Surprise? Cliff Lee Signs with the Phillies

Mike — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:27:02 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, Cliff Lee has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. He signed a 5 year, $120 million deal with a vesting option for a sixth year that would bring the total to $135 million. The media was somewhat surprised that Lee turned down the Yankees and the Rangers to make a last minute signing with the Phillies, after-all you never even heard about the Phillies being interested until this week.

After analyzing the situation, it isn’t really that surprising to me. Did I expect the Phillies to sign him? Only after, I heard about their interest this week.

Here’s why:

Not the Yankees: The Yankees offered the most money and were desperate to sign Lee. Lee was thought to want a 7th year and the Yankees reluctantly included that, and he still turned them down and didn’t even get a 7th year. Why? Simple, his wife’s bad experience with Yankees’ fans. Lee’s wife was reportedly harassed while Lee pitched in Yankee Stadium this past post-season. Of course, Yankees fans were expecting to wow Lee with money, but if you don’t win the wife, you don’t win the player. Lee is a family man and this truly proves it. Good for him.
Not the Rangers: The Rangers were in love with Cliff Lee. He was the missing piece that took them to the World Series this year. They needed him and that was their downfall. They completely botched the negotiating process, by asking Lee to name his price. It clearly didn’t sit well with his agent and I’m sure that helped influence the decision. Another factor that I think influenced his decision to spurn the Rangers was the ownership mess. Yes, the Rangers now have an owner (Nolan Ryan) and the bankruptcy is in the past, but spending a ton of money on Lee would hurt their ability to compete.
To the Phillies: The way the situation unfolded, it seemed that Lee was waiting for the Phillies to make an offer. He was stalling with the Rangers and Yankees because he didn’t really want to be apart of either organization. The Phillies embraced him back in 2009 and he was one of the main reasons that team made it to the World Series. He loved his time in Philadelphia and maybe he didn’t hold a grudge on the trade since he knew he would return via free agency?

Now the Phillies have probably the best rotation ever assembled in the MLB – Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz was one of the best rotations ever and they only won the World Series once. In 2009, the St. Louis Cardinals had a tremendous rotation of Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Joel Pineiro and they didn’t even make the NLCS. Last season, the Phillies had a great rotation of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels and they didn’t win the World Series either. On the flip side, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series behind solid pitching and timely hitting. The difference is the Giants had a dominant bullpen, something the Phillies still don’t have.

Does the the power staff make the Phillies a lock to win the World Series? No, but they are a favorite and their window is small. They will lose bats after this season and their aces are aging.

[Photo Credit: sullybaseball.blogspot.com]

2009 World Series Recap

Mike — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:36:52 +0000

The 2009 World Series has come and gone, and the Yankees hoisted the trophy for the 27th time, by far the most in MLB history. The series didn’t start out the way they had hoped, losing Game 1 to the Phillies’ ace, Cliff Lee. Lee was brilliant in Game 1, allowing 1 run (0 earned). The best team in the MLB at home didn’t let that Game 1 loss get them down. They won the next 3 (1 in NY and 2 in Philly) games and didn’t look back from their. In game 5 they faced Lee and lost again, but the game was hardly a must win for the Yankees.

Then came game 6 back in NY against their nemesis from Boston, Pedro Martinez, who was pitching on normal rest for the first time in a month. They jumped off to a quick lead and never looked back. The World Series MVP, Hideki Matsui, crushed the baseball driving in 6 RBIs (2-run HR, 2-run double, 2-run single) in the game.

This win was huge for the Yankees- it was their first season in the new stadium and they spent tons of money on key players in the off-season. Without C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira, and Nick Swisher, the Yankees don’t win the World Series this year. It was also huge because Joe Girardi failed to take the Yankees to the playoffs last season and was under intense pressure to win this year.

If the Yankees did not win the World Series this year, Girardi would have been questioned for what ended up being a brilliant strategy. The strategy?… to go with a 3 man rotation throughout the entire playoffs and World Series. Generally a team doesn’t have success with this strategy, the last time a team won the World Series with a 3-man rotation was the 1991 Twins.

The Phillies and Phillies’ fans should not put their heads down, they were in the World Series for the 2nd time in as many years. It is not an easy task to make the World Series two years in a row and the fact that they won once is an accomplishment. This year, they lost to a better team, it didn’t help that the NLCS MVP, Ryan Howard, set the World Series’ record with 13Ks and was virtually non-existent in the World Series. Chase Utley did his best to pick up the slack, tying the World Series record with 5 home-runs, but the Phillies were ultimately over matched against the Yankees.

The Yankees have three big questions to answer going into the off-season: 1) Sign or let Johnny Damon go?, 2) Sign or let Hideki Matsui go?, 3) Who will they get to fill in the back end of the rotation?

Congratulations Yankees on winning the 2009 World Series.

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Surprise? Cliff Lee Signs with the Phillies

2009 World Series Recap