Cliff Lee to the Yanks?

There was obviously a disturbance in the Force. Something woke me up and had me check sports. Joel Sherman is reporting that the Yanks are about to get Cliff Lee from Seattle for a package that include C Jesus Montero, 2B David Adams and either P Ivan Nova or P Hector Noesi. I was hoping they could get it done with Romine and a better pitcher. This violates the Cashman Doctrine of never paying twice (prospects and extension) but I'm not going to kill them for it. Lee is an elite pitcher who wants to play for the Yankees and is in his prime. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, when I first got the feeling that the Yanks might do this sooner rather than wait for the offseason, this mostly about our post season rotation and winning #28.


I think the reason there are a few reasons they were willing to give up Montero, and it has to do with the market for Lee. The Twins and Rangers were apparently deeply involved in the trade talks, and if either one of them got Lee, the Yanks might have been cooked in the division series this year. So they had to beat at least two possible opponents and that's why they played Montero. I was really hoping they could get it done with Romine and better pitchers, that apparently wasn't going to make it happen. Also, though I believe Montero is already a big league average defensive catcher, he doesn't really project to any other positions but 1B (Teixeira) and DH (a host of aging players going forward). Romine does look like he'll be a solid catcher, and of course Gary Sanchez, who is destroying the GCL looks like he's going to be a whole lot better. It's hard to project GCL kids, but they didn't give him 3M because they thought he can't play.


So it looks like it's bye bye Montero. This plays into another saying and that's that, "You always pay more at the deadline." Still, Cliff Lee is one of the difference making players you have to be willing to trade top prospects for. David Adams is a very good 2B prospect, who is organizationally blocked and was going to be used in a trade at some point. Nova and Noesi are probably relievers in the bigs.


Now what? The Yanks have too many starting pitchers, and as I speculated when I brought this subject up awhile ago, Javy Vazquez or AJ Burnett are now the best pitchers available on the trade market. Cash should be able to get good prospects or maybe even prospects and a power bat for one of them. In a related note, Nick Johnson had setback this week, and they might be looking for a DH type to help them get # 28.

Overall, I'm not happy to see Montero go, but I understand there was competition for Lee and it was competition we might have to face in the division series, and we do still have Romine, Murphy, Sanchez and others. And Cliff Lee is absolutely one of the best pitchers in baseball, he wants to be a Yankee and will help us win playoff series and hopefully championships.