LOL At The Yankees.

[DM72]

It's a done deal, Cliff Lee is a Phillie. The Yankees season is over before its begun.

[mooby]

Or not?

/Nats fan, doesn't care either way.

[DynamiteRave]

I'm a Nats + Orioles fan. I absolutely despise the Yankees and the Phillies (mostly because I have tons of friends who are fans of both teams) but I'd have to say the Phillies are the lesser evil so.. go them?

We got Jayson Werth anyway so... Woot?

[mredskins]

This is a good move for the Phillies but we all know how signing big names pans out. I was really hoping he went to Texas.

[Schneed10]

R2C2 baby.

[dmek25]

im a phillies fan, so yea for me!

[DM72]

I'm mainly glad that he shunned the Yankees because of the FAN/YES Mike Francesa. He was so arrogant. He acted as if it was a for gone conclusion that Lee would be a Yankee. To him, there was no way he would sign with anyone else. To bad he's setback on TV until Friday. I would have loved to had seen his face today.

[BringBackJoeT]

To be honest, I actually was hoping Lee would in fact sign with the Yankees, if only because I'm just not convinced that he is worth the market run that was made for him. The Yankees are already committed to paying a shocking amount of money for their 30-and-over roster members, including $50 million alone for each of the next three years to Jeter and Rodriguez, both of whom are coming off years in which their age clearly began to show (I realize A-Rod drove in 120+, but his .270/30 HR total in 2010 were low for him and not exactly what you'd expect for $30 million). With a possible Lee signing, I thought that maybe the Yankees might actually be beginning to push the outer limits of their spending ability, and, again, I wasn't really convinced that Lee was all that. I realize this is probably a minority opinion, but I think the Phillies may have done the Yankees a favor here.

[DM72]

Originally Posted by BringBackJoeT

To be honest, I actually was hoping Lee would in fact sign with the Yankees, if only because I'm just not convinced that he is worth the market run that was made for him. The Yankees are already committed to paying a shocking amount of money for their 30-and-over roster members, including $50 million alone for each of the next three years to Jeter and Rodriguez, both of whom are coming off years in which their age clearly began to show (I realize A-Rod drove in 120+, but his .270/30 HR total in 2010 were low for him and not exactly what you'd expect for $30 million). With a possible Lee signing, I thought that maybe the Yankees might actually be beginning to push the outer limits of their spending ability, and, again, I wasn't really convinced that Lee was all that. I realize this is probably a minority opinion, but I think the Phillies may have done the Yankees a favor here.

Lee would have definitely made the Yankees better. But I do agree that he's slightly overrated.

[BringBackJoeT]

Originally Posted by DM72

Lee would have definitely made the Yankees better. But I do agree that he's slightly overrated.

Well, while I believe he's overrated, I definitely would agree that he would have been a significant upgrade for them at their #2 rotation slot (or would he have been #1?). But what I'm basically saying is that he only makes them better if the rest of the roster can be expected to all perform at 2010 levels, and I think that age is beginning to be a factor for several of those roster members, some of whom, based on their salaries, the team will be very much inclined to play. But maybe I'm wrong or just engaging in wishful thinking. Maybe Cano and Tex will increase production as others decrease.

[BDBohnzie]

Nice to see camaraderie rules over money. Cliff Lee obviously loved being in Philly to go back there for less money than the Yankees and Rangers were offering. They again have the nastiest rotation in baseball, and if the rotation stays healthy, it'll be a complete waste of a season if they don't make it back to the World Series in 2011. Plus they have trade bait in Joe Blanton to get another bat to replace Werth.

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by BringBackJoeT

To be honest, I actually was hoping Lee would in fact sign with the Yankees, if only because I'm just not convinced that he is worth the market run that was made for him. The Yankees are already committed to paying a shocking amount of money for their 30-and-over roster members, including $50 million alone for each of the next three years to Jeter and Rodriguez, both of whom are coming off years in which their age clearly began to show (I realize A-Rod drove in 120+, but his .270/30 HR total in 2010 were low for him and not exactly what you'd expect for $30 million). With a possible Lee signing, I thought that maybe the Yankees might actually be beginning to push the outer limits of their spending ability, and, again, I wasn't really convinced that Lee was all that. I realize this is probably a minority opinion, but I think the Phillies may have done the Yankees a favor here.

as an Os fan i was thinking kinda like you too. the Os are going to try and become contenders 2 years from now when our young talent (weiters, jones, matusz, arieta, tillman) hopefully become elite talent. right now we need to save money b/c alot of these guys are going to become eligible for arbitration/new ks in the next few years. on top of that, we will be making a huge contract offer to a FA elite bat in 2 years.

but back to the yanks, if they had signed lee to that 7 yr deal that would have meant, given his salary, etc., that lee would be still be their no 2 (unless hughes continues to progress) 2 years from now, but he would be an old, less effective no 2 or 3. i guess what im saying is they would be less likely to add additional revenue to the starting pitching or to upgrade since they have huge contracts to lee and CC on the books. even the yanks cant have 3 huge no 1 starter contracts on the books, so 2 years from now they would be left to ride out the remainder of CC and lees contracts before they could purge another team for the next great FA pitcher.

[Monkeydad]

Those who win the offseason rarely win the postseason. Just saying.


(White Sox fan...glad to have Adam Dunn)