Just six weeks have passed since the New York Yankees extended their baseball dynasty with a 27th World Series championship by dethroning our own Phillies in six games.
With the change from fall to winter have also come changes to the Fightin' Phils roster.
In the last few weeks, and as the Christmas holiday fast approaches, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and his management team have shown that they are not at all satisfied having won the 2008 title and nearly won a second.
Early this week the Phillies successfully concluded what was a four-month pursuit of the acknowledged top pitcher in baseball when they completed a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays that brought Roy Halladay to town.
The cost for Halladay was significant. He gets a three year deal that likely flips to four years at a salary of about $20 million per year.
The cost also includes the package of prospects sent to the Blue Jays. That prospect packaged is led by pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor. Both are considered future major league regulars by most baseball observers, with Drabek a potential future rotation ace.
