Cliff Lee: "Shock and disbelief"
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Cliff Lee: "Shock and disbelief"
Andy Martino
Currently on a conference call introducing Cliff Lee as a Seattle Mariner. He does not sound thrilled. Here is a sampling.
"My initial reaction was shock and disbelief...Initially, I was disappointed because making it to the World Series was a lot of fun, and I was looking forward to making a third run at it."
"At first I didn't believe it, because I thought that we were working out an extension with the Phillies and I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my career there...This goes to show this is a business, and you never know what's going to happen until you have a full no-trade clause."
Why do you think it an extension didn't work out?
"There was not enough dialogue. (Also) They had an opportuity to get the best pitcher in baseball, and I can't blame them for choosing Roy Halladay over me...I was under the impression they would keep me for a long time."
"I'm going to be as positive as I can, and go over there and try to make it to the World Series with those guys...it's a new chapter. I've got to go to the Mariners and make the best of it. I'm going to go in with an open mind and do everything I can."
Excited at all about returning to A.L.?
"Uh, yeah. I've got to."
What did you like about the Phillies?
"Those guys are the real deal. It was a true team and I can't say enough about them."
***
UPDATE, 8:25pm
Was able to reach Ruben Amaro for a response. "I am not really going to comment on the negotiations, other than what I said yesterday," he said. "There was nothing contentious about our talks, but it may not have led to something we were comfortable with. I would have loved to have kept both guys on the club. It was a matter of, we felt more comfortable with the deal we could do with Roy than the one we could do with Cliff.
"I hope Cliff Lee pitches tremendously well. We would have loved to have kept him, but it didn't look like we were going to move toward that goal."
Players generally let the agents take care of business.— jtj06- who really knows the truth on this.certainly no one on the board here. doesn't seem like there was real dialogue between lee camp and amaro camp, and have to believe Amaro had hard wood for Halladay for awhile. i really liked Lee. he couldn't have been any better, and it appears he fit in very well with the team. he can hit too. but strange no words from any players on the team. guess they maybe feel like cattle themselves, bought and sold. i cerainly like Halladay, but as one has said, this is all bitter sweet, almost a wash.— righty
- GM's in control of a Cy young pitcher under contract for the next year for half of what he should be making generally reach out to the player to get a firm understanding of what it will take to keep him here beyond that single year. Amaro spoke of "not getting a good feeling about it all" after meeting once with Lee's agent. Imagine that that was the basis for shipping Lee out. Imagine any other team taking a prized commodity (there are approximately 15 Cy Young Award winners pitching in the bigs at this time) such as this and shipping him out without a real conversation. It was manufactured to be this way. Because it needed to be this way. It was all about the budget and Mr. Montgomery.— advantasux
- The agent has to push a little to get the deal he can for his player, maybe he just pushed a little too hard for Cliff's sake.— Scholes
- Dull: that is indeed the question. Posters who say they don't understand why everyone is upset over getting Halladay are acting with studied stupidity, as everyone is delighted with getting Halladay, but are angry at losing Lee for lower-level prospects in an age when pitching is at such a premium, a move that smacks of salary dumping. If restocking the farm system was the issue, keep Lee for this coming season and get two draft picks for him when he leaves. Alternatively, get teams into a bidding war over the next two months for Lee's services and get a solid #5 starter and strong middle reliever or some conbination of major league players or triple-A players who can help the club this year. Can you say that the Angels, having lost Lester and Figgins would not have wanted Lee? The Dodgers having lost Wolf? The Yankees? I can see keeping him from the Mets and Braves, but not from every other team. None of the three players from Seattle appear to be ready for the show this coming season. Cutting Lee adrift makes no sense, given the down year that Hamels had and the question marks over Lidge. Both Lee and Halladay can go 9 innings and minimize the potential damage caused by Lidge. Thus the Phillies would have insurance if Hamels flops again or Lidge struggles. Amaro and Montgomery appear to be disingenuous when they say it was purely a baseball decision, particularly since they pulled off both trades on the same day to minimize the fallout from the Lee deal. What was Pat Gillick's role? Was Lee a problem in the clubhouse? Was Hamels upset with Lee's arrival and emergence as the top lefthander on the staff? I have spent thousands of dollars since 1986 for season tickets and I appreciate that the team has upped its payroll considerably, but don't tell me that Lee was a Baseball only decision.— chuckw
- Phils will regret the day they traded Lee!— slade1955
- The Phillies fans deserve to know what the offer was by the Phillies to Lee and what he countered with. If Amaro is any type of man, which I think he is, he should let the fans know the details. All the fans are hurting after losing Lee no matter how great Halladay turns out. Philly fans are loyal to the players that become special to us and this would help the pain. There hasn't been that type of performance and character from a Philly player in a long time.— Whiz_Kids
- Bummer, but hey life goes on. I trust the Phightens brass. Two World Series in a row. I'll wait and see. We got a potential closer in the deal too if anybody noticed. If you think about it, if LIDGE doesn't blow up we would at the very least be in a game seven. See ya Lee. Thanks for everything. Welcome Doc.— Corey301
- Some how some way they needed to keep this guy. Some way it will come back to hurt us.— bossrjc
- contrary to what Conlin fed us, Amaro was eaten alive by Seattle's 2nd year GM. The Phils were given 72 hours to make the Halladay deal by the league office. Because they also wanted to ship Lee to Seattle at the same time as bringing in Halladay, so they could make their fans swallow this, they were up against the wall and had to take what was offered in that 72 hour window. Everyone here is asking how they couldn't have known that they could have shopped Lee a bit a week or two later and gotten so much more and the answer to that is, of course the Phils knew that, but they committed to shipping Lee out when they thought we weren't looking and wouldn't care as much. That is what happened here.— advantasux
- Meant to say that the Angels lost John Lackey not Lester. Still can't believe they would not have wanted Lee. Or the Dodgers.— chuckw
- Roy Halladay said Philadelphia was where he wanted to be. Cliff Lee said he wanted to end his career with the Phillies. When is the last time 2 of the arguably best pitchers in the game indicated they wanted to play for the Phillies? It almost seems like Amaro had wanted Halladay for so long that Lee was never going to be anything other than an overnight sensation in Ruben's mind. I wish Cliff Lee the best, he is class and professionalism all the way (listen to the audio on ESPN), and I hope the Phillies can plug the remaining holes and get decent years out of Hamels and Lidge because I don't think Roy Halladay, as terrific as he is, is going to win it for the Phillies by himself.— ijj
- Man, I'm gonna miss that dude. How rare is it to have a player win your heart over as fast as Lee did? Especially in Philly. Granted, throwing complete game 1 run outings for three months doesn't hurt, but that guy was just awesome. Cool, calm and a winner. That game 1 start against the Yankees is one for the history books.
- Amaro isn't an idiot. Of course he wante dto keep both. What GM wouldn't? If he was getting the right messages from the Lee camp, he would have done all he could to keep him. Can we really not agree on that?— MacLeish
- he already had him. he was ours for the next year and only $9MM. Amaro had to do nothing to keep him, but he chose to do something and get rid of him. and he did it at a time when he thought we wouldn't notice or care this much.— advantasux
