Seven years for a possible $154 million from the Yankees wasn’t enough to land Cliff Lee, according to two baseball executives.
Instead, the 32-year-old free agent lefty took less money than the Yankees were offering and agreed to return to the Phillies, the team he helped reach the 2009 World Series won by the Yankees.
According to sources, the Phillies’ offer was for five years for $100 million, lower than the Yankees who, according to sources, extended two offers. One was for seven years and $150 million, the other for a guaranteed six years at $138 million with a player option for $16 million in the seventh year that would have hiked the package to $154 million.
The Rangers offered six years with a vesting option but that wasn’t good enough to retain the ace who pitched them to the 2010 World Series but was beaten twice by the Giants.
So, barring a deal involving Cole Hamels or Roy Oswalt, the Phillies have assembled the premier rotation in baseball, fronted by Roy Halladay with Lee in the No. 2 slot.
Early Monday night there was a feeling in the Yankees’ organization that Lee wasn’t landing in The Bronx and that proved correct.
Before midnight they were told by agent Darek Braunecker that Lee “was headed in a different direction.” Minutes later, Texas was informed Lee was going to Philadelphia.
The Yankees and Rangers had been very vocal in their pursuit of Lee. The Phillies? Silence.
Phillies president David Montgomery and GM Ruben Amaro didn’t return calls about Lee on Monday. Nor did Braunecker.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he won’t address the issue until Tuesday.
Before the Yankees were informed Lee wasn’t going to wear pinstripes, Cashman looked at the situation without the gloom and doom others saw in the possibility that Lee wouldn’t be a Yankee.
“We have a really good team going forward. If he comes, it will be a huge get. If not we move forward regardless,” Cashman said.
When Lee hit the free-agent market in early November, the Yankees were the prohibitive favorites to land him. They had a need, and obviously the money. The Rangers cast themselves as the underdog.
The Phillies? They spent the Winter Meetings this month shooting down talk they were in on Lee.
Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte now has lot of leverage to get more money than the $11.75 million he earned last year. However, money isn’t believed to be the deciding factor if Pettitte pitches or retires.
Pettitte behind a rebounding A.J. Burnett and in front of Ivan Nova looks better than Nova behind Burnett.
As for trading for a top-of-the-rotation hurler, the Yankees’ options are limited. They believe Zack Greinke won’t allow the Royals to deal him to The Bronx, and if he did the Yankees aren’t inclined to move stud catching prospect Jesus Montero.
The Mariners liked Montero in July when the Yankees believed they had a trade for Lee completed. If the Mariners shop Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez and ask for Montero again, the Yankees likely have to listen.
Additional reporting by Joel Sherman