Aces high on wild day

Wow.

The slow offseason certainly picked up today for the SoxandPhils.

In a couple of huge surprises, the Phillies are on the verge of swapping Cy Young aces Cliff Lee for Roy Halladay in a stunning three-team deal among the Phils, Mariners and Blue Jays, while the Red Sox have cloned Josh Beckett by signing John Lackey.

On the undercard, meanwhile, the Red Sox are close to signing Mike Cameron to replace Jason Bay and have offered $15.5 million to Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, the 21-year-old lefty with a 102 MPH fastball.

This morning, I thought my blog post would be ripping David Murphy for not updating his blog since last week.

A lot has changed in the last several hours.

Here's my gut reaction on the day's news:

Philies: I don't think Halladay gives them much more than Cliff Lee this year. I don't know if it is better for the team in the long run, but I understand the logic on the theory that they were pretty sure they would lose Lee after this season while they will lock up Doc for several years under this deal.

I heard an analyst say recently that Halladay is Ruben Amaro's white whale. Well, he finally harpooned the bugger, and remarkably it looks like it won't cost top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek or outfield prospect Domonic Brown.

But some reports are saying that it might cost them Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ and Domonic Brown in what we think could be a straight-up deal between the Phillies and Blue Jays. Would that mean the Phillies get to keep Lee? {Halladay, Lee and Hamels? Whoa. But I'd be disappointed to see homegrown Happ leave.}

Update: Now Jayson Stark says the deal will likely include Drabek. I give up trying to figure out this one tonight. I'll just say I'll be less enthused if the Phillies wind up paying $60 million and giving up Drabek just to upgrade from Lee to Halladay.

The best part is they kept Halladay out of New York. It was enjoyable listening to all the distraught Mets fans call WFAN.

Doc, welcome to Philly. Clifton Phifer, thanks for the short but sweet memories.

Red Sox: I'm not a big John Lackey fan, but I've warmed to him in the last several hours. Especially after learning that his career is most similar to Josh Beckett. Heck, each of them won a World Series clincher when they were 23 years old.

Check out these numbers:

John Lackey - 8 seasons, 3.81 ERA, 234 G, 1501 IP, 1519 H, 636 ER, 151 HR, 441 BB, 1201 K

Josh Beckett - 9 seasons, 3.79 ERA, 228 G, 1401 IP, 1280 H, 590 ER, 151 HR, 426 BB, 1330 K

I'm comfortable with those two behind ace Jon Lester. It's clear Theo Epstein isn't going to overpay for offense and is concentrating on run prevention. Or maybe the Lackey signing leads to a trade of Clay Buchholz for Adrian Gonzalez or another premier bat.

Whether or not that deal occurs, I'm comfortable with how our team is positioned. I've never been thrilled with Mike Cameron, but I have a good feeling that in the end we'll be a better team.

Let the Mets overpay for Bay.