After three seasons, baseball card-collecting lefty Matt Strahm is officially no longer a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. Arguably having the best seasons of his career with the team, it was a shock when the Phillies announced on Friday that the former All-Star had been traded to the Kansas City Royals, with the Phillies receiving right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan in return.
With just one year and $7.5 million still left to be paid by the Phillies, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski decided it would be most cost-effective to trade the 34-year-old southpaw to help combat the already expensive offseason they've begun to rack up.