One year ago today, the Phillies made possibly the biggest trade in team history, sending Cliff Lee to Seattle as part of a deal that landed them Roy Halladay. Throughout the season, and even after trading for Roy Oswalt, fans still were talking about how they could have kept Cliff Lee around and paired him with Halladay and Cole Hamels to make one of the best rotations in baseball.
Well, those fans now have their wish. As of midnight today, Cliff Lee is once again a Phillie, having agreed to a five year, $120 million deal with an option for a sixth year that seems to have come in at the 11th hour. Now, not only do the Phillies have Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, but Cliff Lee as well. That's one scary rotation right there.
The best part about this deal might be the way that it got taken care of. For weeks, all people heard about were the Yankees and Rangers going after Lee, with no mention of any other team. Then, rumors of a third mystery team started to surface yesterday, and before people were going to bed out on the west coast, the Phillies had signed the biggest free agent pitcher on the market from under the noses of the Yankees and Rangers. While it's fun to really be able to stick it to New York this time, nothing has been decided yet for the 2011 baseball season. In fact, the year still has to be played.
For the moment, this is the biggest free agent signing in Phillies history. The Phillies now have the best rotation in major league baseball, with two Cy Young winners in Halladay and Lee, as well as Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. All four pitchers have playoff experience, and all four could be the ace for almost any other team in baseball. This isn't any other team any more, though. The Phillies have shown over the past three seasons that they want to be one of the big teams in baseball. They've gotten there now. Very few, if any, teams have actually beaten out the Yankees for a player that they had their sights on for months, but the Phillies did it. Cliff Lee chose a chance to pitch in the best staff in baseball in a city that he loved over an extra $30 million, and if there was any other way for him to be loved more by the fans in Philadelphia, that was it.
The Phillies aren't done making moves yet, either. While this signing certainly cements the rotation in place, there are still several questions that are lingering around. Ruben Amaro is likely looking at trading away Joe Blanton, Raul Ibanez or both of them to pay for Lee's new contract, and the Phillies still have some questions in the bullpen and a lack of a power right handed bat in their lineup. This team isn't perfect, but they're on their way. There's still plenty of time left in the offseason for more moves to be made, and after the Phillies just pulled off this stunner, I'm sure that they have something else up their sleeves.
There is a bit of a dark cloud to all of this, though. The Phillies have now officially joined the Yankees and the Red Sox on the "dark side" of the baseball fence. With their payroll now, fans in Philadelphia can't complain about the Yankees trying to buy a championship, or the Red Sox plundering from smaller market teams, because the Phillies are right there now, too. The funny thing is...I kind of like this feeling. It's a far cry from where the Phillies were just ten years ago, and if you had told me at the end of the 1999 season that the Phillies would have won four straight National League East pennants, gone to back to back World Series and won the 2008 World Series, I would have laughed at you. Now, the Phillies have truly become one of the elite teams in baseball. It certainly hasn't all been through homegrown talent, but that's how good teams stay at the top.
Welcome back to Philadelphia, Cliff. The city sure did miss you. Yes folks, it's only gonna get funner.
CSNPhilly.com: Cliff Lee is a Phillie again
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