Cliff Lee to the Phillies?

I thought this deserved its own thread. Cliff Lee is going to the Phillies! What just happened? He was willing to take a 5/yr 100 mil deal over anything the Rangers or Yankees were throwing at him. It just blows my mind. discuss. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5917145

This was his last chance for a big contract, and he signed for 5 years instead of the 7 the Yankees offered and less money per year as well.

Do the Phillies have pictures of him with a donkey or something?

Originally Posted by esquire.

Click to expand...

This was his last chance for a big contract, and he signed for 5 years instead of the 7 the Yankees offered and less money per year as well.

Do the Phillies have pictures of him with a donkey or something?

That is the most reasonable explanation I can think of.

The Phillies are going to have knockout pitching but I don't know if their run production will be high enough even with that crew.

Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. You can throw a highschool team out on the field with that kind of pitching lol.

Originally Posted by ConcernedParent

Click to expand...

Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. You can throw a highschool team out on the field with that kind of pitching lol.

Oh I think they will do fantastic- I just don't know if they can win the world series this year. I think they will get there but they need run production as well. Werth was a huge loss in that dept.

jayson werth fucked up.

Originally Posted by limping_decorum

Click to expand...

jayson werth fucked up.

Nah, the Nationals fucked up. How much did the Nationals end up overpaying for him? 30 or 40 million? They could have signed Adam Dunn for a fraction of what it took to sign Werth, when their numbers aren't that far off.

Usually, Boras' MO is to drag along the negotiations to play teams off each other and try to squeeze out every cent. But, when Boras saw the Nationals offer, he took it and ran cause he knew no other team was even going to come close to that offer.

This sucks!

extremely happy today... for the money, would rather have cliff lee instead of werth, even though I don't like longterm pitching contracts. but that's a 2014 problem, not a today problem. these guys are going to tear through the nl east lineups.

obviously, the phillies have offensive problems. everybody thinks of them as a power hitting team, but they're really just a bad pitcher hitting team and haven't been a good offense since maybe 2007 (they were just decent in 2008). Werth was probably the best bat last year, but is gone. Ryan Howard is overpaid (probably twice what he is worth) since he is all but worthless after the 7th inning, thanks to a steady diet of lefty one out guys. But a run in the first inning is worth the same as a run in the 9th. Jimmy Rollins is 4~5 years past his prime, although he's still a plus glove. Ibanez - also past his prime, except for that magical half season in 2009. Victorino is just never going to get on base enough, but he might rake 20 home runs next year. The offense is going to come down to Utley doing his thing again, Polanco recovering from the bone chips that sapped him in the 2nd half, Domonic Brown exploding, and Ruiz being steady behind the mound and with the bat. And a whole bunch of complete games from the staff.

Originally Posted by limping_decorum

Click to expand...

jayson werth fucked up.

They couldn't afford both. Man the Phillies really did make a sweet deal there.

I'm in dallas so I am pissed about this. My only consolation is I was really hesitant about giving an aging pitcher that much money.

Red Sox vs. Phillies in World Series?

Originally Posted by ConcernedParent

Click to expand...

Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. You can throw a highschool team out on the field with that kind of pitching lol.

San

Francisco

Giants

Originally Posted by limping_decorum

Click to expand...

jayson werth fucked up.
Not really. Once you have one World Series ring, the marginal value of a second or third is minimal. Werth was signing his last contract, so he might as well make it the biggest one he could get.

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop--Phils trading one of the other three.

Originally Posted by shoreman1782

Click to expand...

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop--Phils trading one of the other three.

or maybe trading ryan howard for two or three people who can hit and don't take october off.