I know Lee has been phenomenal in the playoffs and owned the Yankees in the Ws last year, but I am sick of people acting like we lost this game already. Andy Pettitte is as big of a big game pitcher as Lee. 19-9 in the playoffs, 5-0 his last 9 starts.
He's going to be a Yankee next year anyway, he might as well start helping us tomorrow night and pitch righty.
As far as I'm concerned, Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in baseball. No, his start is not a guaranteed win, but he deserves the attention that he gets. For Chrissakes, the guy had a K/BB ratio of 10.28--that's amazing.
Yep. His run in the playoffs the last two years rivals anything baseball has ever seen. It's up there with Gibson, Koufax, etc. Certainly better than any starter I can remember. I'd probably give Schilling the nod as next best in the past 10 years or so.
Even if the Yankees had to lose, I wanted them to score a few against Lee just to stop the TBS crew from circle-jerking to how awesome he is. Even though he was awesome. There wouldn't be so much verbal fellatio if he was pitching for the Yankees, rather than being the hero up against the Evil Empire.
Sabathia: 7 years, $161 million coming off 2007 and 2008 postseasons. 1-3, 19 IP, 27 H, 20 ER, 17 BB, 3 HBP, 19 K So who knows with Lee.
I think the Rangers have a great shot at retaining him, especially so if they beat the Yankees. Ryan seems like a good owner, a real player guy.
Sabathia was also entering his age 28 season his first year with the Yanks. Lee will be 32. Big difference.
I think Sabathia was overpaid considering his postseason track record, though. If people are really valuing postseason performance, then Lee should get more per year.
You say that Sabathia was overpaid considering his postseason track record, and then say Lee should be paid more IF people are really valuing postseason performance. I think that overvalues the postseason performance, especially considering that Sabathia's "poor track record" was based on four starts. Postseason performance shouldn't be discounted, but it should also be taken with a grain of salt. You gotta get to the postseason first. And when you're talking about multi-year deals for one piece of the puzzle, those 34 regular season starts start looking more valuable than the (hopefully) 4-5 in the postseason. And when you're talking about multi-year deals for pitchers, the 28-year-old is typically going to command more interest than the 32 year old, all other things being equal. So which is the bigger factor in handing out a multi-year deal to a pitcher, postseason performance or four years of age? Has to be the age.
ideally you're getting to the world series, so I'd say hopefully 5-7 We'll see whether the market agrees, but for me, Cliff Lee now is more valuable than CC was after 2008. Maybe I try for a 4 or 5 year deal, but the $ per season would have to be at least as high.
I hate to ever agree with Cappy but if post season was all that important we would have never gotten rid of El Duque as soon as we did.
Including the WS, it's 4-5. Once in the ALDS, twice in the ALCS, twice in the WS. Cliff Lee doesn't do short rest, remember? That explains a lot, actually.
