You think the yankees are the front runners in signing cliff lee?

[Fnazxc0114]

Lasting no point in trying to start an argument. I failed out of the third grade and read Sox post as saying he would just be another 100 million dollar pitcher in NY.

[Fnazxc0114]

I think in NY they all belong to their own social demographic. Most of the guys on that team are 1/10 of top one percenters. Id wear the pinstripes for that kind of money.

[LastingsMilledge85]

Sorry, I failed with my baseball "slang" didn't realize moundsman was pitcher when the reference was made. Anyway, whatever he is coined doesn't matter because he is the same in Texas, as he is the same in New York and that's loaded. What matters, is that where he will in fact pitch come next season, right?

[Fnazxc0114]

I hope he's pitching here, but only time will tell. Either way i bet he waits a while to figure out what he wants to do. Not sure how long deer season lasts in arkansas lol

[legaleagle92481]

lee is going to the highest bidder. texas or yankees or some other team ir doesn't matter. the yanks have to be the favorites because they can outbid any team. this spitting incident means nothing just some guys having too much beer and acting rowdy defintely not enough to disaqualify a whole city and possibly leave millions on the table.

[Fnazxc0114]

the yankees have been outbid in the past. Either way it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[xpress34]

Just throwing my .02 out there, but Lee seems more like a guy who will weigh other intangibles into his decision and not just chase the money.

He has already voiced his displeasure with Philly for basically dumping him after their WS appearance as he would have liked to have stayed and had another shot with them, but they didn't even try to keep him. As soon as the Halladay deal was done, Philly basically kicked him to the curb and sent him to Seattle.

I think the Rangers WS appearance - particularly if they win - and the closeness to his home will weigh very heavily in the Rangers favor.

I don't know if it's just Yankees fans or a general statement from others, but what I'm reading here is that most people think it's all about the money. There are plenty of players who have played for less than they could have gotten elsewhere in order to gain peace of mind, closeness to family, etc - intangibles that can't be measured in $$$.

I know it doesn't happen often, but there are those guys whose care more about the situation - team chemistry, how the team treated them, etc - than the almighty dollar and as I stated above, I really think Cliff Lee is one of those people.

As far as Leagle's comments:

Lee is going to the highest bidder. The Yanks have to be the favorites because they can outbid any team. This spitting incident means nothing just some guys having too much beer and acting rowdy defintely not enough to disaqualify a whole city and possibly leave millions on the table.

I'm glad to know that you and so many others already have knowledge that Lee is just a 'Gun for Hire'. Also, I wouldn't be so fast to say the Yanks can outbid any team - Greenburg and Co have already said this isn't 'your father's Rangers' when it comes to Off Season bidding and he is a Billionaire as well.

Finally, if you don't think Cliff Lee's wife's impression of Yankee Stadium and it's fans will impact his (their) decision, you don't know anything about Southern women. We have a saying down south:

"If momma ain't happy - ain't NOBODY happy." I can't say 'absolutely', but I am fairly certain that HER thoughts will weigh in as much if not more than the $$$ when this deal goes down.

We can revisit this when the dust settles and it's all said and done in the off season.

- Smitty

P.S. - For those who don't know, Greenburg already fired the initial 'salvo' when he publicly stated that the Rangers are ready to start the bidding at $100,000,000.00.

[CollectGU]

Lee's wife was spit upon, had beer thrown on her, and was cursed throughout the yankees series. We all know the yankees have some deep pockets, but i think the rangers have a lot of room in next years payroll to mmake a run at cliff. Plus the team is realy young and has a chance to be good for a long time.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big...urn=mlb-279919

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...-rangers_N.htm

$180 million contract will make her forget real quick. Either they will sign him or make Texas greatly over pay putting a drain on their finances...

Dave

[CollectGU]

Also, I wouldn't be so fast to say the Yanks can outbid any team - Greenburg and Co have already said this isn't 'your father's Rangers' when it comes to Off Season bidding and he is a Billionaire as well.

Just because he is a bllionaire doesn't mean he is willing to spend HIS money on Lee. If he operates within the Rangers revenue, they can't match the yankees. If he decides to operate at a deficit and spend his own money, then maybe, BUT very few owners are willing to risk their own finances or potentially losing the team like another billionaire, Tom Hicks.

Dave

[legaleagle92481]

Good point by CollectGU. The Steinbrenner family is defintely NOT the wealthiest ownership group in MLB but the team revenues are by far the highest year after year. Texas or any other team can't compete with them in that regard. The team practically prints money. Very, very few owners are willing to dip into their fortunes to pay player salaries. Keep in mind also that Lee is 33 next year and the last couple of years of a five or six year deal he could be a major payroll drain. Very few 37, 38, 39 year old starting pitchers are "aces" and the injury risk is very high. Look at Andy Petite he is 38 had a lights out first half got hurt in July and made three starts the rest of the year and in the playoffs his starts had to be pushed back due to new injuries. So this is not like when CC Sabathia became a free agent at 28 a couple of years ago and even then for such a young pitcher noone's offer came within tens of millions of the Yankees. If the Yankees go six years 180 million on Lee, would Texas or any other team make a comparable offer? In light of his age would it even be wise to?

In regard to new owners coming in with big talk look at Arte Moreno of the Angels. He has talked big alot over the years about how he is going to spend all this money on payroll, how great the team will be etc. and if you notice since he took over the team has actually slowly declined. They won a World Series under the prior group and after a few years of getting stuck in the LDS and LCS they didnt even make the playoffs this year. More importantly every time a decent player becomes a free agent on their team they don't resign him (Krod, Lackey, Tex, Figgins, Vlad, etc.), they waste money (Gary Matthews at 10 million a year) and buy low in trades for overrated pitchers (Saunders, Kazmir, etc.). But they always manage to get mentioned as a potential destination for the top free agents, those players just never go there and a better offer elsewhere is why. So until they actually put their money where their mouths are I would not look at it as anything but empty talk.

As far Lee not looking for just money. Hes human and noone leave millions on the table. Plus Sabathia is the highest paid pitcher, they are very close friends and don't think for a second he does not want to get close to or equal to him. The friendship is another factor favoring the Yankees. Mrs. Sabathia and Mrs. Lee are extremely close and their kids played together when they were both in Cleveland. Plus AJ Burnett and Lee are close and share an agent. So there are nonmonetary factors favoring New York as well.