If you’re on the fence about who to root for tonight, this might help:
The Yankees are hoping for two painful, but ultimately successful confrontations with Cliff Lee in the near future: One from 60 feet, six inches tomorrow night, the other across a negotiating table in about six weeks. If all goes perfectly for the Yankees, they would beat Lee in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series and then have him join them in November or December on a free-agent contract.
That’s Joel Sherman. Who’s not at all wrong about that stuff, of course, and whose overall column is pretty astute in handicapping the Cliff Lee market. Key point: how could the Yankees (or anyone else) balk at giving Cliff Lee a contract through his age-37 season when A.J. Burnett is signed through age 36?
But no matter how many good points are made, man, it’s just nothing anyone wants to hear right now.