Left-handed starting pitcher Cliff Lee was the most sought out free agent in Major League Baseball this off-season. The New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers were thought to be front runners in signing him to a new contract. But in what is being called a stunning development, Lee agreed to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, a team he played for during the 2009 season.
In his first career game with the Philadelphia Phillies, Lee pitched a complete game in a 5–1 victory. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and had two hits as a batter, including his first career double and a run scored. Through his first five games with the Phillies, Lee amassed a 5–0 record, 39 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched, and a 0.68 ERA.
The Yankees and Rangers appeared to be the only 2 teams strongly courting the 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner, with New York offering Lee a 7 year contract worth 150 million dollars and Texas making 3 trips to Lee's hometown trying to convince him to return to Rangers.
Lee decided to return to Philadelphia, taking less money, reported to be 120 million dollars over 5 years. Lee now joins Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt in what has to be considered the best starting pitching rotation in Major League Baseball history. The move now makes Philadelphia the odds on favorite to win it all in 2011.
Cliff Lee photo courtesy of FOX SPORTS
©2010 by Lloyd Cope for Gather.com All rights reserved.
Video courtesy of YouTube
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Comments: 7
I am no huge follower of Baseball, or sports for that matter, all I know is there are certain teams I don't want to win in sports....the rest well I just could care less.
Mooch
Mr. Lee wanted to take care of some unfinished business, not winning the World Series during his stay in 2009.
Mr. Lee felt that pitching for the Phillies gave him his best chance at finally winning a World Series ring.
Yankee Fans Spit On Cliff Lee’s Wife Kristen. Kristen Lee told USA today that fans of the Bronx Bombers “taunted and threw beers†at her. Cliff downplayed the incident. "There were some people that were spitting off the balcony on to the family section and stuff like that, which is kind of weak. What can you do?"
They said that Cliff Lee would want to stay in Texas because it's close to his Arkansas home. They said that he would want to go to New York because it might be where the most money is, and potentially the biggest spotlight.
But Philadelphia? Would he really want a return trip? Yes.
He rejected the New York Yankees. He spat at Yankee Stadium, and he spurned the pinstripes, and then, were that not enough, he actually went somewhere else for less money, compounding insult with the most injurious move in years.
Meet baseball’s newest hero: Cliff Lee(notes), newly minted Philadelphia Phillie and antidote for a baseball-viewing public tired of the Yankees throwing around free-agent dollars like toy money. All across America, from the smallest baseball cities to the biggest metropolises and everyone in between tortured by the Yankees’ profligate spending, paint the town with Schadenfreude and emit a good, long yelp.