The Breakfast Blend...the best part of waking up

By Willie Mullen

Monday Night Football, Roy Halladay, The Red Sox and Tiger Woods

Here's my take on this mornings headlines:

• The Arizona Cardinals, one of the hottest teams in the league over the last five weeks, failed to realize they had a football game to play last night and got smacked by the San Francisco 49ers 24-9 on Monday Night Football.  Is there a better way to describe the Cardinals than schizophrenic?  Shame on me for expecting anything different from this team.  After all, the last two seasons for Arizona have been plagued by inconsistency.  Just when it looks as though they have rounded a corner to become serious contenders, the Cardinals go out and score nine points while committing 11 penalties and seven turnovers and do not even resemble a playoff team.  It must be difficult being a Cardinals fan as you have no idea what to expect from your team on a week-to-week basis.  Luckily for Arizona, they play the two-win Lions next week followed by the one-win Rams so they should still win the NFC West.  But consistency has to be head coach Ken Whisenhunt's message over the final three weeks if the Cards have any hope of a deep playoff run.
• The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, pending a physical.  The deal to get Halladay coincides with another trade that sends Phillies lefty Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for prospects.  The easiest way to understand the exchange is this: the Blue Jays receive prospects from Philadelphia, the Mariners get Lee and the Phillies replace Lee with Halladay and replenish their own farm system with prospects from Seattle.  Also as part of the deal, Halladay agreed to a three-year contract extension worth around $60 million guaranteed.  Let's analyze this trade team-by-team and see who got the best deal:
• Philadelphia
• Both Lee and Halladay are elite pitchers and former Cy Young winners but clearly the Phils think Halladay, who is 13 months older than Lee, is the better option for the next few seasons
• One reason is because Halladay has been the best right-handed pitcher in baseball since 2002 while Lee, prior to spectacular 2008 and 2009 campaigns, was sent to Triple-A ball in 2007
• Halladay is also baseball's best "innings-eater" and, with questions in their bullpen, the Phils believe Halladay will help cover-up the teams' biggest shortcoming
• Lee is very similar to Cole Hamels, the teams' #2 starter, so the Phils feel a Halladay-Hamels 1-2 punch is a better match-up against balanced offensive teams
• The Phillies may have received indications that they would not be able to sign Lee to a long-term contract
• Overall, Halladay is the better pitcher of the two and should feast on National League line-ups; the trade is a net-gain for Philadelphia, the question is how drastic of an improvement is Halladay over Lee
• Toronto
• Clearly the Blue Jays had to move Halladay and are now in full-scale rebuilding mode
• The Jays did not want Halladay to stay in the American League and liked the prospects Philadelphia had to offer
• The only question for Toronto is could they have received a better offer from the Phils or another team later in the offseason
• Seattle
• Adding Lee is a huge move for Seattle; I believe that anytime you can exchange big-time prospects for a big-time proven commodity, you make the trade and the Mariners did not hesitate to follow that formula
• As far as the 2010 season goes, Seattle has put themselves in a position to contend in the AL West with the divisions' best 1-2 rotation, Lee and 2009 AL Cy Young runner-up Felix Hernandez
• Hernandez is looking for a new contract so signing him to a long-term extension is priority #1; if they can find room to extend both Hernandez and Lee, the Mariners pitching staff will be in great shape for the next few seasons; if Lee wants to test free agency, it is possible he may be traded yet again during the 2010 season
• In the end, the Mariners appear to be the biggest winner in this transaction as they now have two outstanding starters and a good chance at keeping them both for the near future
• In other baseball news, the Boston Red Sox have signed two free agents, pitcher John Lackey and outfield Mike Cameron.  Lackey has been the ace of the Angels' pitching staff for the last five seasons and should benefit greatly from joining Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and the rest of Bostons' rotation.  The starting five should make up for any offensive struggles the Red Sox may have and Lackey helps close the talent-gap between the Sox and the Yankees.  Although he will turn 37 in January, Mike Cameron continues to be a productive player.  He will play great defense and hit home runs but his signing means the end of the Jason Bay era.  Does Mike Cameron, Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew sound like a World Series outfield to you?  I didn't think so.
• Tiger Woods announced he will take an indefinite leave from golf amidst his personal hurricane-of-unfaithful-hell and unrelenting media scrutiny.  Bad, bad news for the PGA Tour.  No Tiger means very little interest.  But let's not blow this announcement out of proportion.  Tiger Woods is chasing Jack Nicklaus' record for major victories and it would be incredibly surprising to see him sit out a major championship during his prime.  My guess is that his indefinite leave will end sometime in mid-March, allowing Tiger just enough time to get back in form for the Masters to make a run at green jacket number five.

NFL Week 14 recap and power rankings later today.