Cliff Lee and his decision that brought him home to the Philadelphia Phillies – MLB News
To say that the world of Major League Baseball was shocked by Cliff Lee’s decision to go back to the Philadelphia Phillies would not be any exaggeration of any kind.
In an unprecedented and extremely unexpected move pitcher par excellence, Lee signed on to the Phillies instead of the New York Yankees or the Texas Rangers, who were competing head to head to get him to sign on to their team after he hit the free agent
market.
Unknown to anyone else, Lee apparently had other plans that included him returning to the city of Philadelphia about which the ace pitcher had always been very positively vocal. This was a decision that was taken before the season began so now with the inter
league series unfolding and the Rangers going up against the Phillies one cannot help but wonder about what brought about the very surprising decision from Lee’s side.
In today’s baseball, players can be seen running after the highest paying franchise as soon as they hit free agent status. Lee comes as a fresh change from the class of players as he rejected quite an amount of money from both, the Rangers and the Yankees
to join the Phillies, who were paying him comparatively less.
The Bronx Bombers offered him a six year contract that would make him richer by a whopping $132-million-dollars whereas the Rangers final offer was a six year contract that would pay him $138-million, which was even more than what the Yankees put on the
table. Lee rejected all offers as he signed a five year contract with the Phillies for $120-million as he perfected the already historic pitching staff that boasted of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.
"Cliff chose what was best for his family," Rangers manager Ron Washington commented. "We did offer him more money but he chose what was best for his family. I have no hard feelings. Would we like to have him? d**n right. But we didn't miss him."
According to Lee, the Yankees were never where he wanted to go and the Rangers were always in the front of his mind when he was making the ultimate decision until the Phillies approached him. That is what complicated matters according to him. The Pitcher
commented, "But up until the Phillies got involved it was very likely that I was going to be with the Rangers. They got involved and it made it a tough decision."
Cliff Lee will be going against his former team mates in Match 2 of the three games inter league set. The Phillies have already won the first match.
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