 17 games, three starts.
Review: Though the Phillies only held onto Lee through the 2009 season, they didn't lose too much in the prospect package that was sent to Cleveland. At this point, Carlos Carrasco is the only player that looks to be worth anything after he rebounded in 2014 for the Indians.
On December 16th, 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies traded Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Tyson Gillies, J.C. Ramirez and Phillippe Aumont
Tyson Gillies – At the age of four, Gillies was diagnosed with a hearing impairment, leaving him 50% hearing in one ear and 30% in the other. He was quite a handful for the Phillies, being arrested and charged in 2010 for felony cocaine possession. In 2012, he was suspended three games for having an outburst at the bus driving for the Reading Phillies. He was suspended another three games tihs past season by the Ironpigs for an undisclosed reason. Despite his off-field issues, Gillies remained pretty consistent at the plate, posting a .304 average in 68 games with Double-A Reading in 2012. The Phillies outrighted him off of the 40-man roster in June of 2014, after he hit just .216 between Clearwater and Lehigh Valley.
J.C. Ramirez - He made his major league debut for the Phillies on June 23rd of 2013, showing off his fastball that clocked consistently at 98mph. Ramirez took the place of the injured Mike Adams and posted a 7.50 ERA in just 24 innings. In October of the same season, the Phils outrighted Ramirez off of the 40-man roster. In November of 2013, he signed a minor league pact with the Indians. Between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Ramirez went 2-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 44.1 innings
Phillippe Aumont - Save the best for last, right? We all know how disappointing and erratic Aumont has been since becoming a part of the Phillies organization. Having been the top prospect in the Lee trade, fans expected big things out of the 6'7" right-hander. In 2010 the Phillies opted to try him in a starting role. That didn't work out well as Aumont went 3-11 between Clearwater and Reading, posting an ERA of 5.68. Luckily for Aumont, his 2011 season was much better as he shifted to relief. He spent the majority of that year with Reading, pitching himself to an ERA of 2.32 in Reading before being promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In 22.2 innings with the Ironpigs, Aumont posted a 3.18 ERA. In 2012, Aumont started the year in Triple-A and was called up by the Phillies in August. He got 14.2 innings of work in for the Phils and went 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA. In 2013, Aumont began the year on the big league roster, but was demoted due to his lack of strike zone control. He walked 38 batters in 35.2 innings at Triple-A in 2013 and spent 22 games with the Phillies. Aumont's time with the Phillies went for a tailspin as the power right-hander appeared in just five games during 2014 at the major league level, giving up 12 earned runs in just 5.2 innings of work. He returned to Triple-A for the remainder of the year, going 3-3 with a mediocre 3.93 ERA. His control still remains an issue as Aumont issued 39 bases on balls in 2014 with Lehigh Valley in 55 innings.
Review: There's no doubting that the Phillies got the raw end of this one. Though Aumont was really the only prospect in this deal that was highly regarded at the time, neither of the three amounted to anything. The Phils would have been better off keeping Lee, but they seemed to get by just fine with a rotation that included Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick en route to a 97-65 record. So, while we can continue to roll our eyes about the Lee to Seattle deal, the Phillies really didn't take a step back at the major league level by trading him, but the prospects failed to live up to their potential, making this one of the worst deals during Amaro's tenure. Though this trade went down on Ruben's watch, it's tough to blame the GM here, especially since the Phillies didn't directly suffer from the deal, claiming their fourth straight NL East title. Unfortunately, their minor league depth did suffer.
Stay tuned for Part III of Phillies Prospects Lost & Found over the next few days, examining the pair of trades involving Hunter Pence.
