Cliff Lee 4 Cy Young

Charlie Klein

Now that almost a month has come and gone since the MLB Trade Deadline on July 31st, we have a decent sample size from which to evaluate whether the moves made were ones that have made an impact for each team.

The Philadelphia Phillies look to be the big winners of the deadline game as GM Ruben Amaro should be up for NL Rookie of the Year for his performance this season. Allowing to let Pat 'The Bat' Burrell to leave and signing Raul 'The Better Bat' Ibanez has been a masterstroke with Ibanez enjoying a career year at Citizen's Bank. Although anyone can enjoy a +5 HR total for playing in that bandbox, Ibanez has great numbers across the board and deserves the praise.

The best move that Amaro has made in his first season in charge of the Phillies is the trade to bring Cliff Lee into their starting rotation. While Pedro impressed in his three innings of work two days ago (and Jamie Moyer was even better), Lee has been the man in Philly. In his first four starts for the Phightin Phils he has four wins with an ERA under one. Last night Lee threw a complete game with 11 k's. His last seven starts, including three with Cleveland before the deadline, have been stellar.

While Lee's win-loss record is less than impressive (11-9) one can throw that out the window for three reasons. First, Lee spent over half of the season playing for the miserable Cleveland Indians who cannot score runs for any pitcher. Second, Lee's ERA is a microscopic 2.72. Third, it will be something like 17-10 at the end of the year now that he is in a pennant race and that the Phillies will be playing teams like the Nationals and the injury riddled Mets in September. Lee also has a good strikeout total of 141 this season.

There are definitely others that merit consideration for NL Cy Young. Adam Wainwright has finally put it all together for the Cardinals and has 14 wins and a great ERA. Jason Marquis, who is tied for the MLB lead in wins with 14 also enters into the conversation, although with a 3.58 ERA I do not see him winning it. Then there's the Lincecum-Cain combination for the Giants who are steamrolling everyone littering the scorecard with K's. If they could split the Cy Young I would say just give it to Lincecum and Cain. That being said, if Cliff Lee can keep a streak like this going he could be this season's C.C. Sabathia for the Phillies.

Whatever ends up happening in October in Philadelphia, PA, Ruben Amaro has done an excellent job setting the team up for success.