Nov
07
Yankees contact Cliff Lee’s agent
ByVia MLBTR, the Yankees have contacted Cliff Lee’s agent to let him know that they’ll be in touch with a contract offer soon. At this point in the offseason two years ago, the Yanks had already offered CC Sabathia the largest pitching contract in baseball history, so clearly they’re not being as aggressive with Lee. That doesn’t mean they don’t really really want him though, we all know they do.
Anyway, the process has started.
102 Comments»
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****ERECTION****
Too late. The election was last week.
Best case scenario:
Cliff Lee to the Yankees.
Zack Greinke to the Nationals.
Rangers….sorry…..
The Nationals had too many fans during the Strasburg era. Greinke might be afraid they’ll come back to see him. What I am scared of though, which seems very realistic if a spot in their rotation opens up, is TB going after him with their 37 fans.
Hmm….I didn’t even think of Tampa Bay in the Greinke sweepstakes. Good point. I just hope he ends up in the National League somewhere…far away from the AL East as possible!
Yeah he’d probably prefer Tampa Bay, it’s kind of hard for SAD to act up when you deal with the same 17 fans and media members everyday.
Damn. The Rays are sooo pitching rich that they could possibly trade for Greinke (giving up Hellickson & Matt Moore at most), and then go ahead and trade Matt Garza for a legit power hitter (if one is to be found).
Price, Greinke, Niemann, Wade Davis, J. Shields… not shabby.
I find it funny that when people talk about another team acquiring Greinke, all it takes is Hellickson and Moore, but then when they’re discussing the Yankees acquiring him, they’d need to give up Montero, Banuelos, Gardner, and a few other pieces.
Probably because you overrate the Yankee’s prospects and underrate the Rays’. Go look at where Hellickson and Moore rank in the top 100, then look at the other guys (sans Gardner)
Coming into this season, Hellickson was 18th and Moore was 35th according to BA – not sure where they’d rank now. Montero was 4th.
I assume they’ve moved up, considering their strong 2010 campaigns. Montero is a great bat but I’m not sure him + pieces equal those guys. I assume you threw Gardner in there as a joke
I assume you threw Gardner in there as a joke
No. There are seriously people that think that package is what it would take to get Greinke. Maybe it is, but then the Royals wouldn’t take a package like Hellickson/Moore either.
Perhaps you underrate the Yankees prospects… You think Banuelos hasn’t moved up with the way he pitched this season?
The other day someone said that the Marlins would probably not go for Hughes, Gardner, Montero, and Banuelos for Josh Johnson.
Yeah I’m all for the AL being as weak as possible.
Hmmm…What about the opt out in CC’s contract?? People assume he will be man for the Yankees for all those other years. But suppose it goes the other way. CC joins Cliff. Andy really does retire. Mo decides it might be fitting to go out with Andy on the chance of going in together sometime…in Cooperstown. Jorge tires of being a DH after a year. 2012 is not just a disaster waiting for the Mayans…
…and the show begins!
I’m guessing it’s a 5/105 at first.
I say balls to the wall. Offer him 6 years $139 million. It ain’t my money so we might as well spend it.
balls to the wall is 6/150
LOL LOL LOL
Victory? Victory you say? Master Axisa, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun… the Lee Wars have.
http://images.google.com/imgre.....29,r:2,s:0
Is that a picture of Lee at the end of his contract with the Yankees?
More like Mike Lowell at the end of his Yankee tenure.
I lol’d
Furthermore, regarding not needing Lee as much as they needed CC, I disagree. The Yankees operate on a WS or Bust mantra every year, I think for them to be competitive in the playoffs they need another front line starter. I think with CC Sabathia they were essentially bidding against themselves and they probably learned their lesson in order to avoid overspending by a large margin like they did with Sabathia.
The Yankees operate on a WS or Bust mantra every year
they really fucking shouldn’t.
they probably learned their lesson in order to avoid overspending by a large margin like they did with Sabathia
you’ve got to be kidding me.
When you spend 200 million dollars, I think winning the World Series is the ultimate goal and anything less than that is considered a failure. It’s what successful businesses, like the Yankees, do.
Oh please, the Yankees did not need to offer CC that contract either, not that I’m mad about it or anything, it was pretty much them and everyone else. Once they offered him like 6/140 or whatever every other bidder backed off.
sabathia’s fwar:
2007 – 7.1
2008 – 7.6
lee’s fwar:
2009 – 6.8
2010 – 7.1
so sabathia’s 7x23m, at 28, was too much. lee’s 6x23m, at 32, is good. makes sense.
Inflation, and I like how you left out CC’s 2006 and Cliff Lee’s monster 2008. As to whether it’s “too much” it’s a market economy, you pay what the market dictates. There’s inflation, and the like to deal with. I think the Yankees tend to outbid themselves when it comes to free agents. Whether six years at 23M is too much depends on the context, if he’d sign with Texas at 5/115, and it takes an extra year to bring him to New York…fine. However, who were the other suitors for Sabathia? At least we know of one team who really wants Lee on their team and will put up a good offer. Furthermore, Cliff Lee at age 32 has fewer innings on his arm than CC did at 28. Cliff Lee could be a Curt Schilling type, where it took him a while to get his shit together.
Inflation? Have you been watching the world markets the past few years. Deflation was the worry at one point! The same in MLB.
i left out the rest of their careers too. every time i hear the inflation argument, i automatically know it’s a bad deal.
Cliff Lee prior 2008 =/= 2008- Cliff Lee, he’s had a weird career path, whereas CC’s is pretty normal as far as peaking, breakout, etc.
reading career paths is not unlike reading tarot cards. but fine.
Talking shit about Tarot cards? Next you’re going to tell me my horoscope and fortune cookie readings don’t mean anything.
My Magic 8 Ball told me that fortune cookies don’t work.
you’re good police.
I just sent Sanny to Madam LaRue and that worked out okay.
/Landsmen’d
It all depends on the market…CC at 7 years 23 doesn’t make sense because the 2nd highest bid from the Milwakee Brewes was only 5 years 100 mill.The Yanks could have started their bidding with 22 mill for 5 years or 21 mill for 6 years…they didn’t have to go 23 mill for 7(161 mill)…but if they want to get Cliff Lee they might have to go there to get him because who they are bidding against,the Rangers is a bigger spender than the Brewers.
with lee and cc you are going to get three wins every playoff session.
Then don’t sign him. I want 4 wins in some of those series!
get edwin jackson too and we’ll never lose again.
So Lee will pitch 3 times?
rather see us trade for Edwin Jackson or Wandy Rodriguez who both will be entering free agent year. This gives us a rotation of:
CC
Hughes
Pettitte
Wandy/Jackson
AJ
You can do a lot worse then having that rotation. AJ as a #5 will give us innings and with our offense he will win 13-15 games. The key here is gettign Pettitte to sign again and hoping Hughes can be a #2 I would trade some combination of Laird, Noesi, Warren, Phelps, Nova or any SP not ending with a B. This will buy us a year until 2 of the B’s come up in 2012.
Wandy Rodriguez would be an utter disaster in the AL let alone the AL Eeast…
Yeah…no.
AJ as a #5 will give us innings and with our offense he will win 13-15 games
Like he did this year?
dan, is that you?
what dan are you looking for…………………
No. Trading for either one of those guys is just a bad move.
let us not forget.we must win every year……………mitre,gaudin,should never be seen at yankee stadium unless they r bringing me hot dogs. cost does not matter.they charge people a small fortune.we want and demand the best.get lee and crawford!
Forget Crawford. Just get Lee in pinstripes.
Well I sure hope Christmas comes early this year… Lets do this Yankees like the elite name brand they are…. blow him away with a offer that shows him the respect he deserves, and how serious we are and get this done…. this is a elite level pitcher that damn near single handily put us over the edge… this signing will send shock waves throughout the MLB and more so the AL east once they sit down, the dust settles and they realize how good our staff will be…. (gets the chills)
who is with me….?
get him now and then ……take crawford.
O Christmas Lee,
O Christmas Lee,
How I want you in some pinstripes!
Awesome.
And I see your Tannenbaum and raise you an Away in the Manger:
Away in the minors
He swings for the fence
This triple AAAÂ prospect
Can give us the wins!
I love Thee, oh Jesus
Please keep your stats high
And stay on our roster,
‘Til playoffs are nigh!
i have to poop
That makes two of us.
Yeah!
i’m not the person who suggested we trade for wandy rodriguez.
Hell no!!!! edwin jackson yes. But whoever said edwin jackson is a scrub you have got to be kidding me right!!!!!!!
remember not this dan,does not want e. jackson.i think he was traded about 5 times already
Cliff Lee was traded four times in two years. Ergo, we don’t want him.
Am I doing it right?
Or on the flip side, since we want Lee who was traded a lot, we should also want Edwin Jackson.
Well, that’s not really fair
Of course not. But there are better, more legitimate reasons not to want Edwin Jackson than the fact that he’s been traded four times in his career.
Agreed, though I think in Jackson’s case that is a legit red flag. In Lee’s it obviously isn’t.
JUST SAY NO
…….to trading for Edwin Jackson.
I was going to say Jackson was Joe’s secret pitcher… until I looked at his stat’s and saw that he was in the AL. (It’s pretty hard to keep track of what team Jackson’s on. He get’s traded almost every other week.
)
Chris Carpenter. Boom.
For some reason, I think Lee will sign for less than some of the big numbers being bandied around. And for less, I think a 5 year deal for probably less than $115mm. I can’t see another club going higher than that. I think Cash will stick to his guns like he did with the Tex dealings with Scott Boras.
I just don’t think many teams would spend that much over 5+ years for a 32 year old pitcher. Long term deals for pitchers don’t usually look that good, and I can’t see most GMs ignoring that fact.
Who knows, I am probably way off base.
His age is against him, yes, but since he’s a control pitcher he’s the type who should age well. It’s not like if he loses a couple mph on his fastball he’ll get smacked around, he gets by on his control and command of all his pitches. That typically doesn’t fade for awhile among elite pitchers.
Plus there seem to be enough teams interested to drive up the price, and since this is Lee’s first (and likely only) venture into free agency I don’t see him leaving a dime on the table.
Plus due to his career path he’s not your typical 32 year old starter….
Offer 4/$84 and let Texas counter.
I don’t believe Texas will go to $100m.
I would go 4 years at 92 million.
That’d be nice, just ’cause of the years, but I think Lee will want five years.
Texas will go to 5, then we will have to go to six x 23 and its over.
Okay so we know what you think about Jeter, how bout Cliff Lee?
Joes secret pitcher is tim Hudson
I think he already denied that.
Meh. Not a big fan. He’s an extreme groundball guy and with the left side of the infield a defensive liability, Hudson might show his true colors. (2.83 ERA vs. 4.09 FIP last season)
Wang?
our farm is not deep enough.
You forget the Yankees still have Pat Venditte
What are the criteria for Joe’s secret pitcher?
NL, formerly of the AL, actually good. I think he said it wasn’t Hudson too.
It’s Jon Garland
No, Joe understands what makes a pitcher project well in the AL, so he’d correctly identify Garland as a player to avoid.
Nope, he said it was a trade. Garland’s a FA. And hopefully Joe wouldn’t suggest getting Garland even if it was by trade…
Must be in NL (but use to be in AL)and is good.
The only names that even fit the criteria: Halladay, Santana and Carpenter. For reasons that should be obvious, the first two don’t work. The third one…scares me.
Ahh OK, thanks guys. I’m just gonna throw this out there. I think he’s using the AL thing as a technicality. Ima say Anibal Sanchez. Young, pretty good GB rates, pretty good K rates, the walks are a little bit high but most importantly, he’s about to get pretty expensive. Other than thatI have no freaking idea. Maybe the Marlins will take Romine and Warren? Seems like they’re always looking for a good young catcher.
So my friend who is a Phillies fan thinks the Phillies will get Cliff Lee. I showed him his teams Cot’s page and even though their payroll is like $145 MM for next year without signing anyone, he still thinks they’re getting Lee. It must be tough to be a fan of a team that can’t have whoever they want.
you’re the type of yankee fan that i hate
wow ryan. thanks for being a total douchebag.
on the FA market anyway.
I hope the bidding doesn’t go to 6 years 25 million…Lee is good but he won’t be close to his contract vaule the last 2 years of his deal.
So how has Lee done against the AL east and how has he been at Fenway?
killed, maimed. children were heard crying in the background.
[...] free agents now officially able to negotiate with any teams, the Yankees contacted Cliff Lee’s agent to let him know that a contract offer would be coming soon, perhaps within 72 hours. It’s [...]
I’m not that crazy about Cliff Lee. He really gets injured a lot. I can see him playing 5 seasons and not having any one dominant year and having to protect him cause he’s injured and needs babying till the playoffs start like Andy this year. Let Texas have him. I like guys that can put up 200 innings. He reminds me of Don Gullet, awesome when playing but injured all the time.
So, this whole thing means Lee will be fitting his pinstripes uniform by next week….??? I hope so. Been waiting since last year, when we should’ve got him. Stop the nonsense talk. Everybody knows how desperately we need a strong starter, someone with guts, curves and attitude. He belongs in stripes. end of the story.
Secret Pitcher = Ian Kennedy. Heard it here first
[...] for about a dozen free agents, though we don’t know exactly which ones. Well, we know about Cliff Lee and Pedro Feliciano, then there’s Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Does Andy Pettitte count? [...]