Major League Baseball 2010

[Ananas]

Anyone in a 5 or 7 game series does. That's just baseball. But over 162 games? The offence would have to REALLY suck.

[Lint]

Ok..so I'm assuming our rotation is Halladay, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels..to be honest, who REALLY stands a chance against that?

The Giants just beat that rotation last year. Yes it was minus Lee but they beat Halladay twice. That being said, it is one hell of a rotation even after they trade Blanton. Kendrick will be fine as the 5th starter.

Hell, I'd even be happy if we dealt Kendrick and kept Blanton. He was good as a 3rd man last year..as a 5th man, behind those 4...no one would even pay attention to him

Edit: Lee gained a hell of a lot of respect in my eyes. Reportedly giving up 50-70 million to resign with the Phillies. He gave up guaranteed money to sign with a team he knows will contend. Jayson Werth is hitting himself in the head with a bat right now..

[sahyder1]

Joel Sherman of NY Post is reporting that he called the Rangers personally to inform them of his decision while leaving the Yankee call to his agent.

[Ananas]

While we're talking Sherman tweets, he also raised another interesting question: what if CC opts out in 2011? I mean his current contract would take him up to the age of 35. Lee had offers that would have taken him to age 39. If CC has another Cy calibre season it'd make sense for him to opt out and look for slightly better terms and longer length. He'd probably end up going back to the Yanks like A-Rod did, but it'd be another guaranteed contract to a declining player. And it could be a distraction to the Yanks not unlike the one that Jeter was this year. Could cost them in their efforts to bring a Carpenter or a Buerhle in.

[Lint]

Yankees fans are claiming he wasn't worth the money..yea..because he's just been a Yankee Killer for years and all

[Panni]

The Yankees were desperate from Cliff Lee. Is anybody worth that sort of money? Other than Pujols and Hallady, probably not.

As a Yankee fan I really wouldn't mind Chris Carpenter at all. Seeing how the Cardinals have to make some room for Pujols' contract it may make sense. I want to see them get Johan Santana from the Mets. They could give the Mets a nice young package of players since it now seems extremely difficult they will be able to contend in that division for the next few years. I like Mark Buehrle, but I just don't know if he'll strike fear into the Boston line-up. I see Buehrle as a slightly better version than Pettitte. If they want to compete with Boston and Philly this year they need a pitcher a level higher than Buehrle.

As far as the future goes for the Yankees, they'll be fine. They'll always have enough money to get a team to the playoffs, even when the likes of A-Rod and Jeter get old. Sure they may miss the playoffs one year, but they'll throw a ton of money at the free agents available the next year. With that money always being invested in the team they'll always be around. Once you're in the playoffs anything can happen, as proven by this year.

[sahyder1]

Yankees fans are claiming he wasn't worth the money..yea..because he's just been a Yankee Killer for years and all

I'd much rather have Lee at $23 million per year over next 5 years then Sabathia. Plus, like it was mentioned before if Sabathia has a good year he might actually make more then that. Can't emphasize this enough. Major kudos to Lee. Sports radio will great to listen to for next few days. Francesa on WFAN was so confident Lee to Yanks was a done deal and I'm sure Kay on ESPN Radio was probably saying the same.

[Panni]

I think Cliff Lee is better than Sabathia as well. I think Lee is the 3rd best pitcher in baseball (behind Halladay-Hernandez). I would say Sabathia is 5th after Lincecum.

I also am looking forward to listening to Francesa. I hate that guy, and I'm a Yankees fan. He's such a stubborn asshole.

[Panni]

I think Cliff Lee is better than Sabathia as well. I think Lee is the 3rd best pitcher in baseball (behind Halladay-Hernandez). I would say Sabathia is 5th after Lincecum.

I also am looking forward to listening to Francesa. I hate that guy, and I'm a Yankees fan. He's such a stubborn asshole.

[Lint]

[sahyder1]

I think Cliff Lee is better than Sabathia as well. I think Lee is the 3rd best pitcher in baseball (behind Halladay-Hernandez). I would say Sabathia is 5th after Lincecum.

I also am looking forward to listening to Francesa. I hate that guy, and I'm a Yankees fan. He's such a stubborn asshole.

Sadly Francesa is off tomorrow.

By the way, whoever this anonymous Yankee source is trying their hardest to create revisionist history.

[HailtotheYo]

Jayson Werth is hitting himself in the head with a bat right now..

Yeah, solid gold bats ... all they way to the bank. People care about different things. At his age and his minimal window of opportunity, Werth cared about money. Don't blame him one bit really (in his situation with who he is).

People thought the same thing about the 1989 Mets. Gooden, Cone, Darling, Viola, Sid Fernandez (the pitching staff also included Rick Aguilera, Randy Meyers, Bob Ojeda, and Kevin Tapani)

Offense ? Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, HoJo, Gregg Jeffries, Strawberry .... yeah, they didn't even make the playoffs. Just saying.

[sahyder1]

Jayson Werth is hitting himself in the head with a bat right now..

Yeah, solid gold bats ... all they way to the bank. People care about different things. At his age and his minimal window of opportunity, Werth cared about money. Don't blame him one bit really (in his situation with who he is).

People thought the same thing about the 1989 Mets. Gooden, Cone, Darling, Viola, Sid Fernandez (the pitching staff also included Rick Aguilera, Randy Meyers, Bob Ojeda, and Kevin Tapani)

Offense ? Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, HoJo, Gregg Jeffries, Strawberry .... yeah, they didn't even make the playoffs. Just saying.

What, you couldn't find some team from the 20s when only 2 teams made playoffs? What is the point of comparing this team to the '89 Mets? That team would have been the Wild Card had the Wild Card existed at the time. It's not like they crashed and burned and were a .500 team.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yankees fans are claiming he wasn't worth the money..yea..because he's just been a Yankee Killer for years and all

Yeah, probably the same idiots that harassed Lee's family. They're delusional. If Burnett was worth what we paid for him, Lee easily was.

I fucking hate living in Philadelphia.

[bill_da_bill]

The Yankees signed Russell Martin, think they felt a little pressure to do something? That can't possibly take away the sting of losing Lee though.

Anyone think there's a chance the Rays are willing to trade Matt Garza in division if the price from the Yankees is right? Other than that I can see them making a big push for Ricky Nolasco or maybe Fausto Carmona. Been some trade rumors about both guys.

If they can't find the right trade I think they'd be smart to give Aaron Harang a chance. A lot of people think he's washed up, but I think he's got some life left. And I don't think he'd be phased by New York City.

I'm not a Yankee fan by any stretch, but I am intrigued by what they do now.

[Meacon Keaton]

Signing Russel Martin was a plan set in motion a while ago. We were going to grab him whether we got Lee or not. I'm still frustrated by the whole Lee thing. But really, I have no room to be upset. It has to be the Rangers fans that are really upset.

[bill_da_bill]

Yeah your right about that. The Rangers had to think if Lee didn't go to New York they had him in the bag. That's a stiff kick to the nuts for those guys.

[gunnar hendershow]

Part of me really thinks the Phillies didn't need another ace in that rotation, and the money Lee could have been put elsewhere to add a lot of depth to the team. This is a team whose once-vaunted offense limped through to an NLCS defeat this year. Obviously when healthy the bats of Polanco, Utley, and Howard are going to do a ton of damage. But they've gutted their farm system and are going to have a tough time working around a quickly aging Jimmy Rollins.

That said, as of right now this is a 100-win team without a doubt. I can't help but think of the 1971 Orioles who, despite arguably the best regular season pitching in history, lost to the Pirates in the World Series.

And to those of you not up-to-par on baseball history. The Pirates and Orioles played in the World Series twice in the 1970's.

[sahyder1]

There wasn't another hitter on the market that they liked. Why throw money at a hitter just for the sake of doing it? I like that they actually got best available player.

Btw, Yankees just signed Mark Prior. That should make up for Lee! All kidding aside, I really hope Prior makes it back to the MLB.

[gunnar hendershow]

Throw money at a hitter because your hitters were the reason you lost to the Giants. A 4th ace looks all fancy and everything, but in the playoffs it's not going to matter as much as people like to think. You need depth come postseason time, those guys off the bench who were total steals. I'm talking about the Matt Stairs types, the guys who have that one big hit that ends up in a World Series crown and my best friend buying their jersey because of said hit.

I don't like saying it, but Boston won this offseason. They have a lot of arms, surely 3 or 4 will come together to do something, and a lineup that is downright scary. Assuming they stay healthy, last year that wasn't the case.

Edited December 15, 2010 by damshow