The Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee blockbuster is complete.

• The Phillies get Roy Halladay and $6 million from Toronto. They also get Phillippe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander Juan Ramirez from Seattle.
• The Mariners get Cliff Lee from Philadelphia.
• The Blue Jays get Travis d’Arnaud, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor from Philadelphia, but send Taylor to Oakland for third baseman Brett Wallace.

I really like the way Gillies is tearing up A ball at a very young age. Aumont strikes out a high number of batters, so the Phillies get at last two very good prospects, and replace a star pitcher with one who in my opinion is slightly better and was cheaper to sign long term.

Drabek appears to be the most important player for the Blue Jays. It was nice to see his strike out total rise in 2009 as he figured out A ball. It looks like he’s still a couple of years away from the majors, however. Brett Wallace, however, looks ready to step into the majors now. Truthfully, when Oakland has been in need of a third baseman for a number of years, it’s not clear why they would trade away someone of his offensive potential.

The Mariners simply get Cliff Lee, a one-year rental unless they can sign him to an extension. Or maybe that’s not what they want.

One of the things I love about this deal is that the Mariners recognize they have a unique opportunity to win while the rich club in the division, the Angels, look like they are on the verge of a down year. The Mariners have existed for over 30 years without making the World Series, and it appears they’re going for it. Good. Their fans deserve that. It may be one of those short term deals, however, where they win, then use the goodwill (and money) to rebuild. I’m sure the fans of Cleveland San Francisco would love to see their teams do that.

The Phillies may be doing something similar, but over a slightly longer term. The Phillies stars are older. Howard will play 2010 as a 30 year old, Utley as a 31 year old, meaning they’re closer to their decline than to their peak. The Phillies, then, have a short window in which to establish themselves as a dynastic team, something that the franchise never had before. If they can win two more World Series in the next three years, they’d rank among the great teams in the history of the game. With the Three-H Club^TM in the rotation and that right side of the infield, they’re in a good position to accomplish that feat.

Toronto gets to reload and save some money. If their rotation can get back to where it was in 2008, they’re still going to pitch well without Halladay. If nothing else, they seem to have a plan now.

All in all, a very good trade for the clubs. The AL West is going to be very interesting this year, and Atlanta, the Mets, and Florida have their work cut out for them to catch the Phillies.