Yankees preparing ma$$ive offer for Cliff Lee

[Rogah]

Welcome to the Big Leagues Cliffy

I think this post is spot on in so many ways, and it describes why MLB is such a joke and even the World Series can't outrate an NFL game on TV. But it really is almost like playing for teams like KC or Minnesota or Florida is just another level of minor league baseball for players hoping to make it to the "big time" of the likes of NY, the other NY, Boston, Chicago, etc.

 

[juck]

Welcome to the Big Leagues Cliffy

Well then we must be Really Big leagues since we dusted the Spankees. hmmm

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I want him to stay with the Rangers but I'm not holding my breath. They simply can't compete with them on a money offer and if the Yankees want him bad enough they'll just over pay to get him.

 

[BlueBandit]

It's been said today the NYY have NO interest in Werth and Carl Crawford - bad news for Texas.

That means that Cliff is their main target and in NYY tradition they like to give their fans gifts around T-Giving and X-Mas.

Hal Steinbrenner guaranteed the club will be WS caliber next season , also bad news because that means he's willing to let Cashman spend some money. The last time he did that we won the WS, TEX , CC, AJ all signed.

I'm just wondering what the offer is going to be? I don't think Cashman would play game here - I think he's got one figure in mind - 5 years 140m? gonna be something like that.

Myself, I'd prefer to look elsewhere and sure some aging holes. However, I think Cliff Lee is a Yankee VERY soon.

 

[tko112204]

It's been said today the NYY have NO interest in Werth and Carl Crawford - bad news for Texas.

That means that Cliff is their main target and in NYY tradition they like to give their fans gifts around T-Giving and X-Mas.

Hal Steinbrenner guaranteed the club will be WS caliber next season , also bad news because that means he's willing to let Cashman spend some money. The last time he did that we won the WS, TEX , CC, AJ all signed.

I'm just wondering what the offer is going to be? I don't think Cashman would play game here - I think he's got one figure in mind - 5 years 140m? gonna be something like that.

Myself, I'd prefer to look elsewhere and sure some aging holes. However, I think Cliff Lee is a Yankee VERY soon.

Absolutely and undeniably insane.

No way he gets almost 30 mil a year. No way.

Not for the 9th or 10th best pitcher in baseball.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I hope the Yankees don't offer more than 3 years honestly... He's already 33.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I hope the Yankees don't offer more than 3 years honestly... He's already 33.

Three years won't get it done. I'm pretty sure he wants a $100M contract to finish his career on. I'm betting the only way he takes a contract that is sub 5 years is if the value is over $25M / per.

I'm guessing he is looking at $21-22M from Texas, or $23+M from NY.

The fact that they say the Nationals are looking into Cliff is a joke. He isn't going to play for a loser at any contract size when he can get over $100M from a winner.

 

[BlueBandit]

Absolutely and undeniably insane.

No way he gets almost 30 mil a year. No way.

Not for the 9th or 10th best pitcher in baseball.

LMAO - 9-10? Give me the 10 better - in fact give me 5 better

It's Cliff Lee , Lincecum, Halladay - shuffle them how you like,

 

[The Horned Frog]

Three years won't get it done. I'm pretty sure he wants a $100M contract to finish his career on. I'm betting the only way he takes a contract that is sub 5 years is if the value is over $25M / per.

The fact that they say the Nationals are looking into Cliff is a joke. He isn't going to play for a loser at any contract size when he can get over $100M from a winner.

I'm sure the Nationals are looking into him and salivating at the prospects of putting him and a healthy Stephen Strausburg together. Won't happen though, I see him staying in Texas or going to New York.

I see him either staying with Texas or going to New York. I don't envision a third team being in the mix.

 

[YosemiteSam]

LMAO - 9-10? Give me the 10 better - in fact give me 5 better

It's Cliff Lee , Lincecum, Halladay - shuffle them how you like,

You're right, he isn't the 9-10 best in baseball, but I would say Lincecum, Halladay, Felix Hernandez, CC are better than he is. So that would make him 5th best in baseball at the very best.

Of those five, Hernandez is probably the best pitcher in baseball yet you didn't even list him. Is it because he plays for the Mariners and his name isn't spoken every day on ESPN that you don't know about him? He is on a team with a crappy offense so like Zack Greinke, he has trouble winning games.

It appears all your information about baseball comes from ESPN. /fail I wouldn't argue baseball if ESPN is where your baseball IQ comes from.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm sure the Nationals are looking into him and salivating at the prospects of putting him and a healthy Stephen Strausburg together. Won't happen though, I see him staying in Texas or going to New York.

I see him either staying with Texas or going to New York. I don't envision a third team being in the mix.

I would say the Phillies would be an option, but he seems quite upset with them because they traded him away. Though rumor has it, they are also very interested in Lee. (why in hell did they trade him away in the first place?!?!?) /DUMB!

 

[The Horned Frog]

I would say the Phillies would be an option, but he seems quite upset with them because they traded him away. Though rumor has it, they are also very interested in Lee. (why in hell did they trade him away in the first place?!?!?) /DUMB!

According to my brother-in-law, who lives near Philadelphia and follows them pretty diligently:

The Phillies apparently offered Lee a 3 year, $60 million contract extension, and Lee turned it down.

The Phils also supposedly made a major push for him before the deadline, however the Mariners insisted on getting Domonic Brown in any potential trade for Lee, and would not budge. Shy of the second coming, Philly was not trading Brown, and the two sides couldn't reach a viable compromise.

I'd say Philly is a possibility, but they're a distance behind the other two.

I've also heard grumblings the Mets could be a sleeper, but I really don't see him leaving Texas or jacking the Yankees to go to that mess of an organization.

 

[The Horned Frog]

Oh and for my top ten plus..

Tim Lincecum
Felix Hernandez
Roy Halladay
CC Sabathia
Cliff Lee
Zach Grienke
Jon Lester
Josh Johnson
David Price
Justin Verlander/ Ubaldo Jimenez/ Adam Wainwright

My 10th spot really was a tough one to pick.

Jimenez is grossly underrated and has been consistently good for the last three seasons pitching in what was previously considered "the ballpark where good pitchers' careers go to die". Wainwright and Verlander also have been top notch as well and are right on that ten spot in my rankings.

Point here, Lee is a top 5 pitcher.. To name three better isn't hard. Naming ten might be, but there's some compelling names on the list who really could say they're on par with him IMHO.

 

[WDN]

Texas doesn't have that money, unless they have MLB bailout money leftover

You don't know what you are talking about.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You don't know what you are talking about.

Ignore him, he only knows what ESPN tells him. ...which is nothing.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Texas doesn't have that money, unless they have MLB bailout money leftover

Yes they do.

 

[tko112204]

LMAO - 9-10? Give me the 10 better - in fact give me 5 better

It's Cliff Lee , Lincecum, Halladay - shuffle them how you like,

In no particular order:

Halladay
Lincecum
Josh Johnson
Adam Wainwright
Felix Hernandez
David Price
CC Sabathia
Jon Lester

That's 8. So i guess I believe he's the 9th best pitcher in baseball. And any one of those that you wanna argue, I will be happy to oblige.

Had to leave Greinke off, he had a great '09 and average '10. If he's somewhere in the middle, he's probably Lee's equal.
Verlander has a better K rate, but the difference in BB/9 and K/BB makes Lee better than him.
I would rather have Ubaldo going forward, but he can't be considered better than Cliff right now.

I think that's my list.

 

[basstapp]

What an angry person you are. Face it, the Yankees ARE nothing unless they over pay to be.

The Yankees have basically one core player that they raised from the minors leagues on their team. The rest are over the hill has-beens or are not core players.

All their core players with the exception of Cano are bought and paid for.

Jeter, Jorge, Pettitte, and Rivera are the closest thing that could be considered core that were raised by the Yankees, but all of them are over-the-hill making them no longer core players. (ie, can't build your team around them)

A-Roid, Teixeira, CC, Granderson, Swisher, Wood, and Burnett were all bought and paid for.

I will say Phil Hughes is making a push to be a core player, but he hasn't yet proved that is he worthy to build a team around.

Now the buyers want to buy another pitcher because they can't raise any good ones anymore.

The Yankees are NOTHING without OPP. (Other Peoples Players)

That is all a lie.... The yankees have the 2nd most homegrown players in MLB. They didn't buy swisher they traded for him. Granderson was aquired by the yankees because we gave detroit austin jackson + phil coke. Arod was also traded for.

You most certainly can build a team around Arod, jeter, and Rivera ? Are you crazy. Rivera is still hands down the best closer in baseball. He throws one pitch and I believe he still has 2-5 years left. Jeter had a down year, but look at the year before he batted .334. He hit a modest .270 this year which is a career low besides his rookie year.. The yankees will promote ***** Montero up to fill posada's shoes. The core of the Yankees will look like this Cano, Montero, Hughes. The yankees buy players... so what its free agency, there are zero rules inhibiting them from doing so. Like I said 100x before hate the teams that do not fork money over. They all have the ability to do so. You can argue the fact that they cant, but the yankees have made an inestment to win and it has made them rich. Risk and reward paid off so start making some risks

 

[YosemiteSam]

That is all a lie.... The yankees have the 2nd most homegrown players in MLB. They didn't buy swisher they traded for him. Granderson was aquired by the yankees because we gave detroit austin jackson + phil coke. Arod was also traded for.

You most certainly can build a team around Arod, jeter, and Rivera ? Are you crazy. Rivera is still hands down the best closer in baseball. He throws one pitch and I believe he still has 2-5 years left. Jeter had a down year, but look at the year before he batted .334. He hit a modest .270 this year which is a career low besides his rookie year.. The yankees will promote ***** Montero up to fill posada's shoes. The core of the Yankees will look like this Cano, Montero, Hughes. The yankees buy players... so what its free agency, there are zero rules inhibiting them from doing so. Like I said 100x before hate the teams that do not fork money over. They all have the ability to do so. You can argue the fact that they cant, but the yankees have made an inestment to win and it has made them rich. Risk and reward paid off so start making some risks

You're kidding yourself. Jeter is on the wrong side of 35. He is slipping offensively and defensively and he isn't coming back. Rivera is 40 years old. While he is still a very good closer, he isn't the best in the league anymore. Again, you're kidding yourself. You cannot build a team around players that are 36 years plus.

Say what you want about buying vs trading. The Rangers traded for Cliff Lee, but make no mistake about it. They BOUGHT him because he isn't home grown and they just paid with talent instead of cash upfront.

If you acquire a superstar, you bought him because superstars don't come cheap. The Rangers bought Cliff Lee when they traded for him.

btw, if the Yankees are #2 in home grown players, that means the Rangers are #1. I proved that the Rangers have more talent raised from their own minor leagues on the current roster than the Yankees do the last time someone brought that stat up.

 

[tko112204]

That is all a lie.... The yankees have the 2nd most homegrown players in MLB. They didn't buy swisher they traded for him. Granderson was aquired by the yankees because we gave detroit austin jackson + phil coke. Arod was also traded for.

You most certainly can build a team around Arod, jeter, and Rivera ? Are you crazy. Rivera is still hands down the best closer in baseball. He throws one pitch and I believe he still has 2-5 years left. Jeter had a down year, but look at the year before he batted .334. He hit a modest .270 this year which is a career low besides his rookie year.. The yankees will promote ***** Montero up to fill posada's shoes. The core of the Yankees will look like this Cano, Montero, Hughes. The yankees buy players... so what its free agency, there are zero rules inhibiting them from doing so. Like I said 100x before hate the teams that do not fork money over. They all have the ability to do so. You can argue the fact that they cant, but the yankees have made an inestment to win and it has made them rich. Risk and reward paid off so start making some risks

A guy that's never taken a pitch in MLB is going to just slide right in to the toughest position in the game and instantly provide what Posada did?

Ok. Yankee fans are all the same. What you aren't taking into consideration is that even though it isn't against the rules, being able to spend 200+ million dollars every year is a competitive advantage and it's not because they can get whoever they want. It's because one bad contract (Wright, Pavano, Burnett, etc..) doesn't kill their flexibility. That is something that can only be said of 2 or 3 other teams in baseball. Most teams couldn't trade for Swisher, or A-Rod, if they were already paying Jeter, and Posada, and Pettite. And then to add Tex and Burnett? Can you honestly tell yourself you don't think that's a competitive advantage?