Cliff Lee Forfeits Millions So His Wife Won't Get Spit On

Free agent pitcher Cliff Lee shocks the world by turning down a 6-year, $132 million contract with the Yankees (with a possible 7th year at $16m) for a 5-year, $108 million (with a likely 6th year at $25m UPDATED) with the Phillies, all because Yankees fans are disgusting pigs.
Kristen Lee was harassed by Yankees fans during the ALCS.
She says they were spitting and throwing beer in her direction and shouting obscenities.
"The fans did not do good things in my heart," she said. "When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it's hard not to take it personal."
At the time Lee downplayed the incident because he wanted to keep the Yankees involved in the bidding.
But it’s obvious he didn’t want his family subjected to that behavior for 6 years, especially after these comments were publicized, putting a target on her back.
I mean if you would rather be surrounded by Phillies fans, you must have a pretty low opinion of those people you are likely to run into at a Yankees game.

As for the baseball side of this deal, it obviously gives the Phillies an historically great starting rotation – on paper.
But that is why grass was invented, so we wouldn’t have to play games on paper.
First of all, in baseball we know nothing is for certain, there are injuries and disappointing performances. And even if the Phillies do dominate the regular season, the playoffs can be a crapshoot, they could lose in the first round.
I think this acquisition gives the Phillies a 10 (Halladay), a 9 (Lee), an 8 (Oswalt) and a 7 (Hamels). If one guy gets hurt and one guy has a disappointing year, then their staff really isn’t that much better than it was last year.
And before we start crowning Lee (if you wanna crown him, then crown his ass), we should note that out of 7 full seasons he only has one ERA below 3.00. So in that bandbox it’s not impossible to imagine him checking in with a 3.50 next season.

In summary:
1) As much as I hate the Yankees, I’d rather Lee signed with him, because they don’t directly compete with the Mets.
2) The Mets weren’t going to be able to challenge the Phillies this year anyway. Maybe in a couple years when they rebuild the Halladay and Lee will be in decline and the Phillies will be stuck with two aging pitchers earning $20 million per year.
3) Let’s not start sucking Cliff Lee’s dick just yet.

Why The Mets Will Always Suck

Every off-season you can count on two things, the Mets will be coming off a disappointing season and the newspapers, talk show hosts and fans will want them to make a big trade or big free agent signing.



And if there were a third certainty of baseball's hot stove season it would be me using this space to preach a more prudent approach.

I think I am going to punch the next person who says the Mets need to make a "big splash" to win back their fans. As stupid as Mets fans are, they want a winning team. I don't think any of them are going to games thinking "I owe the Wilpons my ticket money because they made a big splash signing some past-his-prime veteran who is now on the disabled list." And if they put some good young players on the field no one is going to stay home due to the lack of the big splash.

The other fallacy we need to address is that the "big splash" wins. It's a hard argument to make right now because the Yankees became World Champs by signing everyone in sight. But Mets fans need to face facts, we can never, should never and will never spend as the Yankees do. But we don't have to. Look down the list of World Series winners before 2009, other than Manny Ramirez twice, few of those teams made a big splash, and it took the Sox five years and a lot of young players for that to happen.

Remember the Yankees kissed a lot of toads (Kevin Brown, Jason Giambi) before they found CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. And let's review the Mets recent history with the big splash: Pedro Martinez (one of the worst free agent signings in history), Carlos Beltran (I'm one of very few Mets fans who still likes this deal) and Johan Santana (they wasted two prime years already with no playoff appearances).

The Mets still have a good, young nucleus to build around (Reyes, Wright) and some good veterans who still have some years left (Beltran, Santana) so I preach measured patience.

Oy Is This a Putz

The Mets performed an extreme makeover on their bullpen bringing in not one but two top-flight closers. And while the K-Rod signing was so obvious, there’s no way to criticize, the deal that brought JJ Putz has some potential downside.

First of all, the Mets gave up Joe Smith who was very effective against righties. I think Smith would be a great righty specialist in a good bullpen. His warts started to show when he had to face lefthanded hitters (.443 OBP vs. .281 against righties), and when he had to pitch too many days in a row.

The Mets also gave up Endy Chavez, their sole antidote to an increasingly, old, slow team that can’t run or play defense. But Endy’s biggest contributions were of the intangible variety, something the Mets were sorely lacking during the meltdowns the last two years.

They also depleted their already barren farm system. Mike Carp is projected to be an average at best major leaguer (and more suited to DH than first base) but he’s capable of providing at least the lift of youthfulness and energy that Nick Evans brought last year.

The Mets also gave up Maikel Cleto a pitcher who is still a few years away (he’s only 19) but has the best potential of the bunch.

I also wonder how Putz will accept his new role. He went from being a closer in Seattle (91 saves in the last 3 years) to having to accept a diminished 8th inning role. Hopefully, he’ll adapt and provide much-needed stability to the 8th inning, but his acquisition is not without risk.

And Mets Fans Finally Have Something to Cheer About

The Mets addressed their biggest weakness by signing closer Francisco Rodriguez aka K-Rod for 3 years and 37 million dollars.
It's a great move, but a pretty obvious one. With the Mets bullpen in complete shambles (even with a healthy Billy Wagner), they needed a closer desperately now that Wagner will likely miss the entire year.
The Mets filled their biggest need, with the best available option and did so relatively cheaply. For instance, three years ago the Mets spent $6 million more (albeit for one more year) on Billy Wagner. So they gave an extra year to a closer who was 8 years older then than K-Rod is now. Obviously the market for top closers isn't as big as K-Rod thought.
But there are some worries that come along with this signing.
While his stats are incredible, some of his underlying numbers are cause for concern.
His hits are on the rise, while his strikeouts are falling. He also blew 7 saves last year, which means he failed about 10% of the time.
Will Mets fans tolerate that rate?
Some are also concerned about his durability because his velocity was down last year and he is getting older (he'll be 27 on Opening Day) leading to worries he could be exiting an early prime.
Also he has never been a 2-inning pitcher and likely won't be with the Mets.
Despite those worries this was a great move for the Mets, a crucial first step toward building a team that won't implode (from the bullpen out) next September.

Free Agent Free-for-All

MLB.com has a pretty fascinating, and very difficult game, called Free Agent Frenzy.
They give you 15 top free agents and you have to predict where they will end up, and assign a confidence number to each selection.
We can't compete against each other in a group but it should be cool to see how you do.
Picks are finalized on November 12th, and the game ends on March 1.