Dec
08
Rosenthal: Lee to decide on new team this weekend
ByVia Ken Rosenthal, Cliff Lee is expected to decide on his new team by the end of the weekend. The Yankees made the lefty a huge offer today, and I have to think that they’re in the lead for his services. All I know is that this weekend has the potential to be very very good or very very bad.
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Bah, just ranted about this on the open thread
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/.....nt-1394808
I’m expecting a very very good weekend.
Good. We need him to get over that hump. If the Rangers get him then we cannot beat them next October because we can’t beat Cliff Lee. Never have, never will. Thankfully we have locked up our captain for another 4 years. Now we just need to resign Kerry Wood, sign Carl Crawford, and ship Curtis Granderson out of town. It’s amazing how far we fell with Granderson and without Matsui and Damon who I hope may be interested in a DH/bench role.
I’m not sure if this is just a very stupid post or full of sarcasm.
It’s Big Bertha, so definitely the former.
“If the Rangers get him then we cannot beat them next October because we can’t beat Cliff Lee.”
The Phillies had Cliff Lee in 2009. He went 2-0, but the Yankees still won the series…
Also, the point about Curtis Granderson is batshit insanity. Granderson > Matsui and Damon combined.
Kabak’d
Doesn’t Get Sarcasm’d
It’s the fucking Internet. I can’t tell what’s sarcasm and what isn’t. All of Big Bertha’s posts are the same, so he/she is either a moron or a good satirist.
So if you hate everyone in the world there’s this X button that I’d love for you to try out.
Recommending suicide is a bit drastic, don’t you think?
The rotation, and team, were probably better then than it is now. I agree they need Cliff Lee for October Glory next year…but the rest is, sigh…
I won’t dispute that the 2009 Yankees were better than the current version. But to say the Yankees can’t beat a certain team because Cliff Lee plays for it is just stupid.
Wait even if the Yanks get Cliff Lee you arent totally confident or am I reading you wrong?
Well, if Pettitte retires and they let Sergio Mitre or some other piece of shit be the 5th starter then no, I’m not totally confident. But provided that they do an adequate job of addressing the other hole(s) 5th starter, and to a MUCH lesser extent RH OF and back up catcher…I’d be pretty fucking stoked about 2011.
Don’t forget the grounds crew….
Quacktastic.
This is hilarious.
Big Bertha says:
December 8, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Now we just need to resign Kerry Wood
i feel that i don’t have to argue against this anymore.
Thanks for the laugh, dude.
What a fucking masterpiece.
Oh man, it’s been a while since I saw a Damon and Matsui superiority reference. Good times, good times.
I am really nervous for some reason about this.
I just have a feeling Lee would prefer to not go to the yankees but will eventually go for the biggest Contract. He probably is waiting to see if the Rangers can match or exceed the yankees offer. or anyone for that matter.
I just have a feeling Lee would prefer to not go to the yankees but will eventually go for the biggest Contract.
Hint: that’s the Yankees.
I wish I had your confidence but all it takes is one crazy GM to offer $21m AAV per 7 and he is gone.
I put the chances of that around %3 (super scientific), which makes me a little nervous. Its hard to picture the 2011 Yankees without Lee at this point.
And by a little nervous I mean very little.
I don’t have a good feeling about this- Something tells me he stays in Texas.
Texas is shopping Micheal Young. Thank you Rangers!
This makes my heart warm since it demonstrates to Cliff Lee that the Yankees really do stand by their core players while the Rangers will not give him the stability he desires.
Although I love M. Young, go Rangers, help push Lee toward the Yankees.
unless they are shopping him to free just enough salary to exceed or match the yankees 6 yr 140 offer.
im nervous.
i mean.. worst case scenario.. lee going back to the rangers. Pettitte retiring…
Sabathia, Burnett, Hughes….. .and….
please dont trade for grienke..especially with what the team would have to give up in their farm.
#
@jcrasnick One reason the Rangers are exploring Michael Young trades now: He becomes a 10-and-5 man in May. He can veto all trades after that 7 minutes ago
stupid alert:
what is a 10 and 5 man?
10 year MLB veteran who has spent at least 5 years with his current team can veto any trade.
I believe its 10 years of major league service, 5 years with the same team.
“This makes my heart warm since it demonstrates to Cliff Lee that the Yankees really do stand by their core players while the Rangers will not give him the stability he desires.”
Um…actually, it probably demonstrates that the Rangers are always looking to get better and give the team the best chance to win, instead of allowing sentiment to push them into keeping bloated contracts for underperforming players on the books.
I actually feel Granderson will have a better year this year.. another full year with kevin long.. cutting down his long swing.. if he hits 275 and with 25 dingers playing good defense we should be happy.. still a good trade on our end.
Just get it over with
am i the only one who doesn’t want cliff lee?
Probably. What are the better options in the next 2 years in terms of viable trades and other FAs? We’re already 1 man short and Andy is either already done or will be next year.
Greinke. Chris Carpenter. Gavin Floyd. Wandy Rodriguez. Jered Weaver.
Those are options (except for Jered Weaver … he’s got a couple arb years left and why would the Angels trade him away?) But are they BETTER options? Some of them would cost a ton of prospects. We could flip enough for one of them, sure. If we traded for two we’d deflate the farm. Yankee’s farm system has enough potential, even for the Yankees, to provide enough value that its better to keep it and pay Lee.
Plus Lee is equally good or better than all of those guys.
Plus Lee is
equally good orbetter than all of those guys.Greinke, man. He had a Bob Gibsonian season two years ago and is like 5 or 6 years younger. They deserve to be considered equals IMHO.
i mean your right, I’ve just been hoping that maybe we can get over this whole signing players over 30 to massive deals thing ALL THE TIME. Cliff Lee is by far the best option, we dont have to give up prospects in a trade, etc… im not saying its wrong to want him it just gets old after a while… I want a change in philosophy but im never gonna get it.
Plenty of people don’t, and for good reason. 32 year old pitcher on a large contract, disaster could strike, but the reward is fantastic. You could be right either way you look at it. Personally, Years 1-3 are worth the 4-6 in terms of how it will make the rotation kind of a powerhouse.
It is a scary proposition, and his health record isn’t squeaky clean either. At least Lee has the perfect pitcher profile for lasting into his late 30s, being that he is a lefty with 80 command who always repeats his delivery and controls the run game.
EVERY move has risks. The Yankees have a huge advantage in that they can minimalize their financial risks more than any other team with their ability to accept very little marginal value from aging superstars and still compensate for it by adding additional talent via all 3 mediums of talent acquistion (FA, trades, farm). Sure, 37 year old Lee is going to be paid like a #1, but he’ll probably be like #4 in the rotation. Best to risk “only” money and save the farm, especially for the Yankees.
You can cite the middle-of-the-aughts Yankees as the warning against this, but there’s a huge difference between them and the Yankees now: A FARM SYSTEM. The Yankees could not utilize 1/3 of the the standard talent acquisitions methods at that time because their farm sucked. Now its popping out Canos, Hughes, Montero, and eventually Banuelos/Romine and whoever The Next Big Things are
COunt me in
And it just so happens this is announced the day of the Yankees offer. Why not jump at the 2, 7 year deals if the biggest money team offered 6?
Sign Lee, trade for Floyd, sign Scott Hairston and find a LOOGY and call it an offseason.
Oh god now I’m gonna be refreshing like crazy as soon as Friday rolls around.
And if year 7 is the deal maker/breaker, I say give it to him. He’s a control guy that’s managed to keep his arm healthy. Only if it comes down to that sticking point though.
Agreed.
But his back is supposed to explode and spray his vertebrae all over the infield at any point in time, right? Have I been completely misled?!
(sorry, that was graphic)
lol, that is pretty gross.
Mortal Kombat’d?
i’d throw in a new kidney.
This is strange.
It would be great if Lee announces the team that he will sign with during an hour-long special on ESPN.
That’s probably the only scenario in which I’d hope he doesn’t sign with the Yanks.
Really? I’d love it. Let all us Yankee fans bask in the glory of their arrogance and large payroll while provoking the ire of millions.
What’s not to like?
I can’t stand Lebron and Lebron-like antics. I’d rather watch my team attempt to beat him several times a year if he stooped to that level of douche-dom.
No one has done this joke yet.
I’m taking my talents to the Bx has a nice ring to it
“I’ve decided to take my talents to South Bronx, and team with CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees.”
I have been picking the Yanks from the beginning of last season but these past few days I’m starting to get a weird feeling like he might choose Texas. It’s not because I’m a negative person or anything in 08 I was super confident all the way they would land CC, AJ and Tex.
Either way it will be good to know sooner rather then later so the Yanks can know what there next move is. As long as Lee’s out there they are kinda stuck so as long as this is true I expect a flurry of rumors and activity next week.
Scale of 1-10 how much do you want Cliff Lee?
I am at a number that is unable to be quantitatively measured.
1337
1300135
?
Damn infinity symbol.
∞
OH SNAP!
9001
I’m at a 4. Contract values and long-term commitment make me very wary.
Ben, you’re the perfect person to answer this question then.
What’s your favorite viable solution for filling in the voids of the current rotation spot and the one Andy would leave if he retired this year?
90210 !!!
CC should text CC “Just accept whatever they give you”. It’s foolproof!
Duhhhhh text Lee I mean
#bringbackeditfeature
You could’ve just played it off like you were talking about Carl Crawford.
we are so spoiled…
10!!!!
who wouldnt want a guy like this
lefty who doesnt really on power pitching.
can use his control and pitches to pitch well into his late 30′s with solid numbers… history is good for lefty starters pitching into their late 30′s
Agreed. There’s this Andy Pettitte guy, I hear he’s pretty good. Lefty in his late 30′s.
Of course you want Lee. Without him (and Pettitte) the Yankees are not going to win the division, and probably even the wild card. CC, Hughes and AJ + ? is not a good rotation by any means. We can talk about Greinke all we want, but Lee should be the most attainable and the target, otherwise they’re in trouble.
It would be great having Lee pitch to Montero and both having great success.
If Lee wants 7 years, 8 years, or 9 years, I say just give it to him because that’s how bad we need him. What if Andy retires? We’ll be down to 1 big game pitcher. Phil was awful in the ALCS, just awful. We aren’t going back to the WS without Cliff Lee, Kerry Wood, Carl Crawford, and another veteran bench player, namely Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon. Derek Jeter can do the rest. Oh Captain my captain! That’s what I was chanting while standing on top of my desk with running down my face the day we resigned Jeter.
It’s parody. It has to be.
…right?
Has to be.
Its over the top now, not even try for a little subtlety. Tsk tsk.
Obviously. OMG YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HUMOR!!!!
/Poopy Pants’d
I don’t understand why people care about these asshole millionaires who don’t give a shit about the fans anyway.
/PP’d
This site sucks. I’m gonna leave a ton of comments in this thread and others anyway though.
ietc to the three above comments.
Hey Big Bertha … I don’t usually do this but uhh…
A/S/L?
Damn, I’m slow. All along I never realized that BB was putting us on with all that “don’t throw the captain in the trash” nonsense. But this post proves — pure comedy genius. Nine years for Phifer Lee? El. Oh. El. I get it. You are a funny dude. My hat is off.
by new team by rosenthal, does he mean texas is out
I may be reading the tea leaves incorrectly but I think lee always wanted to come to the yankees and will take their offer. It doesn’t helpt that it will likely be the best offer. I just don’t buy all the bs the media has been trying to spoon feed us about how lee loves the rangers.
Come Monday an Lee is a yankee. I hope.
“Rangers president Nolan Ryan told MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan that the Rangers have asked Braunecker to tell them what it will take to sign Lee. The Rangers have not made an offer, but they’re considering a six-year deal, since they expect it will take a long-term commitment to sign Lee.”
Fuck.
I really think he’s heading there
This.
Hopefully he goes there on a deal even the Yankees wouldn’t offer. Otherwise, he better come to the Yankees.
If the Rangers want to tie up 25-35 percent of their payroll in 32-year-old Cliff Lee for six years, I’m not going to shed many tears for the Yanks’ loss.
If Lee goes to Texas I hope its for 7 years
Hypothetically speaking, would you rather have Greinke and Crawford or Lee and Montero (plus the other prospects it would take to acquire Greinke)?
Maybe Kei Igawa will have a revelation and suddenly burst on too the scene as the next big thing. then we wont need Cliff Lee.
I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up on Sunday. But I have class on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The suspense is going to kill me.
Wow, this has really turned into “The Decision” part two I see. Fuck this guy, get Greinke and Crawford.
And I don’t wanna hear “BUT SOCIAL ANZIETIES DISORDER!!1!one!”
Why not? If it gives the organization pause, then there’s probably something to it.
I, for one, am tired of the constant refrain of ‘you don’t know anything, therefore it definitively doesn’t matter’. It’s true, I don’t know anything. Neither does anyone else, except for the ones making the decision. And reports say that they are hesitant because they think Greinke doesn’t actually want to pitch in New York. So, guess what. It most likely does matter.
In addition, Greinke has had precisely one truly elite season. He will be making $13.5M for the next two years, after which he will likely be making $20+M for however long his free agent contract goes. Is that worth giving up every single elite prospect/pre-arb player the Yankees have? Hell. No. This isn’t Felix Hernandez. Not even close.
It doesn’t matter, though, because the Yankees are too intelligent to trade for Greinke.
Seriously.
Just because you add “!!!” and say “TEH” doesn’t mean the point you are deriding is actually stupid. Saying that its 100% absolutely not an issue is just as stupid as the people who say there is no way he would ever succeed here because of it.
Forget Crawfrod guys.
Pete Abe saying Sox have done deal with Crawford.
Daaaaaaaaaaaamn. Quite the coup if that’s true.
I thought Angels had him in the bag. I wish they did.
the next couple of hours will be fun.
Well, this ruined my night.
As I said on Twitter, I shit my pants. Who saw this shit (no pun intended) coming?
once Werth signed, I think it was pretty clear this was coming.
I just saw this and HOMIGOD NOOOOOO.
I think he is going to chose to stay in Texas. So Texas will outbid all teams and sign a guy for $25 mil a year… Wait hasn’t this already happen once before.
Hey, ‘member “Plan-B”? Yeeeeeaaaa……. it’s in Boston now.
Wow the red sox just signed Crawford to a seven year 142 million dollar deal. Now the yanks really need to make sure they get Lee.
lol fuck lol
163 mil 7 years here we come…ughhh fuck boston.
Well, now I think the Red Sox’ lineup can compete with the Yankees’.
HAHAHAHA, after all this drama Lee’s agent screws it all up bigtime anyway.
I bet he wished he had waited just a couple more hours before leaving with offers in hand and announcing a forthcoming decision. The Crawford deal certainly would have thrown the balance of leverage well towards Lee’s side (assuming the Yankees reported interest in CC was true, which by all accounts it was).
Although with the way this offseason has gone so far I half expect the Crawford deal to fall apart and him to sign with Seattle or something.
with all the big bats getting signed, would it be fair to start considering going all in on pitching (i.e. all out for Lee and Greinke)?
…Do the Yankees have any room for a big bat?
I don’t see how this is relevant.
Assuming their internal plan is consistent with what the media has been reporting (to sign Lee and if that fails get Crawford) I don’t see how you make the leap from Crawford to Greinke.
As long as Lee signs everything is still going according to plan. There was very little chance they would both be coming to NY.
So does this mean the Angels are in on Lee??
I would think so. Damn.
And the drama continues……..
I was thinking the same thing.
Plan B is a Red Sox now. Yankees need to get Lee!
6 @ 170mm anyone?
The silliness
Red Sox just signed Carl Crawford 7/142 mil per MLB Trade Rumors! Yanks need to sign Lee and fast!!
Thank god the Red Sox saved the Yankees from a colossal mistake.
this might actually make the yankees panic and make another colossal mistake by giving Lee more money more years since no other big FA is available on the market anymore. The idea of getting another OF and trading Gardner or such for pitching is pretty much dead.
Get ready to hear: BOSTON IS THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL, LOCKS TO WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!
Cliff Lee wouldn’t want to ruin my birthday, right? Because him signing with anyone but us this weekend would definitely ruin it.
This is getting annoying. Cashman needs to step it up and say “what will put Cliff Lee in the pinstripes?” If George Steinbrennor were alive we would have him signed by now plain and simple. If Cash botches this he better hope he comes up with a brilliant plan to salvage the season. Enough with the proximity, state taxes, better water, blah blah, etc. We cannot let Lee get away at the expense of the Rangers or the Angels. The Angels are sort of a big market team but they are not Yankees/Red Sox Caliber. The Rangers are the 3rd or 4th most popular team in Texas. Y’all saw their version of a WS atmosphere. It was disgraceful. Yanks cannot lose to these pretenders. Get Lee now!
[...] Via MLBTR, we learn that the Red Sox have agreed to a massive 7-year, $142M deal for the speedy Carl Crawford. Crawford, 29, hit .307/.356/.495 with 19 homers and 47 stolen bases in 2010 and, as a left fielder, he’s as good as it gets defensively (career 15.0 UZR/150). In a week, the Sawx have added Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez — man, talk about making a splash. The Yankees reportedly never made Crawford an actual offer, so perhaps they’re content with Brett Gardner (which is totally understandable). I also think that the Yankees are simply saving up for Cliff Lee, who, after receiving a potential 6-year, $140M offer from Brian Cashman yesterday, could decide where on he wants to by the end of the week. [...]
Tell Cashman to trade for Adam Wainwright, already. Screw this Greinke crap. Cards need to clear some room to make a $30M/yr offer to Pujols by the start of Spring Training (or else risk a grumbling, sniping back-and-forth leading into ’11 winter meetings). Trade one of the young catchers, nova, an AAA pitcher & a Single-A pitcher and get Wainwright in here before he hits FA.