Cliff Lee could still haunt the Phillies

David Murphy has a great piece on Philly.com about how the Cliff Lee trade could end up being a big problem for the local baseball team. I’m sure your first thought is, “yeah, they shouldn’t have traded him. Phils could have been great for this year.” But, that’s not what he’s talking about.

Here’s the problem: The Seattle Mariners stink. I know this for a fact because I thought with King Felix, Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard coming back at some point, and the addition of Chone Figgins to the lineup, that the Mariners would win the AL West. As of right this second, I look like a dope and it doesn’t seem like I’ll be getting smarter any time soon.

The Mariners’ hitting is absolutely horrific. Lee could pitch nine innings and give up one run and they’d still lose. I’m not kidding, it happens every day almost.

And what’s worse is that the Mariners aren’t expected to retain Lee. He wants to test free agency and his agent says that they haven’t had any significant talks with Seattle about extending him.

‚ÄúWe‚Äôre five months away from free agency,‚Äù said Darek Braunecker, Lee’s agent. ‚ÄúSo I think that‚Äôs the most likely scenario at this point. We‚Äôve not really had any significant discussions with Seattle. I wouldn‚Äôt anticipate a deal [with the Mariners].‚Äù

So what is Seattle going to do with him? They are an awful team and he’s a stud that is about to leave via free agency. You guessed it, he could very well be moved to a team that could create problems for the Phillies.

What if the Mets are in Wild Card contention? They’ll have Carlos Beltran back, which will change everything for that lineup. I’m not concerned about them just yet because right now they aren’t very good. But they do have some pieces that could get it going and create some problems. How would playing the Mets in a five-game series while staring down the barrel of Johan Santana and Cliff Lee suit you? Hamels vs. Lee in Game 2? How confident would you be?

It might be worse if the Los Angeles Dodgers get a hold of Lee. Clayton Kershaw is young and off to a rocky start, but he has the ability to put it together and shut a team down. Ditto Chad Billingsley. Throw in Cliff Lee to that rotation and it’s not something the Phils will want to deal with. Oh and despite hitting the DL today, Andre Ethier is leading MLB in several major batting categories. The Dodgers have a good team and adding Lee could spell doom for the Phillies’ World Series hopes.

And with Manny Ramirez coming off the books, the Dodgers could make sure that Lee is a problem for the Phillies for years to come. Yay?

And keep in mind that if the Phillies had to face Lee in the playoffs, there is a small chance that he’d be amped up to stick it to the team that pulled the rug out from under him and sent him to an awful team tucked in the Northwest corner of the United States. Think he might have an axe to grind?