Lots of baseball news the past couple days, changing the complexion of a few teams.  We’ll run down what’s been done and offer a few suggestions…are you reading, managers?

Key Acquisitions

1. Hideki Matsui for the Angels: They needed a bat.  And by needed, we mean “for years and years.”  Even if people thought the Angels, until last year were just snakebitten by the Sox in the playoffs, that contention didn’t hold water after this year, when they kicked Sox butt…and then got their own handed to them by the Yankees.  The need was clearer than ever before, and Matsui, though he’s fading, will be enough of a boost.

2. Halladay, Lee, and a bunch of prospects: If the Phillies wanted to win in 2010, and never again, they’d have kept Lee, traded for Halladay…and kicked butt for a year, until free agency dismantled their tandem.  At f irst glance, this trade doesn’t make a huge difference to either team, since the two Cy Young guys are almost even in many stats (though Halladay’s a bit of a cut above in some respects).  What’ll make the difference here are the prospects, most of whom are top of the line, that have gone to the Blue Jays–the kind of guys who might actually make them a dynamic young team.

More to come…