The Lee signing

[Frayed Knot]

No, not that one. That was 145 years ago and probably had more far-reaching effect than the one that's coming up will have - although you'd never know it from the coverage and anticipation.
Rumor has it that it might all be completed before the weekend is out. Either that or it won't be.
And, of course, everyone believes that it's down to two teams ... unless it's someone else.

Anyway, Kevin Goldstein over at Baseball Prospectus tries making the case that the winning team will be the one who finishes 2nd in this particular sweepstakes - and I'm sure he's not the only one with that view.



The Yanx, on the other hand, have to look at this with an eye towards the short-term seeing as how they're getting old and catcher (DH), SS, 3B, and closer. Plus, if Pettitte retires, their rotation suddenly looks like Sabathia, Burnett, Hughes and ... ummmm?? Probably why they tacked a 7th year onto their offer about 20 minutes after making their "best offer".
Oh yeah, and there's a little talked-about clause in Sabathia's deal where he can pull an ARod and opt out after 2011. Tough to think that he could expect more than his current $23mil/yr on the open market, but yaneverknow.

[Ceetar]

Sabathia (Knee surgery), Hughes and Burnett as a rotation is like saying we have a rotation of Pelfrey, Dickey, Niese and Perez.

One guy there is probably more problem than solution.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sabathiz is probaly analogous to Santana. Though I doubt he makes them wait until June, one might imagaine that his knee will never be the same. How do you do your rehab at that size?

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Sabathiz is probaly analogous to Santana. Though I doubt he makes them wait until June, one might imagaine that his knee will never be the same. How do you do your rehab at that size?

Salt water taffy instead of elastic bands

[Guest Edgy DC]

I liked that I missed the A and hit Z instead. "Sabathiz." <>

[metirish]

The vibe online seems to be that Lee will not be going to the yankees, and turns out that the mystery team with the seven year offer was Boston.

[seawolf17]

Oh, how I miss King George. Lee signing with Boston would have caused him to blow his top; he would have started offering huge eight-figure deals to everyone.

[A Boy Named Seo]

OMG, Lee signs!!!

[metirish]

His pal C.C. with him, fat fucker.

[batmagadanleadoff]

metirish wrote: The vibe online seems to be that Lee will not be going to the yankees, and turns out that the mystery team with the seven year offer was Boston.

batmagadanleadoff in the Crawford thread wrote: DocTee wrote: 20M [for Crawford]? sheesh. Makes me wonder just how much money the richest teams are actually earning. The Red Sox are a smart organization.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Murder in the short-term, but beginning in 2012... goody?

At last the Philadelphia Phillies have formally joined the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers in the bidding for Cliff Lee, the top pitcher available in this winter's free-agent market. The Phillies were revealed Monday as the third "mystery team" that has been pursuing the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner, a source confirmed to SI.com. The Yankees... are thought to be the high bidder at seven years for at least $150 million, while the Rangers are offering six years and an option. Philly's monetary offer isn't expected to compete with that of the Yankees either, but they are thought to be very much alive in the sweepstakes.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I can't remember the last time a mystery team turned out to be an actual mystery team.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Seriously. I'm phlummoxed.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Cliff Lee's a goddamn Phillie according to every asshole on the internet.

[Guest attgig]

wtf...

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

And Ian O'Connor cries himself to sleep.

[A Boy Named Seo]

MLB.com guy saying he took crapola-loads less $$ to not play for the yankees.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/agree-to-sign-cliff-lee.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Feeling "that's so funny (haha, eff u, yankees)" and "oh, shit, he's a phillie for 5 years" at the same time.

Confused.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Yeah, well, they're, like, totally going to suck in 4 or 5 years, right?

[A Boy Named Seo]

They're totally gonna be broken-down, shitty, expen$ive, laughingstock, also-rans in 2k16. put that shit in the prediction forum, son.

[stevejrogers]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: And Ian O'Connor cries himself to sleep.

Nah, he and others (Kay, Heyman, Matthews, etc)already have the "yet another bad thing for Mets" and Mets must pull off something big" narratives in place.

As if they thought the Mets were going to go after Lee or were going to make big splashes this offseason, when it was pretty much understood that the Mets were cutting payroll this offseason.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Yuck. My first instinct was that his contract wouldn't be worth it in a few years, but he took under market value to go to Philly. 5 years at 20 million a year isn't bad at all. The fifth and sixth years, if the sixth vests, might be huge chunks of sunk cost, but there's a good chance they'll get more than enough production before then to make up for it. Not good for the Mets.

Also: since when can the Phillies afford a $160+ million payroll?

[Gwreck]

Phillies are not a small-market club and never have been. Plus they are on a long sellout streak at that minor league sized bandbox of a ballpark.

[Fman99]

Gay.

[Lefty Specialist]

Man, wake me up in five years.

[Valadius]

Makes you wonder why the Rangers couldn't close the deal.

[seawolf17]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: And Ian O'Connor cries himself to sleep.

His piece this morning says it "hurts more than LeBron." Dickwad.

Yeah, wake me up in 2016.

[metirish]

A stunner alright, Heyman was ejaculating all over twitter last night about this possibly being the best starting rotation ever.Let's have the press conference first Jon why don't we.

Nice to see the yankees and their sense of entitlement get turned down, Chris Young anyone?

Edited December 14, 2010 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm thinking this is good, somehow.

[Guest Edgy DC]

To every Yankee fan who snarktastically responded to getting knocked out of the playoffs by Lee's Rangers saying, "Don't over-pitch him too much --- we'll need him to report to spring training fresh and healthy," this is bad for them.

Therefore, it's good for America.

And what's good for America is good for the Mets. Trust me here.

And, by the way, this is Derek Jeter's fault. Pass it on.

[Ceetar]

Heyman was breaking down the Yankees rotation with Lee the other day too.


Whatever. They'll still lose and now be further handicapped down the road.

oh, and Lee is scum, so it's fitting. Always knew he wanted to reach free agency so he could exploit NY money