There’s always a bunch of crazy stuff spewed out there when a big deal goes down. Heck, I spew half of it. Here’s a list of the silly things I’ve heard in the 12 hours since the Cliff Lee deal was announced, both on Twitter and in comments to our various Cliff Lee posts:
“Cliff is just like LeBron James!”
Lots of random Twitter people said this, and Mike and Mike said just as much on their show this morning, talking about him passing up the opportunity to be “the number one guy” elsewhere and to become a cog in Philly. Which is beyond crazy, of course. As I mentioned this morning, LeBron’s offense against taste and nature was turning his announcement into a television show, not choosing to go to Miami. More to the point, however, baseball is a fundamentally different sport than basketball. No one can be “The Man” in baseball except Stan Musial, and that’s in nickname only. It’s a team sport. You can be the best ever, and if you don’t have support, you’re going nowhere. Ask Ted Williams. Hell, ask Stan Musial for the entire decade of the 1950s.
“Brian Cashman screwed this up!”
This is one I truly don’t understand. Brian Cashman offered the richest total deal. If given the chance -- which he didn’t seem to have been given -- he probably would have and could have matched what the Phillies gave him on a year-to-year basis. It has become pretty apparent, however, that Lee simply wanted to be in Philadelphia and didn’t want to be in New York. That’s not a crime on Cliff Lee’s part, nor is it malpractice on Brian Cashman’s. It’s just the way it goes. Even for the Yankees.
The secondary criticism I’ve heard is that “Brian Cashman has no Plan B!” Which is nuts, because he has had less than a full morning as of this writing to implement a Plan B. The Yankees may not have gotten their man, but I’m sure they anticipated that to be a possibility and have contingency plans. They may not be as sexy or effective as getting Lee would have been, but if you think that Cashman is sitting in his office panicking right now like commenters on a Yankees message board, you’re crazy.
“Jayson Werth sure must be sorry now!”
If Jayson Werth stayed in Philly, even at a lower-dollar deal than he took from Washington, the Phillies would not be able to have signed Cliff Lee. It might be comforting for smug Phillies fans to look disapprovingly on the man who would dare leave them for more dough, but if he hadn’t, Lee would probably be in pinstripes right now.
“The Phillies are going to win [some number greater than 110] games!”
I think the Phillies will win the division easily. The rotation, as we’ve noted, will be superb, and possibly historic. I don’t think this team is the 1998 Yankees. They have some big questions on offense now that Werth is gone. Ibanez appears to be a statue. Domonic Brown is untested. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard may or may not be in decline. If everything breaks right they could be a historic team. But even if everyone plays up to their projections, I can’t see this being some historically good offense. The best thing I saw was “if the Phillies can trade for Zack Greinke, they might win 140 games!” That’s less silly for the actual substance of the prediction than it is sad for the manner in which it apes the worst excesses of Yankees and Red Sox fans over the years. C’mon Philly fans! You have your own special brand of crazy that I have come to love! Copying the Yankees covetousness like that is beneath you.
This is huge news. It’s a great signing. I think it locks up the NL East for Philly. But please, let’s give it 24 hours before we say big bold crazy things about it, OK?