Cramer: Lee to Phils

In the Cleveland Indians' second apparently stupid trade in as many days, they agreed to give up Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco for "Triple-A right-hander Carlos Carrasco, Class A righty Jason Knapp, catcher Lou Marson -- the likely heir apparent to Victor Martinez -- and shortstop Jason Donald" (via ESPN).

Come on... they got rid of Garko yesterday for a no name and now look what they're doing. The Tribe have a serious shot at contending at the beginning of every year but always have a terrible start, only to get it together after the All Star break. All they needed to do was fire Eric Wedge and change the feeling around the club house, and I would have considered them a very likely winner of the AL Central next season. Heck, had they won last night they would have only been 10 back in a very, very mediocre, if not bad division. Bad moves by the Indians, and they take another step back.

For the Phillies, this could be the move that gets them over the hump... again. They would have had to give up WAY too much to get Halladay. Instead, they get Lee for this year and next, and Lee, despite his bad record, is pitching lights out. He has not received very much run support from his team, but that shouldn't be an issue on the Phils. Ryan Howard & Co. added a great starting pitcher today while giving up nothing that affects their immediate future AT ALL. Even Francisco is a pretty good addition for Philadelphia. He has bumped his average up 17 points over the last 10 days and hit 4 home-runs in his last 9 games. Great play for Philly, terrible move by Cleveland.

Last year Cleveland traded Sabathia and got LaPorta back, who has not done anything up to this point. It's hard to imagine that any of the prospects they got in return for Lee and Francisco will materialize either.

At least Cleveland has LeBron...