Every Thursday, 7IS Contributor Ryan Henning will take a look at a rumor burning up the hot stove. You may not think it’s important, but it must be important to someone.

Everyone always talks about the Hot Stove, for hours on end at times.  For all this chatter, very little actually ever happens. That’s why one week later, the topic of conversation is still that the Phillies are interested in moving Jayson Werth. Since nothing new is actually out there, but conversation is still fierce, I thought we might take a look at what the masses (internet commenters) are saying and proposing, and then I’ll make condescending comments about the proposals. Because I am a writer on the internet, and condescending is what I do. To MLBTraderumors!

Comment #1 from Soxfan0928 -

Sox … could send 3 prospects to Seattle for C Lee in a 3 way trade, or send a guy like DiceK plus Kalish/some other prospect to Philly.

So wait, the Sox send three prospects (oh what level, who knows) to the Mariners for Cliff Lee, and they get Werth as well? Is that how this works? Or the send three prospects to the Mariners, Kalish and Daisuke Matsuzaka to the Phillies for Werth? If that’s the case, that’s just two trades, right?

Take it away, Ray R

BLOCKBUSTER TIME: 3 way deal – Lee back to Phils, Werth to Yankees. Yanks send Jesus Montero and Ivan Nova to Seattle and Javier Vazquez to Philadelphia.

It should be noted that the Phillies fan commenters all loved this trade. And why not? They traded Jayson Werth for Cliff Lee and Javier Vazquez.

Now you, JoeDonBaker33

Werth, Cosart, & Singleton to Seattle for Lee and Jose Lopez. Seattle either retains Werth this offseason or recoups the two draft picks when he walks as a type A free agent.

Well, that’s actually fairly reasonable. Swaps the Type A picks, Seattle doesn’t lose them, and the Mariners get the prospects they want. Since the Phils are losing more than most teams in this position would be, they get some infield depth from the Mariners as well. For every comment thread, there is always a diamond in the rough.

In the season’s first blockbuster, Cliff Lee and a prospect was dealt to the Texas Rangers for Justin Smoak and 3 prospects. Naturally, this was not discussed at all in the Hot Stahoviak. Through the process, my Twins were the alleged leader in the race for Lee. The Yankees almost had a deal done today. The Reds apparently had a pretty good offer on the table as well. Let’s look at those poor teams.

Twins: Good news, Twins fans! Cliff Lee wasn’t going to help the team win the World Series anyways, because Cliff Lee wasn’t going to pitch every game (and all 5 starters are scuffling). Cliff Lee wasn’t going to improve Joe Mauer, Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer or JJ Hardy’s uninspiring batting averages. Cliff Lee wasn’t going to relieve the other starters. Cliff Lee wasn’t going to keep Nick Punto out of the lineup. Cliff Lee wasn’t going to assemble a lineup that makes sense for the Twins roster. So, hey, Minnesota didn’t over pay for him!

Yankees: Apparently the Yankees are upset with how the Mariners let the Rangers sweep in and nab Lee. This is the first time it has ever happened to the Yankees of course. Everyone else has had it done to them, but somehow, nobody is feeling sorry for you. This is because it’s usually you sweeping in at the last minute. Now, however, the sweeper has become the sweepee and the Randers did the sweeping when the swpt in and swiped Lee. Sweet.

Reds: Good rotation, break out year, doing all you can. I don’t know what to tell you. You should have got him. Sucks to be in Ohio today.

Every Thursday, 7IS Contributor Ryan Henning will take a look at a rumor burning up the hot stove. You may not think it’s important, but it must be important to someone.

This week, the Hot Stahoviak is abuzz with rumors that the Mariners might be interested in bringing back Erik Bedard. Just imagine how fearsome a rotation with Cliff Lee, King Felix and Bedard would be if all three are healthy? Of course, none of these players have ever been good at the same time. Bedard had one sensational season in Baltimore, then a couple of injury riddled but still good seasons in Seattle. If he can pitch at the level he was at when he was healthy, then I suppose this would be a fairly impressive coup for the Mariners.
With as often as he was injured, it is sort of hard to believe that Bedard was pitching with a sub 3.00 ERA before he got hurt. If you went strictly by ERA from last season, Cliff Lee would be the third starter in such a rotation. That can’t be all we can learn. What else is there to know?

- Erik is spelled with a ‘k’ and not a ‘c’. I never knew.

- The Mariners will have a frightening rotation when healthy, and a frightening outfield when Milton Bradley is off his meds.

- The M’s would keep some they actually started their season with last year. By my count, they are going into next season with an all new roster, save for Ichiro, Jose Lopez, Felix Hernandez and Jay Buhner’s ghost.

- Bedard can use those whale watching tour boats to get back to fishing. That’s why he is in Washington anyways, and why he left Baltimore. He was sick of fishing out dead bodies from Baltimore Harbor.

Top Story is 7IS Editor-in-Chief David Chalk’s take on the top MLB story of the day….

The Philadelphia Phillies and pitcher Roy “Billie” Halladay have reportedly reached an agreement on a 3-year extension through 2013 for $60 million, with a one-year option for another year at $20 million, thereby getting close to finalize the big three-way trade with the Blue Jays and Mariners.

Comment leavers took issue with my original take on the trade that the Phillies were big losers in losing Lee to land Halladay.  Maybe my calling Halladay “an overrated sack of crap” is slightly over-the-top, but he’s hardly a sure thing. No matter how good he was in Toronto, THE FACT IS HE’S NEVER PITCHED A MEANINGFUL GAME IN HIS LIFE.  The numbers back this up.  Throw out his first year when he pitched in two games, and since 1999, the Blue Jays have finished an average of 15 games out of a playoff spot.  The closest Toronto has finished to a playoff spot in the past 11 seasons is 8 games back.

Certainly, Halladay should have an easier time moving down to the National League, but I still think his ability to switch from ace of an also-ran to ace of a real contender is a huge question mark.  Especially since he won’t have any financial motivation to pitch well until at least 2012.

Oh, but the Halladay fans say he dominated the toughest division in baseball, the AL East.  But that’s only partly true.  He has impressive career numbers against the Yankees (18-6, 2.84 ERA).  But not-so impressive numbers against the Red Sox (14-14, 4.28) and Devil Rays (12-11, 3.67).

We read darn near the entire internets so you don’t have to, presenting you with some of the best baseball-related material darn near every weekday in Peanuts and CrackerLINKS….

Kate Hudson Dismounts The Centaur — best A-Rod/K-Hud breakup headline I’ve seen. [fansided]

Book Club: Dick Enberg used to look like a shaved prostitute. [gaslamp BALL]

VIDEO: Babe Ruth dresses up as Santa, hands out cigarettes to children — best newsreel ever. [nesw SPORTS]

“I don’t think Canada will shed as many tears for Roy Halladay … as it did for The Great One.” [pitchers & poets]

Fashion Ump: New Era “Fnitteds” replace Elmer Fudd caps. [big LEAGUE stew]

The Phillies paid too high a price for Roy “Billie” Halladay. [bugs&cranks]

New fan fad: HIS/HER Personalized Jerseys.  Way to go Cardinals fans. [joe SPORTS fan]

Red Sox get John Lackey AND Mike Cameron. [babes LOVE baseball]

Got a post you think is worthy of link dumpage? Please send links @ NESWblogs-at-gmail.com. Or just follow Chalk on twitter and send him a DM.

Top Story is 7IS Editor-in-Chief David Chalk’s take on the top MLB story of the day….

SI.com’s reporting a three-way deal is sending Roy “Billie” Halladay to the Phillies and Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners.  Meanwhile, the Red Sox have reportedly agreed to a five-year deal with John Lackey.

To me the big losers in these deals are the Phillies and the Yankees.

Big League Stew’s Answer Dave Brown recently tweeted “It makes much more sense to pay dozens of millions for Halladay than it does Lee. Halladay is better.”  I completely disagree: Halladay might be a better regular-season pitcher who’s never even been in a pennant race.   But I’d rather give dozens of millions to the guy who was 4-0 with an 1.56 ERA and 2 complete games in 5 playoff starts, over the untested Halladay.

I’ve long maintained that Halladay’s an overrated sack of crap, and I think that his blocking trades to contenders last year shows he’s got no heart and will probably fade in Philly.

As for the Yankees who didn’t sign or trade anybody today, they clearly won the offseason before last season, and that was the first time they did that in a long time.  They may have gotten Granderson, but that’s nothing compared to landing a Lee, Halladay or Lackey.  Not that I think Lackey’s all that great either since the Angels basically get a regular season bye every year, but it’s mainly important that the Red Sox block the Yankees from getting every top free agent available.

Winner: Seattle.  Not sure if they have enough other pieces, but Lee should at least help them compete in a weak division.

As for Toronto, they weren’t going anywhere with or without Halladay, but hopefully this will speed up the long overdue end of baseball in Canada.  (Not that I don’t love a lot of Canadian baseball writers, but I hate the Blue Jays.  Maybe they could move to Montreal. Or Calgary.)