Cliff Lee to the Phillies

Cliff Lee will rejoin the Phillies after considering the Yankees and Rangers

Yesterday, MLB ace, Cliff Lee made his decision on what team he will be playing for in the upcoming seasons.

Many thought it would come down to the New York Yankees, notorious for getting those big named players for large amounts of money, and the Texas Rangers, Lee's former team who reached the World Series this year.

The Result?

Neither.

That's right Cliff Lee shocked the world after a late offer came from the Philadelphia Phililes the night before. By the time everyone woke up, Lee was a Philly. The final offer was 6 years worth $135 million.

He turned down the Yankees offer of 7 years for $150 million and a Rangers deal of 6 years $160 million. The problem for the the Rangers is they couldn't give Lee that 7th year. The hypocrisy of that is that Lee's offer with the Phillies isn't even 7 years.

Lee joins one of the most deadly pitching rotations of all time. The projected 4 would be Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt in that order. The only other rotation on the top of my head i can think of coming close to the Phillies would be the Atlanta Braves in the 1990's. The Braves had Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. With these 3 the Braves made it the World Series 5 times that decade.

If you added up all four of Lee's, Halladay's, Hamel's, and Oswalts averages you would get: 2.86 ERA, a 15-10 record, and 202 strikeouts.

The funny thing about this rotation is with the exception of Hamels, all of these players came from bad teams and ended up all together, kind of like the Miami Heat big 3. Lee was with the Indians, and after a short stint with the Phillies, landed in Seattle. Halladay spent his whole career with the Blue Jays who had to face the Yankees and Redsox every year. and for Oswalt, he pitched in Texas for 10 years before joining the Phillies last season.

So where does this leave the Yankees?

The Yankees really got screwed over with Lee's signing. With the Red Sox jumping on Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez while the Yankees hoping for Lee, they are far behind in the offseason. Although they did sign Russel Martin today, that isn't nearly enough compared to the Red Sox. The Yankees say their next idea is patience, which really killed them hear so i don't know why they will try it again. The current big named pitchers the Yankees might go after are Royals ace Zack Grienke, Matt Garza of the Rays, and Dbacks ace Brandon Webb. The Rangers will likely go after these pitchers as well.

So the Phillies lose Jayson Werth but regain Cliff Lee, i guess it was smart after all to not resign Werth.
It also looks like he heavy World Series favorites would be the Red Sox vs the Phillies. Only time will tell what the real outcome is, but don't be surprised if my Yankees end up victorious over Boston, because as we have seen in the past, players who sign with the Red Sox (Lackey, Lowell, Daisuke) have not really produced.