The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have been battling it out for the services of ace left-hander Cliff Lee for several weeks. The Nationals were mentioned at one point, but…c’mon. No one really thought the Nationals would be a part of it.
Then, all of a sudden, the Phillies’ name popped up. I didn’t think there was remotely a chance that Cliff Lee would return to Philadelphia, but it’s happening. According to multiple reports, Lee is signing with the Phillies.
That’s right, the Phillies starting rotation will be (in no particular order): Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. I honestly don’t care what order you want to put them in. Either Oswalt or Hamels is your fourth starter. I can’t stop laughing. That is a filthy, filthy starting rotation. This is better than what the Atlanta Braves had in the 1990’s. This is insane.
There were a couple of reasons that I didn’t think this would ever happen when I started hearing the rumors. First of all, I didn’t think this team had the money. Raul Ibanez is still on the books for 2011 and so is Oswalt. None of us know the Phillies’ books, but I thought topping out the payroll in the $140 million area was admirable. Apparently, someone did some creative accounting (or they had a lot more money than they led on).
Secondly, I genuinely thought that Lee had animosity towards the club for shipping him to Siberia (aka Seattle) last offseason. He seemed to feel like the rug was seriously pulled out from underneath him. One wouldn’t logically think that he’d re-sign with the Phillies at a discount. Maybe he wasn’t as angry as we thought?
Oh yeah, so numbers. Of course. Pardon me, I’m a little stunned right now. The deal is reportedly for five years (the Yanks offered seven, or at least an option for a seventh) at around $20 million per year. That means that, according to numerous reports, he left money on the table. The Yankees were offering a few more million a year.
Maybe winning does count for something (and not appreciating his wife getting spit on. Did he intentionally toy with NY? Oh do tell!)? This is something else.
And for what it’s worth to our Facebook users: Check out the Welcome Back, Cliff Lee page.
this is insane!!!!!!!! F u yankees! hahahaha. You mean to tell me…. All we need to do is score 3 runs and we can win every game! yes!!! baby!! i am pumped! I cant wait for the parade.
Man am I eating my words rite about now. I didnt think in a million years the Phillies would open there wallets like this. Ruben should go to A.C and play some poker cause he didnt show his hand at all. All we have heard is how there not gonna raise the payroll. Well all I can say is Thank you Phillies ownership. Now lets trade Blanton and Ibanez and get a legit RH bat out in LF OR RF.
I now believe in Santa Claus.
Love it merry cliffmas. And double wham to yanks and hapless mets. Good to be a Philly fan
Remember a month ago, Pop Pop Manuel told the media they were going after Cliff Lee, and everybody laughed at him…still ignorant…still not believing the old man knows wtf he is talking about. “Oh we like Charlie, but he doesn’t have a clue here about this”…Ok, if its one thing i learned is that man is a straight shooter. He is old school, and when you ask him a question, you get a honest answer. So, here we stand on 12/14/10 and Cliff Lee is a philly. Reporters, here is your story, your welcome…lmao!
p.s ….(just don’t use “WTF” in your real article..it may not go over well with the editors”
wincher, I am with you on Charlie, brilliant media thinks he’s a dope, especially e skin, but Manuel knows baseball, knows his players.
True eagles fan, stop listening to e skin and his propaganda machine
Outstanding…. Way to go Rueben and PHils Front Office for making this happen
*****Trade Alert*****
Phils Send R Ibanez (eat $3 Million of his final years Salary) and Pitcher J Blanton to the
Chicago White Sox for Right-handed OF Carlos Quentin and minor league Pitcher…
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Obama should hire Reuben to broker peace deal in Korea, settle middle east, and come back to Philly and negotiate Vick deal
wow
this is what i want from my franchise
trying to put the best team together possible on paper
not trying to be good and need luck
just unreal very good week for us philadelphians
Pw, with this 4 in the rotation, you could be 5th and phils still win, how’s the arm, lol
Joy too the Philly world dudes!!
I hope somewhere every guy in the line-up is in the cages getting the swing right.
Who even deals with us in a 7 game series now?
30 MILL on the table cause he wanted too be a Phill!!!! Loves our passion!!!! Thats us….we just swayed a guy too pass on 30 mill…OK!!!So the awesome baseball team has something too do with that too.
Who else slept like an infant after they heard that..got up…check espn again too make sure i wasnt dreaming.
Erock, wife woke me up, told me, went back to bed, got up, I told her I dreamt you told me the phils got lee
And F the Evil Empire….Rebel Forces on Broad Street.
Wow so much Yankee hate…..
this rotation is utterly ridiculous … probably the best starting four rotation in the history of the game!
this should be a fun year … just hope ole cliff can keep it up like the past season and a half and not revert to the year before when he was with cleveland!
Everything about this move says the Eagles win.LOL!!Goodtimes!!!
YES….YES…..YES!!!!!
What a difference …I remember the days when the Phillies had to OVERPAY to get a star player to come….now they WANT to come here!!! YES!!
Rueben Amaro Jr. Just when I thought you couldn’t get any dumber, you go out and do something like this…… And totally redeem yourself!!!!!!!!
Rivals the 4 Man Staff of ’71 Batlimore Orioles
Dave McNally (21-5 with a 2.89 Era)
Mike Cuellar (20-9 with a 3.08 Era
Jim Palmer (20-9 with a 2.68 Era)
Pat Dobson (20-8 with a 2.90 Era)
Wow….
I heard Joe Blanton/Kendrick may end up battling for the Starting RF position to get that RH Bat in the line-up..
Rube…dumb…doubt it.Top shelf exec bro.
Paulman…safe too say you wont be picking the Braves this year.lol.
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A potential trade which I would like to see happening
Phils Send RHP J Blanton to the Red Sox for RIght-Hand Batter/OF-Utility player BIll Hall and a LHP Relief Pitcher.. Hall can play all OF positions and can also sub in at 2B/3B and is a solid contact hitter,a gap hitter and very good with the glove, plays small ball and a good locker room teammate ..
yea jake dog im heading to spring training for 5th spot
might as well lol
im saying 120-42 as a record ok ok 119-43 lol
we need 2 outfielders
1 for ibanez (its time for him to get the hk outta here)
and 1 for werth
im not sold on dom brown
i dont get 2 see him everyday like our fo but as far as what i saw i feel like we need an everyday starter there
clearly phitans have best FO in the city tho
Devils advocate. Would you have rather signed Werth for basically the same money or a Crawford and said we had enough pitching. I mean to be honest with you wasnt the pitching good enough ALL year including against the Giants. We just couldnt hit. Lets be real here. The pitching was fine it was the hitting that killed us. You only have to pitch 3 in playoffs. So dont the Giants match up the same as us in playoffs right? Saying all that of course I love Cliff Lee. Look for Phillies to trade 1 pitcher, maybe Hamels for stud right handed batif the lineup struggles later in the year. You heard it here first.
Are you sure PW…even over Stefanski and the 76ers group… Good grief…
I heard that Cliff Lee will volunteer to play a little OF once in a while, he likes to bat, field and throw..
Pman…thank you for the ’71 Orioles reference….nobody else seems to bring them up, but I have been saying it to everyone
heard that rueb is like the dude at bar who watches all the big players buy the drinks for the girl early on he waits though and at the end buys last drink and takes the babe home
Question. Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard to Cardinals for Albert Pujols? Would you do it? Would you do it? Just having some fun and playing GM.
statement day for philly and its fans; the best players want to be in this town, not ny, not boston, not la, philly
damn dagg, you want to break up best rotation ever in mlb before first pitch
PW its a lot easier to have great FO when you have a 200 mllion dollar payroll.
Dag: Are you out of your mind?? You work to get a killer pitching lineup, then you trade it away??!! If you even brought in Albert, where are you playing Howard? There is no way you trade Hamels; he’s the youngest of the bunch and had a super season with no run support. If either Doc, Cliff or Ozzie gets a sore arm during season, you’ll have a Hamels to fill in rather than some guy out of Reading. It’s easier to pick up hitters than finding true #1 pitchers.
119-43….lovin it PW
Jakedog I still have one of the greatest pitching staffs ever with Halladay, Lee and Oswalt and I add one of the top 5 hitters of all time to my lineup with Pujols. So in essence Im trading Cole a 15 game winner who is a top 15 NL pitcher for Pujols who is a HOF one of best ever player. Anyway just having fun.
phils in postseason decide on 3 man rotation “sorry Os you are the scrub”
They will probably look to trade P Joe Blanton for a right Handed Bat..
Possible scenarios…
To Chi White Sox for OF Carlos Quentin
To Wash Nats for OF Josh WIllingham
To SF GIants for OF Aaron Rowand
To Boston Red Sox for OF/IF Bill Hall
and here’s Paulman’s Sleeper Deal for a long-term replacement for Werth
Trade P J Blanton and OF J Mayberry Jr to Baltimore Orioles for OF Adam Jones who at 25 years of age is just coming into his prime and could blossom into consistent 25-30 Hr /80-85 RBI’s and bat about .280-.285 per year type of player who also plays a good outfield and can steal some bases..
I think Adam Jones is one of the most underrated players in all of Majors and would shine on a good team with a winning atmosphere like the Phillies…
To Jake,
I could see where Oswaltt could be moved as a Closer, if injuries or poor pitching happened to the Phils Bullpen. I could actually see Osswalt being a full time closer to extend his career a couple of more seasons if he wanted to. He throws hard, has good command and is a very efficient pitcher and has the right temperament to be a succesful closer, Why not.. Dennis Eckersly did it….
looks like mike cameron for broadway blanton
and birds bringing back derrick led the league in sacks burgess
daggolde i agree pay roll wise
but u trying to tell me the birds dont have the doe lollololololololololololololololololololol
CMON MAN (chris carter voice)
pman i usually hate pur position changes
but this 1 is pretty damn good
cant go wrong with the wizard closing
There’s pretty much nothing that could get me down today. Blanton may either be the fifth starter for the regular season, or he could really help nail down middle relief with Contreras.
daggolden says:
December 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Devils advocate. Would you have rather signed Werth for basically the same money or a Crawford and said we had enough pitching. I mean to be honest with you wasnt the pitching good enough ALL year including against the Giants. We just couldnt hit. Lets be real here. The pitching was fine it was the hitting that killed us. You only have to pitch 3 in playoffs. So dont the Giants match up the same as us in playoffs right? Saying all that of course I love Cliff Lee. Look for Phillies to trade 1 pitcher, maybe Hamels for stud right handed batif the lineup struggles later in the year. You heard it here first.
Hamels stays, Blanton goes, possibly Ibanez, too…Phils did this so they would have a dream starting four, best in MLB…Look for a pickup of right handed hitter…However, big bats must regain their form…Phils roll dice, yes, but I think they hit it…Don’t see four game losing streaks with this rotation…Look for another bullpen move, too.
BLANTON TO RED SOX?
According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the Phillies are talking with the Boston about righty Joe Blanton, theoretically Philadelphia’s fifth starter
The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham also reported that the two clubs are in talks, though no deal has bee reached.
It makes sense from the Phillies’ perspective. Now boasting the deepest rotation in baseball (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels), they can afford to trade from strength. Blanton is owed $17 million over the next two years, which is a bit hefty for a fifth starter.
It’s less clear what Boston stands to gain from the deal. With Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka in place, the rotation seems pretty crowded. Boston’s also committed north of $300 million this offseason in the mega-acquisitions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
But it’s certainly conceivable Boston could turn around and shop Dice-K, who has two years left on his deal at around $20 million, which could both free up a rotation spot and the dollars to make a Blanton deal feasible. Whether anyone bites on that contract, given his injury history and general mediocrity over the last two years, is another story.
man, i can remember sitting at vet, watching andy ashby get torched, along with only 17,000 other phaithfuls, we booed his arze. and he walks off the mound and grabbs his crotch, showing ultimate disrespect, now the best players in the game play in the best ballpark in the bigs in front of fullhouse phans every night. I never would have believed it….
frank, no, pitching wins, you can never have enough pitching, especially this type of pitching
How about a of RHP Blanton and OF J Mayberry JR to the Padres for Cardinals for OF R Ludwick..
Or a trade P J BLanton and OF D Brown to the Brewers for OF C Hart
Or P Joe Blanton and OF D Brown and Flyers Goalie Boucher to the Arizona for OF J Upton..
Cliff Lee must have quoted my hero, John McLane in Die Hard 2. “All things being considered, I’d rather be in Phialdelphia.”
Didn’t WC Fields say that too…
Maybe we can ask Fansince1960…