It’s official, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. Roy Halladay is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies and will be introduced at a 5 PM press conference. The Phillies are expected to announce his contract extension that will keep him in Philadelphia until 2013, as well as the news that they have traded Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners for three prospects.

Whew. Now we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The rumor mill can stop spinning, at least for a day.

The Phillies are expected to announce that Halladay has been acquired for minor leaguers Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis d’Arnaud. Likewise, they are expected to announce that they have acquired pitching prospects Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez, as well as outfielder Tyson Gillies, from the Mariners.

The blogosphere went into an online frenzy around 2 PM Wednesday after it was learned that one of the players in the deal (as of this time it is unknown who) failed his physical. Shortly thereafter …

Update: SI.com’s Jon Heyman is reporting that the deal is done and it involves the Phillies, Blue Jays and Mariners. Heyman is awaiting confirmation that Cliff Lee is the player being traded to Seattle, but that is the most likely scenario.

CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury is reporting that the Phillies are in negotiations with Roy Halladay over a possible contract extension. Andy Martino of the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Halladay and his agent have checked into an area hotel room.

A source also told Salisbury that Halladay is expected to undergo a physical exam with the Phillies medical staff later this week.

I’ll give you a moment to catch your breathe and compose yourself…..

OK, glad to have you back.

It is unclear, according to Salisbury, who the Phillies would trade away IF this deal were to actually happen, but there has been rampant speculation all day that one of those players could be Cliff Lee.

In an article written Monday on Foxsports.com, Ken Rosenthal wrote that while he had …

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has repeatedly said that the team’s top priority this offseason, now that they have bolstered their bench and replaced third baseman Pedro Feliz, is to sure up a bullpen that bruised and battered for much of last season.

Brandon Lyon and J.J. Putz are both players that the Phillies were said to have had serious interest in coming into this week’s baseball Winter Meetings in Indianapolis.

Both players have since signed with other teams (Lyon with Houston, Putz with the Chicago White Sox). Scott Eyre and Chan Ho Park were integral parts of the Phillies run to the World Series last season (and particularly Eyre, who was invaluable in the team’s 2008 World Series victory), and yet negotiations with both teams appear to be at a standstill. Indications from Amaro are that there is a good chance the Phillies will move on from both players and replace them with younger talent, most likely players currently in their farm system.

So what gives?

The Phillies are …

The Houston Astros have been very busy during this year’s baseball Winter Meetings, signing relievers Latroy Hawkins and Brand Lyon on Wednesday.

Today they announced the signing of former Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million.

He batted .266 with 12 homers and 82 RBIs in 2009, his second season with the Phillies.

FoxSports.com MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Houston Astros have signed reliever Brandon Lyon to a three-year deal worth $15 million, pending a physical.

The news comes on the heels of a trade between Houston and the Florida Marlins that sent reliever Matt Lindstrom to the Astros for right-hander Robert Bono, infielder Luis Bryan and a player to be named later.

Both additions are seen as replacements to closer Jose Valverde, who did not accept arbitration and is not expected to be back, and Latroy Hawkins, who signed with the Brewers earlier in the day.

This is all newsworthy to Phillies fans as they were reportedly aggressively pursuing Lyon to bolster the bullpen as a setup man and possible backup should closer Brad Lidge break down again. However, it has since come out that that may not have been the case, and that the Phillies may have only had preliminary discussion with Lyon.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported earlier Wednesday that the Phillies were pursuing reliever Fernando Rodney as …

Tuesday’s blockbuster trade between the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers has seemingly taken New York out of the running for Blue Jays’ pitcher Roy Halladay.

That has led to rampant speculation that the Phillies are now in the best position to pull off the trade that so nearly happened last July.

When asked about the possibility of acquiring a hypothetical unnamed elite pitcher, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. responded to Philadelphia Inquirer Phillies beat reporter Andy Martino:

“Is there any way possible? I guess there is,” Amaro said. “Is there a likelihood of us getting involved in something that’s that big? Probably not.”

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com said in a piece Wednesday that an in “an informal poll of baseball personnel this week at the Winter Meetings, folks think the Phillies have as good a chance as anybody of getting him.”

“They have the pieces,” one AL executive told him. “I would say the Phillies and Red Sox have the talent to make it happen more than the other teams out there.”

If …

The Phillies have completed assembling their new look bench with the addition of  former Marlin Ross Gload, erupting in a myriad of bad jokes by sports writers and bloggers alike (see above title).

Gload is likely the final addition to Charlie Manuel’s 2010 bench, which will have a very drastic look than the one that helped win a World Series in 2008. Greg Dobbs is the only bench player left from that team. Gone are Eric Bruntlett, So Taguchi, Geoff Jenkins, Chris Coste and most likely Matt Stairs, although he will probably be offered an invitation to Spring Training on a minor league ocntract.

That squad has been replaced by Ben Francisco, Brian Schneider, Juan Castro, Dobbs and now Gload.

Gload, 33, is a eight year journeyman who has spent time with the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, and recently the Florida Marlins. He hit .261 in 125 games last season for the Marlins, and is a career .283 hitter. …

The Eagles announced today that they have reached an agreement on a contract extension with coach Andy Reid that will keep him in Philly until at least 2013.

At the end of his contract, Reid will have coached the Eagles for 15 years, the longest of any coach or manager in Philadelphia since the vaunted Connie Mack.

As noted by 97.5 The Fanatic Eagles beat reporter Brian Seltzer, this ensures that Reid will have responsibility on deciding the long term quarterback situation for the Eagles, as Donovan McNabb’s current contract will expire before Reid’s.

Reid is the winningest coach in team history, taking the Eagles to five NFC Championship games and one SuperBowl. The Eagles have reached the playoffs seven times under Reid. He has compiled 115 wins since being named Eagles coach in 1999.

Despite his obvious success as coach and de facto GM of the Eagles, Reid has his fair share of detractors. The biggest knock against Big Red is that he cannot seem to get the Eagles …

The hits just keep on coming for the Flyers, losers of five in a row and eight of their last ten.

Sunday the Flyers found out that they would be without the services of forward Dan Carcillo for four games, as he was being suspended by the league  for a fight during the team’s matchup against the Capitals over the weekend. Monday they headed over the border and suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. They returned home Tuesday to prepare for a game at home against the New York Islanders to find out that starting (sort of) goalie Ray Emery had been placed on injured reserve.

Carcillo was issued 29 minutes of penalties Saturday night for a retaliatory cross check and supposed sucker punch on the Capitals Matt Bradley.

After receiving a high stick by Bradley, Carcillo retaliated with a cross check and then dropped his gloves to fight. Bradley appeared to drop his glove, indicating that he wanted to fight, and …

As I’ve said over the past few days, I am really happy that Allen Iverson is once again a member of the Sixers. I grew up a fan of The Answer, and he remains my favorite active basketball player (Sir Charles will always top my list). I freely admit that I was misty eyed during Monday’s night announcement of the starting lineups and overwhelmed with emotion.

That being said, I take issue with Iverson showing up late on his first night back in town. He hadn’t even played a game and already he was breaking the rules. Iverson arrived at the Wachovia Center around five minutes to six last night, little more than an hour before tip off.

The cause? “Traffic,” said Iverson, having to answer questions once again about a subject that caused so many problems with coach Larry Brown during his first go around with the Sixers.

So what was new coach Eddie Jordan’s reaction to his new star’s tardiness? “No. It didn’t mean anything to me,” …

“A 6 foot guard from Georgetown…”

Come on, tell me you didn’t get goosebumps. Whether you like Allen Iverson, or hate him, you watched Monday night. And if you’re an AI fan, you made sure to set the DVR and get home in time to turn the game on a little before 7 PM to make sure you didn’t miss the starting lineups, which you knew would be televised.

In case you missed it, the video is below.

Yea, the Sixers lost, and A.I.2 ended up stealing the show with a point performance, but it was really special seeing No. 3 back in a Sixers uniform again. True, it’s obvious he’s lost a little on his shot, and still has some work to do before he gets back to the appropriate NBA conditioning level, evidenced by his scoring only 11 points in 37 minutes and missing seven of his 11 shots….

Saturday was a tough night for Philly sports.

Peter Laviolette’s debut as the new coach of the Flyers was not exactly the first impression he was hoping to leave the faithful of the Orange and Black. It was a debut that will leave a bitter taste in his mouth for some time to come. And it started immediately.

The Washington Capitals struck in the first minute of the game, as well as on five of their first 17 shots on their way to an 8-2 win. All without star Alexander Ovechkin.

The firing of coach John Stevens was supposed to be a wake up call for the reeling Flyers; a jolt to jump start a run back up the Eastern Conference standings. Instead the Flyers looked as bad as ever. Goalie Ray Emery continued to struggle, having his worst outing of the season. He allowed five goals before being replaced by backup Brian Boucher midway through the second period, giving him a 5.36 goals-against average and .814 save percentage …