Realizing what Phillies have added

It's official - the Phillies now sport the games best pitcher at the top of their rotation.

Seeing Roy Halladay in a Phillies jersey today reminded me that while I was and am still disappointed that the Phillies moved Cliff Lee to Seattle, the Phillies have become a team that is nothing like the teams I cheered for growing up.

When in the world have we had a time where fans complained about losing one ace and landing another?

Lee is gone but Halladay is here and the Phillies are better off for it.

We are talking about a guy who has 44 complete games since 2003. The closest to him is CC Sabathia with 26. That's a difference of 18. Repeat after me...Halladay has 18 more complete games than anyone else in the past six years. Unbelievable.

We are talking about a guy who leads the majors in wins (130), win percentage (.688), shutouts (13), and complete games (46) since 2002. That is just about every major pitching category. Oh, and he is second in ERA (3.13) during that time.

These stats are certainly enough for me to start getting over the fact that Lee is no longer here.

Think about it for a moment. The Phillies have Roy Halladay. Roy freakin' Halladay.

Halladay is a six-time all star, 2003 Cy Young award winner, and has two 20 win seasons. He's led the AL in complete games during five seasons, including the last three.

Oh, by the way, he did this in the best division of baseball - the AL East - against teams like the Yankees and Red Sox.

So while I wish both Halladay and Lee were both here, I have no room to complain about what has gone down over the past couple of days.

The Phillies will have Halladay at the top of their rotation for at least the next four years at an absolute bargain.

Halladay could have finished out this year and become a free agent, easily drawing much interest from numerous teams winning to offer him well over $100 million. Instead he signed an under market extension with the Phillies for three years and $60 million.

The Phillies wanted Halladay and Halladay wants to be here.

And to that I say, boy am I excited to see what he can do for the Phils.