Baseball Hot Stove

So I figured that with Cliff Lee stunning the sports world and choosing to sign back with the Phillies that I should talk about some baseball.

Who would have thought that the Yankee's, of all teams, would be losing in the free agent war so far? They have yet to sign a key free agent, or make a trade for a key player, when tons of players are changing teams. Heading into the offseason it seemed like it would be obvious that the Yankee's would pursue at least two of the top free agents. Former Tampa Bay Rays OF Carl Crawford, as well as former Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee. Both Crawford and Lee were highly sought out for by several teams, and they should be, they are two of the elite players in the league. The Yankee's didn't seem to go really high into the bidding war for Crawford, at least that I could tell, and he signed with the Boston Red Sox. Yankee fans started to get a little worried, but seemed confident that Lee would join the Yankee's. I thought that Lee would go to New York as well, I mean the offer the most money and are always going to spend top dollar to surround him with top talent. The Yankee's are willing to spend dubious amounts of money to contend for a World Series each year. You add the fact that current Yankee's Ace CC Sabathia is great friends with Lee(and their wives are great friends as well) it seemed like a perfect fit for Lee. He'd get the most money and be contending for a championship each year.

Lee will put on a Phillies uniform again

But Cliff Lee wasn't in it just for the money, reports are that he turned down about 30 million dollars to play in Philly. 30 million is a lot of money to pass up, however Lee is not going to be a poor man by any means, his deal is 5 years worth around 120 million or so. But he did what so many fans should appreciate, everything was not about the money. He did the unthinkable, he did what most superstars don't do. He chose happiness over money.

Lee mentioned that the two happiest times for him in baseball was when he was with Texas and with his prior stay in Philly. He said that the closeness he felt with the fans and teammates made it incredibly enjoyable, so it makes sense for him to return to Philly. He loved his stay there, the Phillies loved him, and Lee even said that he would like to return in the future if the situation arose.

Now Philly has the best starting pitching in the league, no question. And that is something to be feared, especially when you consider that last year was dubbed the 'year of the pitcher' by most baseball experts. Last year we saw a huge influx of quality starts by pitchers, lots of low ERA's and things like that.

The Phillies have this years NL Cy Young award winner, Roy Halladay, who won it unanimously. Right now Halladay is one of the top three starting pitchers in all of baseball, who are the other two? CC Sabathia of the Yankee's and Cliff Lee, now playing for the Phillies.

Take a look at the Phillies 3rd and 4th starters in their rotation, they have Roy Oswalt and Cole Hammels. Both are great pitchers, Oswalt was the Ace on the Astro's rotation for years and Hammels what their ace before Halladay and Lee.

Going up against a rotation that has four ace's is nearly impossible to beat. There will be questions about how well the Phillies bullpen can hold up as well as if their batting lineup can produce enough runs to get wins, but right now the Phillies have got to be considered the team to beat in the NL and possibly all of baseball.

So now I'm wondering about the Yankees. Where do they go from here? They didn't get Carl Crawford, they let the Boston Red Sox pick up one of the best young outfielders in the game. They lose out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, and it seemed like they put all their eggs in one basket and assumed that they could buy Cliff Lee. The Yankee's have always been able to buy their players and they assumed they would be able to buy Lee, and you know what happens when you assume right?

Its almost like the Yankee's didn't have a plan B. Rumors are that they are targeting the Royal's ace Zack Greinke, but he quit baseball for tiny bit because of depression, anxiety and other things like that. How can a guy that has anxiety in Kansas City, playing for one of the worst teams out there, handle NY? The press, the fans, the city, the expectations would simply kill him.

Right now the Yankee's rotation is this, CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, AJ Burnett, Ivan Nova, and a question mark for the 5th, possibly Joba Chamberlain. The Yankee's are hoping that Andy Pettite will come back to their rotation. And they need Pettitte to come back. Right now they Yankee's don't have a solid #2 starter. CC Sabathia is one of the best pitchers in the league, so he is way good. Hughes is a solid pitcher, he's not really a #2, he's not bad, I mean he did win 18 games, but he is more of 3rd or 4th starter. Burnett had a complete meltdown last season, and the Yankee's are going to have him for a long time.

The Yankee's need to sign a marque pitcher, they are getting older and they need help in their rotation. The Yankee's simply didn't get it done and they are the biggest loser in the Lee sweepstakes. The Rangers are in a very weak division and have a lot of good tools, the were leading the AL west before Lee got there in July. The Yankee's  have gotten worse by age, and have let the Red Sox get better.

Speaking of the Yankee's, I am really turned off with Derek Jeter and how the Yankee's went about negotiating. Jeter just came off his 10 year 189 million dollar contract. Jeter is now 36 years old, he will turn 37 before the all star game, and had his worst statistical year this past season. The Yankee's want to keep Jeter, and make him a Yankee for life, as they should. Derek Jeter is one of the greatest Yankee's of all time. He has been the leader for years and has played a huge role on all 5 of the Yankee's World Series championships that they have won since 1995.

Jeter wants as much money as he can

However, when the Yankee's offer him a three year deal worth about 15 million a year, and he declines? That gets me upset, he wants more years and more money. This is coming from the guy that just made nearly 19 million dollars a year the past ten seasons and who knows how much from endorsements.

The Yankee's basically told Jeter to test the market, go ahead and see if any team offers anything remotely close to what the Yankee's offered.

Jeter and the Yanks agreed on a deal, 3 years 56 million total.

I'm upset because leaders don't do this. Leaders don't act selfishly, they don't think about me, they think about the team. That is what made Jeter so good, he was a team player he always has been. Until now, now he is like every other superstar. He wanted to be the highest paid player in team history, even though he is 36 years old, plays sub par defense(I know he won the gold glove but he didn't deserve it) and has shown a rapid decline in his batting.

I've never been a big fan of the Yankees. I do like four of their players, Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariono Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. These are the original 4, they have been with the team forever and have a team first mentality. Well my respect for Jeter took a nose dive. He needs to realize that he is not that great anymore, that 15 million dollars a year is way too much for him.

I was expecting him to make a classy move and take a reasonable offer, but he did not. He showed everyone his true colors and sadly they are not that great.