LuckyNumber7
Blue Crack Addict
Yeah, I'm not sure what the thought process was there.
Well, they know Hanson's medicals better than anyone. Look at his velocity decline over the past few years. Might as well get something while you can. Rotation depth is not exactly a problem for them.
I'm terrified of the Phillies giving another huge, much-too-long contract to a guy in his 30s. It's almost a yearly ritual at this point.I like that dude and love his story, but some fool team is really going to overpay him, and pay him for too long. Yanks could be one of them, who the fuck knows.
When I have an office, the dart board will be a photocopy of Ryan Howard's extension. And the urinal cakes in the bathroom will be Cliff Lee's contract.
Because the Phils didn't need to throw $120 million more at the rotation. They needed to spend money at other positions of much greater need. It was purely a reactionary move in response to heavy criticism of the original trade to send him to Seattle. And it's certainly an interesting argument to make: how would the Phillies have fared against San Francisco in 2010 with Lee in his final year in a rotation with Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt? To make up for it, Amaro threw entirely too much money at Lee to have the temporary satisfaction of fans loving him. It's hamstringing the team just as the Howard deal did. He makes almost $30 million in the last year of the deal (!!!). He and Howard are everything that's wrong with Amaro's tenure. You can only make so many of those big deals if you're going to establish a self-cap (which they did, which is why we had to drudge through the first three months of last season watching a hybrid of the Phillies and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs).
I'm sure it's going to cost the Phillies the ability to re-sign Chase Utley after this season, which is depressing as hell. He's my favorite player ever. The fact that he's not going to get to finish his career with the Phillies but Howard and Rollins probably will kills me.
Cliff Lee Contract
2013 (age 34) - $25 million
2014 (age 35) - $25 million
2015 (age 36) - $25 million
2016 (age 37) - $27.5 million with a $12.5 million buyout
The only team willing to take on that contract was the Los Angeles Dodgers (owners of that TV deal), and they won't give up any players in a trade to do it.
And by then, the odds say that Cliff Lee will have regressed significantly due to age.
Holy hell. A-Rod now hurt his other hip?