Cliff Lee signs with Phillies for $30 million less

Normally I don't blog about baseball. Not my favorite sport to watch though I enjoy the stats and normally too much dominated by the Boston-New York rivalry to the detriment of every other team in the league. Tonight, Cliff Lee rekindled some of my interest by turning down $30 million dollars to sign where he was most comfortable: Philadelphia.

Of course, Lee is still going to be very well paid. In fact, he will make $120 million over the life of his five year contract. Still, he is the first player I can remember to turn down that kind of money. Also, it wasn't just the Yankees that he turned down. Last season, Lee pitched Texas to the World Series and the Rangers aggressively pursued him matching the Yankee offer. It didn't matter.

Lee always said he really enjoyed his time in Philadelphia, short though it was, during the second half of the 2009 season. It seems he was most certainly telling the truth.

As for the teams involved, now what?

For the Rangers, they need a front line starter. Trading for Zack Greinke of the Royals looks like a possibility as they have the ability to add his salary and the prospects in their farm system to make the trade.

For the Yankees, the offseason is now a failure. Greinke isn't an option there because of his anxiety disorder and the lack of prospects in the Yankee farm system. There is no backup plan. There is also no ability to really add offense to overcome probable pitching woes with Carl Crawford off the market and Adrian Beltre not an option because of Alex Rodriguez's presence at his position. The Yankees will still likely make the playoffs though as Tamp Bay rebuilds, the Blue Jays continue to spin their tires at the 85 win, good team, no playoff level they have been in for much of the last five years and the Angels having just as bad of an offseason meaning the Wild Card is still probable.

In Philadelphia, the Phillies now have the best starting staff we have seen since the Braves were in their hey day. Cole Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP is now the 4^th starter. Lee, one of the three best pitchers in baseball is the number two starter behind Halladay, the best in the game. Roy Oswalt also remains on the staff and he is the 3^rd starter. This is just an embarrassment of riches. In fact, if the Phillies offense rebounds to anywhere near pre-2010 levels, we are likely looking at the best regular season team in years and the first 100 win team in the National League since the 2005 Cardinals.