Yanks Still Love Cliff Lee
By Mike Silva ~ December 24th, 2009. Filed under: Rumor Mill.
Last night I kicked off the show with NYBD contributor Frank Russo. We talked about the recent acquisition of Javier Vazquez, where the Yankees might go for left field, and Frank’s reasons for why Joba, not Hughes, should stay in the starting rotation.
One of the topics that came up is Cliff Lee. Frank, has reported for the better part of a year the Yankees interest in the Seattle lefty. This off season reports have come out that first the Yankees tried to acquire Lee from the Phillies, and then Ken Rosenthal wrote they called Seattle about Lee’s availability after the Halladay deal. Knowing Lee’s asking price (CC Sabathia money) and the Yanks affinity for him is it farfetched to believe that Lee will be a member of the Yankees in 2011? Remember Javier Vazquez only has one more year left on his deal.
Frank reminded me that Lee has the support of Yankees players. CC Sabathia, of course, is friendly with him from their Cleveland days and A.J. Burnett is a fellow Arkansas guy. We all know that a player lobbying for a star doesn’t mean much with the Yankees as we were told Burnett tried hard to get Halladay in pinstripes.
Why didn’t the Yanks push harder to acquire Lee you ask? Frank was told the Phillies wanted Montero and Joba, plus prospects. It was a price that Brian Cashman was unwilling to pay for Roy Halladay so you can see why a deal wasn’t completed. Knowing all the prospects that were traded in the Lee/Halladay deal you could imagine how rich a package it could have turned out for the Yankees. Knowing how much the front office likes Lee don’t be surprised if he becomes the Yankees top free agent target next winter.
It was an informative 20 minute segment to lead off the show which you can listen to right now or download the mp3. In addition to the Cliff Lee talk we discuss Vazquez, leftfield, Joba/Hughes, and why it was unrealistic for the Yankees to resign Hideki Matsui.
