Cliff Lee is doing his usual thing, going 7-2 with a 2.45 ERA and 74/13 K/BB ratio in 12 starts, and with the Phillies stuck below .500 it’s natural to speculate about Philadelphia potentially trading the ace left-hander.
However, that may not be so easy. Jon Morosi of FOXSports.com reports that Lee’s contract has a no-trade clause covering 20 of the 29 other teams, including all the usual suspects like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers. In other words, he picked all the teams most likely to trade for him.
Of course, that doesn’t rule out a trade to those 20 teams, it just means Lee would have to be talked (or otherwise financially motivated) into accepting a deal. He’s also owed about $77.5 million for the next two-and-a-half seasons, so while Lee remains one of the elite starters in baseball his price tag could take some interested teams out of the running even before the Phillies’ asking price comes up.
