Four aces could leave competition royally flushed
Four aces isn't the best hand in poker, and there is no guarantee it will lead to a third World Series berth in four seasons. But the potential is pretty damn impressive.
Four aces could leave competition royally flushed
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The temperature has dipped to 20 degrees, with a biting wind that rattles windows and turns the walk outside into a Krakauer narrative. Yet even on a night made for Sherpas, with exhaust fumes and chimney smoke cutting through winter's thin air, it is impossible not to imagine that early-spring day when the prodigal son arrives.
What will the roar sound like when he trots to the bullpen and embarks upon his customary warm-up routine, when his name is introduced, when his image flashes upon the big screen, when he delivers that first pitch (which, if his history is any indication, will be called for a strike)?
Cliff Lee is back in the Phillies rotation, a place most people felt he never should have left. Turns out, he lived in exile for less than a calendar year, the trade that bid him an unceremonious adieu having transpired 363 days before news broke Monday of his return.
He returns in the same manner in which he left, his wake littered with rose petals and stunned Yankees executives who watched him wreak havoc on their squad. A year ago, he did his damage in the World Series, dominating them for 16 innings in a pair of legend-building starts. On Monday night, he did it from his home in Arkansas, spurning baseball's supposed robber barons to sign for less money with the team he never wanted to leave.
The five-year deal, reportedly for $120 million, likely will not become official until Lee passes a physical.
Even so, you can picture Ruben Amaro Jr. standing high above the playing surface at Citizens Bank Park, holding his arms in the air and yelling to anybody who will listen: Are you not entertained?
As much excitement as the Phillies have produced on the playing surface over the past three seasons, their back-room dealings in the quest for the perfect rotation have turned baseball into a year-round sport.
There are risks, as Amaro will almost certainly remind you whenever he officially cops to the Lee signing.
But the big story from now until spring training will be the possibilities of a rotation that will feature either Cole Hamels or Roy Oswalt as its fourth starter.
Adding Lee to Hamels and Oswalt alone would leave the Phillies with the most talented on-paper rotation in the National League. Factor in 2010 NL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay and you have the potential of one of the best corps of starters in the history of the sport.
Four aces isn't the best hand in poker, and there is no guarantee it will lead to a third World Series berth in four seasons. But the potential is pretty damn impressive:
1) Over the last three seasons, 14 pitchers in the major leagues have started at least 90 games and posted an ERA of under 3.50. Four of them now pitch in the Phillies rotation.
2) Halladay, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels have combined for 17 Top 10 Cy Young finishes, 13 Top 5 finishes, 13 All-Star Games and a postseason record of 20-8.
3) Since the start of the 2008 season, the four pitchers have combined to go 176-117 with a 3.11 ERA while averaging 7.7 strikeouts-per-nine and 1.7 walks-per nine.
4) A bullpen that logged the fewest innings in the majors last season might want to start thinking about picking up some game-day side jobs at McFadden's. Over the last three seasons, the four aces have combined to average more than 6 2/3 innings-per-start.
That, my friends, is possibility.
Reality, of course, can be a fickle beast.
None of the four pitchers will provide an answer to the gaping hole behind Ryan Howard, despite the fact that they combined to produce three more hits this postseason than the three players who will be vying to replace Jayson Werth in the line-up.
In fact, you could argue (feebly, perhaps) that Lee would not have made a lick of difference against a red-hot Giants squad in the NLCS. After all, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt and Halladay combined to go 2-5 with a 4.17 ERA in eight postseason starts against San Francisco.
As for the long term, there is a reason why the Phillies have been hesitant to dole out monster deals to pitchers. Halladay, Lee and Oswalt will each be at least 32 years of age by the mid-point of next season. Oswalt turns 34 on Aug. 29. The next day, Lee turns 33. Halladay will turn 34 on May 14. Each had minor wear-and-tear injuries last season, Oswalt and Lee battling sore backs and Halladay suffering a groin injury in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
As long as each of them makes a living torquing their bodies in a manner in which bodies are not designed to sustain, there will exist the possibility of one or all becoming a very expensive mistake.
But future performance is much easier to predict than future health, and as long as this new-and-improved rotation remains intact, Amaro and Co. have managed to purchase themselves the best fleet of starters that money can buy.
This much is certain: a once low-budget team that plays in a bandbox of a ballpark has become a destination point for Cy Young-caliber starting pitchers, two of whom left enough money on the table to fund the entire payroll of some of the Phillies' National League competitors.
Halladay, signed through 2013 with a vesting option for 2014, and Lee, whose five guaranteed years expire after 2015, will be together for at least the next three seasons. Hamels, who is under club control through 2012, should be there for at least the next two. Oswalt is only guaranteed to be with the Phillies through next season, although the club can pick up an option on his contract for 2012.
There are still plenty of questions that must be resolved, starting with righthander Joe Blanton, who at $8.5 million over the next two seasons would make for an expensive fifth starter.
And the big lesson the Phillies re-inforced on a cold December night: they are never done dealing.
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Welcome back, Cliff and thank You, Ruben.
Comment removed.
suck it ny.— snakeplissken- NL Yankees, your team caught lightning in a bottle and won the World Series. Congratulations dude, I'm sure you were a big part of the Giants' success. I'll take my chances with this foursome against San Fran's lineup every day from April to October. We'll see who has the last laugh
- The big question, obviously, is where does Blanton fit in now.— benjyedwards
- Review This and NY Yankees- Why all the hate?? Just because you missed out on Crawford and Lee shouldn't bother you that much. You can still overpay for 47 year old Andy Pettite and hope that Jeter still has something in the tank. Losers. Go Phillies and Red Sox!!!!— athousandgods
- stikolaboloni:
You can go out and buy all the pitching you want. Remember Buster Posey? We have a kid coming up next year named Brandon Belt and I think we are going to see some big production there, possibly back to back ROY's. And we can hit you guys. No problem. I'll take Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner & Sanchez and lets do it again next year.
Signed,
The Champs— NL Yankees - News media across our great land are going to have to reconsider Philadelphia as a wasteland with terrible fans (im talkin to you TJ Simers and Skip Bayless). Something is going very right in this city for Lee and Halladay to want to be here. The fact that he took less money to be with "us" will put him with Sir Charles, Whitey, Dick Vermeil, Jaws and others who have embraced Philly even when their playing days are over. We get a lot of press for scouring those who have turned their backs on us (Kobe, Scott Rolen), but not enough is said about how we embrace those who really want to be a part of "Philly". Bravo, Mr. Lee. You've made everyone's Christmas around here better.— shirleyf
- WELCOME BACK CLIFF There are people who bashed and trashed him since last Dec, "he was only looking for the money," "he's just a hired gun," etc. Cliff Lee turned down MILLIONS to play where his heart and gut said felt right. The man has the heart of a warrior, the man is a Knight. People who bashed him, heads-up. People who bash Phils ownership as being cheap -- heads-up to you also. And this tells us all something also about the team, the individuals that we sometimes trash and don't all appreciate ... they're all good guys, good people, that someone like a Cliff Lee would give up Millions to want to play WITH. Wow. If we PhilsPhans weren't proud of this team and clubhouse already... I tip my had once again Rube, yes i've dis'd you on these pages before, this morning I tip my hat.
- I think this is great. When Cliff Lee left last year he was kind of angry with the organization. This proves the type of person he is. I just want to thank Cliff and the organization. As far as rotations go the Orioles in the seventies with Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike
Cuellar(sp) were pretty good.— RICKY101 - Awesome, but we still need to get hits!!— Bermar
- Phillies- Red Sox World Series. New York can look forward to hopefully making it as a wild card. hahahaha
I am tearing up- Stan the Man: I just spewed coffee all over my laptop screen. Well played, Stan. Well played. I am still laughing....— Nigel#1
- ReclinerGM has a great post up about the signing - answering the 15 questions Philly fans are asking now...
http://www.reclinergm.com/happy-cliff-lee-day-ive-got-some-questions/— psalveso
