Former Philadelphia Phillies Top Prospect Traded in Cliff Lee Deal Signs With Yankees

One of the past Philadelphia Phillies prospects has now signed a new deal with the New York Yankees.

Aug 7, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco (59) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Progressive Field. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to get back to the level this franchise reached from 2007-2011.

During that time, they won a World Series, were in another, lost in the NLCS once and the NLDS twice.

It was a great stretch for the Phillies, and it's something this current crop of players are in the ballpark of achieving as well.

The only thing missing is the championship.

Philadelphia is hoping their addition of left-handed ace Jesus Luzardo will help them achieve that goal, which was the same mindset the front office had at the time when they put together a monster trade package to acquire Cliff Lee from Cleveland ahead of the 2009 deadline.

Coming off winning the World Series in 2008, the aggressive move to add the reigning Cy Young winner was something everyone hoped would have created a dynasty.

While that didn't happen, the lefty did enjoy a nice career with the Phillies.

One of the prospects Philadelphia gave up to acquire Lee was Carlos Carrasco, the former undrafted free agent they signed in 2003 who worked his way into the No. 1 spot in their pipeline and 41st overall per Baseball America.

He made his debut that same season with Cleveland as a 22-year-old, and after 15 seasons in The Show, he is looking to play another with the New York Yankees.

Jack Curry of YES Network reports the Yankees have signed Carrasco to a minor league deal.

The long-time starting pitcher has had a good career in the Majors, sitting with a 4.14 ERA and 102 ERA+ with a fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting following the 2017 season.

But moving him to acquire Lee is something the Phillies would do 1,000 times again if given the opportunity, even if it didn't bring them their ultimate goal of securing their third World Series title.