Cliff Lee Back With the Phillies?!? Ya Gotta Be Kidding Me!!

On Twitter: @longisland495

Mystery...Solved.

Despite higher-money offers from both the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, it turned out that they also had a mystery bargaining rival for the services of Cliff Lee. That offer came from a blast from the not-so-distant past...the Philadelphia Phillies.

Lee is accepting an offer of 5 years and between $100-$125 million with a vesting option of a 6th year which could bring the dollar amount near $140 mil. This is significantly less than the 6 and 7 year offers in his face from the Rangers and Yanks. The Yanks offered 7 and $148 million with the 7th year being a player option. The Rangers tried a 6 year offer and $138 mil + deferrals (all according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated and the MLB Network).

Throughout this whole process, it seemed as if the Rangers and Yankees were the only teams really in the hunt for this man. We also heard of a so-called "mystery team" that offered Cliff Lee another 7-year contract during last week's Winter Meetings in Orlando. If that mystery team was the Phillies, it must've been Cliff Lee's dream come true. This is also turning out to be one for Phillies fans. How many of them are saying..."thank you Jayson Werth!"

Lee's talent is not worth him playing on 4 teams the past 3 years. In 07 and 08, he was in Cleveland. The Indians reached the ALCS in 2007 before that baseball came apart at the seams. In 2009, he was in Philadelphia on the team that lost in 6 games to the Yankees in the World Series. In the offseason, he gets traded to the Seattle Mariners and gets teamed up with Felix Hernandez to create what should've been a lethal 1-2 punch in the AL West. They also had the DOUCHEBAG knwon as Milton Bradley who has proven himself to be a team-killer in recent years.

The Mariners were no good last year, so they traded Lee to the Texas Rangers on a Deadline deal. Prior to that trade, speculation was that Cliff Lee was a stone cold-lead pipe lock to go to the Yankees. Lee led the Rangers to the World Series despite receiving little run support from his offense in the Lone Star State.

This is mind-blowing noticias because he's not only returning to a team that he just left (and a city that he had fallen in love with) but look at the pitching staff that Ruben Amaro, Jr. and Charlie Manuel have now assembled.

Roy Halladay
Cliff Lee
Roy Oswalt
Cole Hamels

'Nuff Ced! They're probably preparing a LeBron/Wade/Bosh-type marketing campaign right now all over Philly, Delaware, and South Jersey!

Lee isn't returning to the same Phillies he left in 2009. These Phils are perhaps better than even those NL Champions he was part of that year! Do I need to type the Phils potential 4 Aces again?? All of which last year, had ERAS under 3.2! Joe Blanton is also on that staff currently as a 5, but the Phils will probably dump him to save money since they have so much invested in their "Core Phour".

These guys are undoubtedly #1s on almost any team in MLB and the Phillies are able to claim FOUR of probably the top 15 pitchers in all of MLB. The deal is obviously still pending his physical, but this shouldn't be an Adrian Gonzalez situation. Gonzalez failed a physical, and got a new trade hammered out with the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres anyway.

What to do...what to do...what to do now for the Yankees? They missed out on Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford, and now Cliff Lee. Not only did this happen, but Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez signed and got traded (respectively) to the Red Sox who are optimistic that some of their other key players (Pedroia, Ellsbury, etc.) will stay healthy in 2011. The biggest winners of this offseason could be the Red Sox since they've done everything right now and the Yankees haven't done ish except resign Jeter and Rivera. Russell Martin is an ok signing, though. What are the little Steinbrenners and Brian Cashman thinking now? Yankee cash/history/mystique apparently can't buy you everything they want.

Christmas has come early to Philly! Cliff Lee is back!

Your Opinion...?

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[panther005]

he never signed with the phillies until this year. he was traded here in july 2009. in his 3 months here he said he LOVED IT HERE. His wife and family LOVED IT HERE. THATS why they came here over the other offers.

[longisland495]

@panther005 Thanks for the correction! That Lee deal in 09 was a deadline trade.

[buldgyeye]

Long Island......wake the fuck up, Mr. Lee would of never played for the Yank mes.....I bet that asshole yank fan is kicking himself right now, should of kept that spit in his mouth, kept that beer in his cup, and slanderous tongue in his mouth....ohhhhh, and its not about money, its about winning, and you yanks aren't going to big game this year because somewhere down the line you forgot about that!

[longisland495]

@buldgyeye I loved how Lee said in his first press conference back with Philly that the incident with the Yankee fans didn't factor into where Lee's wife wanted to stay. Uhh...yeah, and the Earth is flat after all.

[ohdaneboy39]

if you look back to last years trade deadline, Cliff Lee was trying to get back with the Phillies.Waiting for the prime oppertunity, Cliff Lee says to the Phillies he wanted to play against them in the Series, well that never happened. So still being courted by Philly, good move by Lee... rather young team, good money, good coaching staff.........and hell his wife likes it here

[longisland495]

@ohdaneboy39 Maybe Lee did want to go back to Philadelphia, but I didn't think Philly needed him all that much. From a baseball standpoint, Philly's staff was already among the best in baseball. That NLCS vs. San Francisco must've changed things a little.

[PhillySports34]

Cool Video, Check out my phillies preview! add me!

[69scheer]

your a dick.

[Darkrunner1975]

Simple. Don't spit on Cliff Lee's wife Yankee fans.

[limoduck15]

Merry Cliffmas!!! Just watched this video along with your rant about the Giants choke at the Miracle In The New Meadowlands. It's a new day in Philly baby. The cheese steaks are sweeter andnow it truly is 'Always Sunny In Philadelphia'. By the way I always thought Long Islanders were Jets & Mutts fans.

[soundhustlaz]

Money isnt everything Yank fan ya'll cant buy everybody. Yea we left alot of money on the tanle BUT! NY taxes are high as sh*t!!! So he really makes more money in Philly. GO PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!

[jazzstars]

check out '' phillies got cliff lee'' [ song] on youtube.