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Zack Greinke has the ERA. CC Sabathia has the wins. Is Felix Hernandez the pitcher to forge a compromise and bring together voters on either end of the Cy Young voting spectrum? Maybe. Have we been watching too much C-SPAN? Absolutely.

Greinke pitched five shutout innings Thursday afternoon in a game with playoff implications (albeit not for his team) and has emerged as a substantial favorite in most SportsNation votes since midseason. But we all know those curmudgeonly official voters love their wins, and Greinke had the same number as Braden Looper entering the day. Hernandez has more wins, almost the same strikeouts per nine innings and the second-best ERA in the AL.

Eric Young and Buster Olney debate the case below, but what's your vote?

• Votes: Mark your ballot for Cy Young and MVP in both leagues

We're referencing a question from a SportsNation chatter who referenced a SportsNation poll in asking a question of Joe Morgan. How meta narcissistic of us.

In Tuesday's chat, Morgan brought up the example of Steve Carlton in talking about a pitcher from a losing team (i.e. Zack Greinke) winning the Cy Young. But how about the award's namesake? Young didn't play for a pennant winner until 1903, 13 years after he broke in.

On July 27, 2007, the Indians sent Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to Triple-A Buffalo. Two years and two days later, Lee and Francisco once again found themselves leaving one of our most miserable cities for another (we kid because Philadelphians are renowned for their self-effacing sense of humor; we're sure the Liberty Bell is well worth the trip, really).

When he woke up Wednesday morning, Lee could probably have walked down the streets of any major American city that didn't border Lake Erie and gone unrecognized. All right, Lee could probably still do that this morning, but overnight, the lefty became the powerbroker of record in the National League, and possibly the entire sport. Not bad for a guy who was barely still a prospect himself, let alone worth a bunch of them, when the Indians sent him down two years ago after a 5-8. 6.38 ERA start to the season.

As we recounted yesterday, less than a quarter of SportsNation thought the Phillies could win the National League if they didn't add either Lee or Roy Halladay. Now that they added the pitcher voters ranked No. 8 in the game (seven spots behind Halladay but one spot ahead of new teammate Cole Hamels), more than quarter of voters think the Phillies are the best team in baseball.

So what about the National League race?

• Cardinals getting Matt Holliday was almost as big a move as Phillies getting Lee.
• More than half of the Nation thinks Dodgers need to make some kind of move.
• Voters like the top of the Giants rotation more than Cardinals or Dodgers.
• Rank baseball's best starting pitchers | Vote on the Phillies' fate.
• Groups: Dodgers Fan Club | St. Louis Cardinals Nation. | Philly Phans For Life!!!

• Which team won the Cliff Lee trade?

Well, that was fast.

Barring any horrid findings from the ever-present physical exams (such as Lou Marson developing a sudden case of club feet or Ben Francisco's adamantium skeleton), Cliff Lee will be heading to the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. The reported trade sends Lee and Francisco to the Phillies in exchange for minor leaguers Marson, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp and Jason Donald, a somewhat lesser haul than, say, Roy Halladay would have brought.

Lee is an interesting case study in how one good year can change your fate. Long considered "just OK," Lee seemed consigned to a role as a lefty starter who hangs around for years and years by virtue of his handedness and durability. Of course, if a guy goes 22-3 while posting a 2.54 ERA, opinions of him will shift drastically. Lee's 2009 isn't quite up to his 2008, but teams who have seen what he can do aren't scared off by his 7-9 record ... or at least, the Phillies aren't.

The Phillies could definitely use the pitching help. Ace Cole Hamels has been underwhelming, and Jamie Moyer is showing his age. Joe Blanton has had a decent season, but Philadelphia has relied overmuch on J.A. Happ as of late. Now, the team has both Lee and Happ, as opposed to Halladay and no Happ. The prospects they gave up were good, but did the Indians get enough in return for their ace?

• Rank: Where exactly does Lee rank among the game's best pitchers?
• 90 percent of SportsNation thinks Lee is at least a top-20 starter.
• Ohio was torn, but 57 percent of SportsNation thought Lee should have been traded.
• SN thought Halladay would have been a better value get than Lee, but it was close.
• Groups: Philly Fans For Life!!! | Indians: This is our year | Indians Fans worldwide

• Do the Phillies need Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee? Vote on trade rumors.

J.P. Ricciardi has another day or two to decide if he wants to keep his ace or be flush with prospects, but for its part, SportsNation isn't sure if the Jays' general manager is Austin Powers or Mike McDermott at the table (come to think of it, among Hollywood card players, John Turturro might be a better fit for the Ricciardi role).

Voters ranked Ricciardi a tepid No. 19 in their GM Power Rankings. That's not Omar Minaya territory or anything quite so disastrous, but it's way down the ladder from the affection SportsNation showed Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. at No. 6. And Amaro is very much in the high-stakes game of dealing for a stud pitcher at the deadline.

Perhaps it's a bluff designed to make Ricciardi nervous, but the Phillies seemed to have turned their attention to Indians ace Cliff Lee after finding the price for Roy Halladay prohibitive. Voters in Pennsylvania remain convinced the Phillies will land either Lee or Halladay, but the rest of the country isn't so sure a deal will get done. Not that many outside Red Sox Nation are convinced the Phillies can't win without a big addition.

Edit: We knew Amaro was a big SportsNation blog fan, but that was an impressive turnaround. We post; he reportedly trades. We feel heady with power).

• 54 percent of voters think Phillies are NL favorites with Halladay.
• 43 percent of voters think Phillies are NL favorites with Lee.
• 21 percent of voters think Phillies are NL favorites without either.
• A Phillies fan, blogger Anthony_Fani hears the talk about keeping the farm system stocked and can't help but think of names like Tyler Green, Brandon Duckworth and Adam Eaton. With a core already in place, he says it's time to stick to winning now.

• Groups: Die Hard Phillies Phans | Displaced Philly Fans | Cleveland Indians Fans

• Rankings: Who are baseball's best general managers?

Most baseball managers are essentially household names in SportsNation (perhaps only in the greater Pittsburgh area and among Russell family members in the case of Pirates skipper John Russell). Most general managers, like this guy to the right, could show up at your fantasy draft without attracting much attention. Maybe if the latter group just wore uniforms like the former during games …

Whatever the remedy, general managers are mostly a faceless bunch beyond money guys like Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein (or "Moneyball" guy Billy Beane). But even if voters can't tell Jack Zduriencik from Andrew Friedman, they think that those who work phones that dial beyond the bullpen are more important than managers.

That's particularly true this week, as Friday's trade deadline puts general managers like Toronto's J.P. Ricciardi (he's the guy in the polo) and Philadelphia's Ruben Amaro Jr. front and center for a fleeting moment. Ricciardi is trying to work off the negative stigma of signing guys like B.J. Ryan (looking for work), Alex Rios (.747 OPS) and Vernon Wells (.714 OPS) to massive contracts, while Amaro is trying to get out from Pat Gillick's shadow in his first season running the Phillies.

• More rankings: Are the Cardinals and Red Sox slipping in Power Rankings?
• 58 percent: Matt Holliday will be the biggest name dealt before the deadline.
• 64 percent: Even in second place, Cardinals are the Nation's pick in NL Central.

• Rankings: Which teams made the best buys on pitching aces?

SportsNation isn't buying Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi's July 28 trade deadline (apparently, neither is he), but voters are still basically split 50-50 when it comes to the probability of any deal at all involving Roy Halladay. And if neither Halladay nor Indians ace Cliff Lee files a change-of-address form before August, there likely won't be any additions this year to Jerry Crasnick's list of the most noteworthy trades involving aces since 2000.

It's difficult to establish a firm grading process for these deals. The Diamondbacks didn't benefit in the short term when they traded for Curt Schilling in the middle of the 2000 season, but they won the World Series the next season with him. And it's not like they ever really missed Travis Lee, Vicente Padilla or Omar Daal. The Brewers didn't win it all with CC Sabathia last season, but they got a summer's worth of pennant race, and quite possibly a playoff berth, because of the big guy. That's a good deal, right?

In the end, it's probably safe to say that if you make a trade and no longer have a franchise in a few years (hello, Montreal!), you probably weren't the winner in the deal. Beyond that, it's a matter of debate. And that's what we live for.

• Most fans say they'd rather keep their prospects than add a pitcher.
• But if Victor Martinez was really offered, Sox should have traded Clay Buchholz.
• Massachusetts dissents, but Adam LaRoche doesn't qualify as a big trade.
• Rangers wouldn't be favorites with Halladay, but they'd be in the mix.
• On the other hand, Phillies would be heavy favorite with Halladay.

Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd have been cleared to play and are in the starting lineup today on "SportsNation" TV.

Discuss the hot topics, vote on the biggest stories of the day and chat during the show on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. ET. And if you miss that, there's a second helping of "SportsNation" at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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Brett Favre missed his calling. Day by day, it becomes more and more evident that the best way to make sure your name never leaves the headlines is to be a talented veteran pitcher at the forefront of a weak trade market.

From the All-Star festivities in St. Louis through the resumption of regular-season play, the most frequent question in SportsNation this week was which uniform Roy Halladay will be wearing after the deadline.

So as the 'Nation heads off into the weekend, we close with a few Halladay-related queries that Jerry Crasnick fielded Friday.

Ryan Howard broke a power-hitting record that withstood the worst of an era of bloated power numbers. Jamie Moyer continued a run of longevity that would put Larry King to shame. And Phillies fans just wondered when Roy Halladay would show up.

All right, so we're sure more than a few of the Philadelphia faithful savored a pair of historically significant performances against the Marlins, but talk of Halladay does seem to dominate the moment. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Conlin waxes rhapsodic about Toronto's neighborhoods and Sam Donnellon wonders what impact adding Pedro Martinez will have on potential Halladay trade talks.

Then again, SportsNation doesn't think much of the Phillies' chances of winning the NL without Halladay. But add the ace to the mix, and it's a very different story.

As for Thursday night, Moyer became the oldest pitcher to go seven innings and allow one or fewer hits. That gives him 255 career wins, good enough for voters to put him in the discussion for Cooperstown (although the 4.22 career ERA isn't going to help). Howard hit career home run No. 200, passing Ralph Kiner, who he didn't know much about, as the fastest to the plateau.

• Vote on the Phillies, from Howard's homers to Halladay rumors.
• 'Nation can't decide if Moyer's longevity is more impressive than Howard's pace.
• Nearly two out of three voters expect Howard to hit at least 500 HR.
• Groups: What's the latest on Halladay? Ask Jerry Crasnick at 12 p.m. ET.
• Groups: Die Hard Phillies Phans | Philly Phans For Life | Curse of William Penn