Clay Buchholz (PHOTO BY CLIFF WELCH/ICON SPORTSWIRE)

The Philadelphia Phillies made an interesting trade this offseason in acquiring Clay Buchholz from the Boston Red Sox. The trade was clearly one that did not cost much from the Phillies standpoint and helps there pitching rotation for the upcoming season.

While this trade certainly seems to go under-the-radar, it has the makings of one that can pay off dividends in the near future. Last year, Buchholz did not put together the best numbers in the first half. Turn to the second half of the year, however, and the statistics were night and day.

The Phillies seem to hope they are getting the Buchholz from the second half rather than the first and if they do, would be able to command a decent amount in return via trade.

Buchholz is 32-years-old, and will be 33 by mid-August. This probably means that he will not be around when the Phillies become playoff relevant again. That does not mean the two cannot benefit from a half season stint this year.

While the Phillies already have a promising farm system, they could still get better and a good season from Buchholz could do just that in getting them prospects from another club. On the other side, if Buchholz does well, he will most likely be getting traded to a team that will be making a run in the playoffs, thus it could be a win-win.

Obviously, a lot of things need to go right in order for this to happen and Buchholz needs to be able to stay healthy. However if this does go in the right direction, Matt Klentak did himself a great job in seeing an opportunity and seizing it. Bottom line, this was a very under looked trade and could be seen as a great investment in a couple of months.