Last night the one player that for some strange reason is on the top of every teams shopping list, Cliff Lee made his first outing since landing on the disabled list back in May. But the team we focus on is the New York Yankees and their long time infatuation with the aging left-handed veteran. Last night many teams had sent scouts to watch Lee pitch, but from early reports via ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick , the Yankees were not represented last night at Citizens Bank Park.
This might be a good thing and maybe the Yankees have realized that Cliff Lee is not a good fit for New York. The fact that he’s said on multiple occasions that he really doesn’t want to play here should also be a red flag. Prior to yesterday’s game Fox Sports Jon Morosi tweeted out and confirmed that the Yankees are among the 20 teams to which Cliff Lee can block a trade. Which to the average baseball fan should tell you that he in fact does not want to come here.
Maybe GM Brian Cashman and his team of scouts finally did their due diligence on Lee, they had sent scouts to Clearwater to watch Lee’s final DL outing last week and seemed they left possibly unimpressed. Lee had not looked good during both of his rehab stints and followed it up last night with his worst statistical performance last night against the Giants. Lee tied a career high with 12 hits allowed and his night ended with a very mediocre performance, 5.2in 12H 6ER 1BB 3K 1HR and a 3.67 ERA.
The Phillies have said they are not just going to trade away players simply for the sake of trading them, and Ken Rosenthal reports that they would want a hefty sum for Lee. Possible prospects along with a team to eat the majority of his $50 million dollar contract isn’t appealing. For the Yankees to have to give up two high-end prospects and swallow another multimillion dollar contract just doesn’t make sense. Most baseball insiders seem to still think that a Yankee marriage with Cliff Lee is still a possibility, but after talking to many Yankee fans about Lee, seems he’s not really wanted here. Lee is just a hired gun and has been for the last few seasons. Time will tell if Cashman and company still find the need to pull the trigger on him, but hopefully they have moved on.
