If you happened to go to sleep around 11:00 last night then odds are you missed the news.
What news you ask? Why the news that the Philadelphia Phillies signed a free agent. His name? Some guy named Cliff Lee. It’s OK you can scream if you want. Finished? Good.
Now for the details. Last night T.R. Sullivan who works for MLB.com broke the story reporting that Cliff Lee was signing with the Phillies.
According to Jerry Crasnick Cliff Lee signed a 5 yr $120M guaranteed deal with a easily reachable 6th year vesting option. Ken Rosenthal reports that according to a source that the vesting option is $27.5M and that Lee will get a $12.5M buyout after the 5th year. If both sources are correct then by my math at the end of 6 years Lee could get $147.5M.
So what were the Yankee and Texas offers?
The Yankees last offer was reportedly 6 years $132M with a player option for $16M in 7th year for a total of $148M over 7 years.
The Rangers last offer was reportedly 6 years $138M with an option for a seventh season.
If these numbers are accurate in the end Cliff Lee is making more per year with the Phillies $24M per year than he would of with the Rangers $23M per year or the Yankees $22M per year. If the vesting option is accurate Lee will wind up making $147.5M over 6 years rather than what he would of got with the Yankees $148M over 7 years. The Rangers option could of paid Lee more overall but without knowing the details of the option it’s hard to say by how much.
With reports already coming out with titles like “Cliff accepts deal for love, not for money” I would not be so quick to believe the hype. In the end it may have been more about the money than the love.
Reports are that the Phillies will be moving Joe Blanton to free up the $21M that is still due to him over the next 2 years of an initial 3 year $24M deal.
16 comments
rustyjr
12/14/2010-5:16am at 5:16 am (UTC -4)
I am not Happy !!!
Mr North Jersey
12/14/2010-5:17am at 5:17 am (UTC -4)
Did u email danielle?
rustyjr
12/14/2010-5:27am at 5:27 am (UTC -4)
yes – it’s a no go for today – she said it had to be by last friday – i posted in google
Mr North Jersey
12/14/2010-5:35am at 5:35 am (UTC -4)
understood but Matt asked you to try one last time I am assuming you did.
Mr North Jersey
12/14/2010-5:36am at 5:36 am (UTC -4)
The information about Will is in the Google page for you. Did you send that info to danielle?
njstuckintx
12/14/2010-5:34am at 5:34 am (UTC -4)
Seriously? We have Santana! Oh wait… Well, we have Pelfry, Niese, Dickey and, uh, and…
Our one solace is that these old guys break down well before their contracts are complete so Phillie is paying a whole lot of guys who are way past their prime. Not much of a solace at this point.
TRS86
12/14/2010-7:31am at 7:31 am (UTC -4)
It is to me. While yes the Yankees have proven you can buy a WS win they have also proven that no matter how much you spend you are still not a lock to win.
My curious question for my dear colleague Kingman is now can we consider the Phillies no longer in the light of gritty and tough but more now in the dark light that is the Yankees? With a payroll that much higher than anyone else in the NL how could we not?
kingman 26
12/14/2010-9:28am at 9:28 am (UTC -4)
Well, at this point they are moving in the direction we tried to do with all of the huge signings of the last 6 years.
The difference is they have been successful.
Definitely very depressing.
TRS86
12/14/2010-7:29am at 7:29 am (UTC -4)
Good job Phillies. Not really concerned. Let them get old and flame out while our youth learns how to win in NY.
Prismo
12/14/2010-7:44am at 7:44 am (UTC -4)
If the Rays can beat the Yankees, who’s to say the Mets can’t beat the Phillies? Even if it’s not this year, the Phillies will start aging rapidly as most of the team is in it’s 30s.
TRS86
12/14/2010-7:50am at 7:50 am (UTC -4)
Yeah basically that’s what I mean. The Yanks have shown that while you can buy a WS it does not guarantee that strategy will work every year.
njstuckintx
12/14/2010-8:14am at 8:14 am (UTC -4)
We had better get Garza, as he knows how to slay the big boys!
TRS86
12/14/2010-8:17am at 8:17 am (UTC -4)
While I would love to get him, we have to keep in mind the cost. If it’s too high then we just need to wait. We don’t need to make any reactionary moves.
metsfan4decades
12/14/2010-8:11am at 8:11 am (UTC -4)
I hate the Phillies…..
rustyjr
12/14/2010-8:35am at 8:35 am (UTC -4)
That goes without saying lol
BillPetti
12/14/2010-10:45am at 10:45 am (UTC -4)
I am not going to get too upset over this, for a few reasons:
1) Cliff Lee is old and getting older–so are the other top 2 Phillies’ starters. By the time the Mets are serious contenders again (say, 3 years), their rotation will be breaking down at about the same time, while payroll will prevent them from reloading easily
2) Yes, Cliff Lee has averaged 7 WAR over the past 3 years, but they lost Werth’s contribution of 5 WAR over the same time period. Let’s assume Lee replaces Blanton, who averaged 1.4 WAR per year–that’s an improvement of 5.5 wins per year. However, if they only end up replacing Werth with a replacement level player (current bench player or minor leaguer–and given the ballooning payroll and lack of FA options this is a reasonable assumption) the net on these two deals is only +.5 WAR for the year. That’s not staggering by any stretch.
So yes, it sucks to watch your rival amass a historic rotation, but given where the Mets are as an organization today I don’t think it is all that big of a deal.