Is Cliff Lee the Last Piece of the Puzzle for the Rangers?
For a pitching ace, Cliff Lee sure has been shuffled around quite a bit. The lefty was recently traded to the Texas Rangers after spending just half a season with the Seattle Mariners who traded for Lee just last winter.
Lee has gone from last to first in the AL West. The Mariners are clearly not going to be in playoff contention this year and the Rangers are hoping that Lee could be the addition that sends them to playoffs for the first time since 1999.
One has to wonder why teams haven’t hung on to Lee. While he continues to turn in brilliant pitching performances for any team he plays for, those teams have tended to struggle overall and knew Lee was a valuable asset that could reel in a big return.
The Florida Marlins drafted Lee in the eighth round of the 1997 draft but Lee opted to attend Meridian Community College.
One year later he was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 20th round of the 1998 amateur draft, but once again chose to go to school. He attended the University of Arkansas.
In 2000, Lee was again drafted, this time by the Montreal Expos. He stayed in their farm system for two years and proved to be a promising young prospect but the Expos traded him to the Cleveland Indians in 2002 in a six-player swap that saw Bartolo Colon go to Montreal.
Lee made his major league debut on September 15th 2002 against the Minnesota Twins. He gave up just one run in 5 1/3 innings work but still took the loss due to a lack of run-support.
Lee won at least 14 games in each of his first three seasons as he pitched over 200 innings in both 2005 and 2006.
In 2005, he finished the season with an 18-5 record and a 3.79 ERA and was fourth place in the AL Cy Young award voting.
In 2007, Lee battled injury problems and struggled for most of the season. He was even booed by the Cleveland crowd following a poor outing. He was then sent down to the minors, appearing sporadically for the Indians for the rest of the season.
The following season, Lee had a career year. He went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 170 strikeouts. Lee in total started 31 games, completed four and pitched two shutouts as he pitched a total of 223 innings.
Lee was awarded for his spectacular season with many awards; he won the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award, the Players Choice Award for AL Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award, The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award, and the AL Cy Young Award.
The following year, Lee was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies as the Indians struggled to win games. Lee began his career with the Phillies with a bang, as he pitched a complete game in his debut. Through his first five games with the Phillies, Lee amassed a 5–0 record, 39 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched, and a 0.68 ERA.
Behind Lee’s spectacular pitching, the Phillies went all the way to the World Series for a second straight year. Lee went undefeated in the playoffs, going 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA. Although the Phillies lost to the Yankees in six games, Lee won both of his starts in the World Series, pitching a complete game in game 1.
This past offseason, Lee was traded to the Mariners so that the Phillies could land Roy Halladay. The Mariners are now in last place and opted to trade the ace in order to get some value in return.
Lee is happy with the trade and now we’ll see if the ace can push the Rangers into the playoffs and somehow, take them on a long playoff run.
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