" Lee will be in New York next year and that will cure the Yankees pitching woes"
Nearly everyone agrees that the Yankees will bid aggressively on the top prize of the 2010-2011 offseason. Could Lee end up playing for the Yanks next year? Of course he could but there are a lot more good reasons for him to NOT go to play for the Yanks than good ones for him to sign with them.
First off is the desire to win a title. Never mind the fact that Lee may end up with a world series ring before he even files for free-agency. Even if Texas losses the World Series to either San Fran or Philly there's really no reason to think that the Yanks will be favored by anything more than a thread to win the American League next season over the Rangers. Both teams have plenty of talent but unfortunately for fans of the Yanks, Rays, and Red Sox the Rangers are young, have plenty of money to spend, and have tons of talent. Right off the bat the Rangers have the best young closer and young shortstop in all of baseball. Feliz and Andrus are both 22 years old. The sky is the limit for these two young players. While it's unlikely either of them ever match the achievements of Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter it is VERY likely they will both be improving, not declining over the next four or five seasons.
When one starts to look over the remaining rosters you can't help but notice a dramatic difference in the trajectory of these two American League powerhouses. Even the most optimistic Yankee fan would concede that Rivera, Jeter, Posada, Petite, Berkman and A-Rod are all players who's careers are past their peeks. In Texas only three such players exist. One is DH Vladamir Guererro, the other two are catcher Bengie Molina and middle-reliver Darren Oliver. Kinsler, Cruz, Hamilton, Moreland, Murphy, Borbon, and catcher Matt Treanor are all either in their prime or approaching it. While the Yanks have two guys on their team that can contend for an MVP trophy in Texiera and Cano the Rangers actually have three guys in Hamilton ( who is likely to win this years), Kinsler, and Nelson Cruz. All three of these guys could end up with an MVP trophy on the mantle at over the course of their careers.
Ownership and management. The name is the same but the simple fact of the matter is that Hal Steinbrenner inherited the Yankees. He's not a self-made entrepreneur like his father. He's a rich kid who's main qualifications to be the owner of the Yankees is purely genetic. Contrast that with the new owner of the Rangers, Nolan Ryan. Ryan is baseball legend. He's the all-time strikeout leader and has been involved in the pros since the late 60's. In addition Ron Washington is much more of a players manager than Joe Girardi is. Girardi and the Yankees in general have a very strict philosophy when it comes to pitchers. Rigid pitch counts, innings limits, enforced missed starts, extra days off. Ryan is a guy that really allows his guys to pitch, they can finish games, they are allowed to get in a groove. This current Yankee roster features many more guys performing below expectation than ones that are exceeding them. Girardi forced Hughes to skip a start he wanted to make back in June. Girardi also went on the record as saying he would have removed CC Sabathia ( his ace) from a no-hitter back in April to limit his workload. Is there anything about Cliff Lee that makes anyone think that he would want to play for a manager like that?
Then there's the stadiums. Texas stadium is already a pretty decent hitters park. It's not even close to the new Yankee Stadium though. Left handed hitting Yankees really rip it up at the stadium. Nick Swisher who has become one of New York's favorite players hit 15 homers against right handed pitchers this year, 13 of those came in New York. His OPS batting left handed in New York was an impressive .906, batting right handed it's a pedestrian .748. The ballparks are probably not that big a deal though when compared with the next issue.
The money. Let's not pretend this won't be a HUGE issue. Keep in mind Yankee fans that the amount of money the Yanks can spend is not endless. Yes they have lots of money but they're already spending a ton of it. Alex Rodriguez alone will be paid 32 million dollars next season. If that sound absurd it's because it is. He was not even the best third baseman in his own division this year. In addition to that Sabathia and Texiera will both make over 20 million next year. Add to that 16.5 for dud pitcher AJ Burnett, 13 million for Posada and 11 million for Cano along with nearly 10 for Swisher and you've already got over 140 million committed for 2011 before the inevitable resigning of Jeter, Rivera, and if he's willing Petite. The Yanks can still throw a monster contract at Lee but The Rangers are flush with cash between the new ownership and a monster new TV deal. In addition Texas has no state income tax which means that even if the Yanks outbid the Rangers by 20 million dollars it's still a wash over the long haul. If the Rangers really, really want to keep Lee they will be very competitive with the Yanks. It helps when Andrus and Feliz get paid a total of $800,000 next year. Not only will Texas have money to throw at Lee but they may be in the market for some of the other top free agents as well. Lee for what it's worth is also from right over the Texas border in Arkansas. So Texas is about as close to home as Lee can ever expect to play.
In other words there's only one real reason for Lee to go to the Yankees next year outside of Texas just flat out deciding to not get involved in the bidding. That's New York City itself. That's not a bad reason. It's a great city, one of the truly unique places in the world. The question is will that be enough for someone like Lee? Money, future winning, organizational philosophy, weather, all those seem to point in the direction of Texas. Maybe Lee just loves New York? He wouldn't be the first and he won't be the last. Yankee fans better hope so because after Lee is off the market there aren't very many guys out there that can really improve the Yankees pitching next year, unless they can trade for Zach Greinke! Hmmmm?
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