It's not all peaches and cream.
But I haven't learned that yet.
----Oil Can Boyd
Crazy but true: Cliff Lee has agreed to a five-year deal with the Phillies, for less money and fewer years than what the Rangers or Yankees offered him. Exclamation, exclamation, exclamation overlaid with breathless delirium. Excuse me while I hyperventilate. The Phillies will go into 2011, barring the unforesee, with four legitimate aces as their first four starters. In 2009, Lee, Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels were all the number one pitcher on their respective teams.
The totally unexpected deal proves that Ruben Amaro, Jr., trodding in the footsteps of Pat Gillick the genius, understands that pitching and defense rule. In 2010, Halladay and Lee had a combined 440 strikeouts and 83 walks. Halladay, Lee, and Oswalt all have winning percentages above .600. And Cole Hamels on any given day is as good as any of them.
I fell asleep last night to a Tony Bruno interview just past 10 with Jon Paul Morosi, of FOX, who was nattering on about why the Phillies were interested in Lee. I woke just before one a.m. to hear a totally giddy Bruno talking about the done deal.
When Lee was traded a year ago to the day to the Seattle Mariners, he said that he had wanted to resign with the Phillies and retire as a Phillie. Amazingly, he may do just that. When Lee pitched with the Phillies in 2009, neither Halladay nor Oswalt were on the staff. Wow have things changed in Philadelphia.
It's been "Merry Cliffmas" all day in that city. Both Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee chose to play in Philadelphia and both to pay cuts to do so. It wasn't so long ago that John Smoltz was proclaiming over and over that Citizens Bank Park would keep free agent pitchers away, that the only way the Phillies could get them to come was by overpaying. As Charlie Manuel has said, "Champions can play anywhere."
According to Todd Zolecki of Zozone, Lee's new number is 33.
