This is going to be my first non-Korea post as the news of Cliff Lee spurning the Yanks for a reunion with the Phillies is less than an hour old and I have the forum to spew my opinions for people to read so I might as well do so.
This signing means a lot of different things for me as a fan of the Yankees, and for me as a fan of baseball. As a Yankee fan, this is the worst possible news. After Boston gets Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, two of the best left-handed hitters in the game (and two very different types of hitters mind you), the Yankees' need for Lee skyrocketed. A rotation of CC, Lee and possibly Pettitte would have been a great counter for the left-handed leaning Sox that would still include Ortiz. And when the Yanks increased their offer to 7-years, an insane amount for any player let alone a pitcher (how's the Zito deal working out SF?), it was almost a given that he was coming because if the Yankees set their mind for someone then they get them.
But the weird thing is they didn't get him and now without the assurance that Pettitte is returning, the Yanks rotation seems very bland behind Sabathia and Hughes and a more than questionable A.J. Burnett (who doesn't instill much confidence in me) and an unproven Ivan Nova. Factor in an aging Jeter and Posada (although I think Jeter will be on a mission this year) and asking for similar years from Gardner and Swisher and this team could fall apart real fast.
But as a baseball fan this is extremely exciting. For one, many critics can finally see that the Yankees DON'T get everyone they want and other teams can spend their way into championships (Red Sox mostly this year to take the brunt off of us). Secondly, the Phillies have, on paper, the best rotation that probably has ever been put together in my lifetime. Even in the Braves heyday of the mid-90s, they were front heavy with Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz and pieced it together with not so great, but good pitchers on the backend (Denny Neagle, Kevin Millwood, Damian Moss, Steve Avery, etc.). The Phillies 2011 rotation on paper, regardless of who is #5, has the chance to be the best ever and as a baseball fan that excites me to see how this plays out and just how good they can be.
That is how people should look at it. As a Yankees fan this is incredibly deflating and a giant kick in the gut as the Red Sox are clearly better than us on paper and, as of December 14th, many teams can be better than us on the field. But what we saw is a team use resources of a deep farm system to acquire Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt, Cliff lee once and also spend the money to get him back and retain homegrown talent like Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. And that is what all teams should do. Build through the draft and then use prospects to acquire the players you can't sign, yet still sign players when you can.
All teams CAN do that, just most don't and that is where the bitching from other fans come in that the Yankees and Red Sox and Cubs and Phillies have an advantage. They don't have an advantage, they just spend their money more wisely and develop prospects that other teams want. And if it really was the case then we wouldn't have seen a Giants/Rangers World Series (well based on the ratings, not many people really saw it, which is their fault).
That and after always hearing about athletes only caring about the money, here is a guy who left $50 million from the Yanks and possibly more from Texas on the table to go where he wanted to go. Regardless if that place is the shit hole known as Philadelphia is beside the point, it is admirable and everyone should respect him for being a pro-athelete who realized he can do everything he wants in life with $100 million and the extra $50 million+ wouldn't have made a difference.
So although it is upsetting that the Yanks are a far worse team today than they were yesterday just because the option of getting Cliff Lee is no longer available, anyone who is a baseball fan, myself included, should be excited at watching what could be a legendary team, some of whom have given up a lot of money to make it happen.
Unless of course you're a Mets fan. That team is screwed for another decade.
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