Philadelphia Phillies’ Cliff Lee has been placed in trade market, claim sources - MLB Update
The sources close to the matter have revealed that the Philadelphia Phillies decided to trade their starting pitcher Cliff Lee. He has been put forth before the organisations that may be interested in acquiring him. However, there is an important development
taken place that says the Texas Rangers are not likely to obtain Lee from the trade as was suggested by the reports that surfaced earlier.
The move has also showed that the Phillies have finally back-tracked from their earlier position of not selling the starting pitchers. Their general manager, Rubén Amaro, Jr. had claimed that at-least the starters are not on the agenda for selling this year.
He maintained, the hurlers form an important distinction of their club and therefore they do not want to change the image of the organisation in this regard.
Lee has been a great hurler for the teams in the past, with many laurels grabbed in terms of winning games. Although he has struggled this year, his ability to bounce back and stun the opponents with fastballs cannot be negated.
While it can be concluded that Lee is on the decline after watching his performance in the season. However, this is partially due to the fact of poor run-support he received from the Phillies’ offence this year.
In some occasions, Lee was dominant on the mound with series of scoreless innings thrown. Yet, due to little support from the hitters, he had to face the loss. Such games may have become the cause of his demoralised feelings and thus may have disallowed
the left-hander to gain rhythm.
In light of this, the prospective organisations will like to obtain him from the trade market with the assumption that their relatively better offence will help Lee win games for them.
When Rangers approached Lee earlier, they had this in mind. However, the deal was not agreed, because the Phillies wanted top prospects from them in return, which Texas was not in a position to sacrifice.
With the trade deadline hours away now, the latest inclusion of Lee will create a lot of drama and enthusiasm among the interested clubs. It will be fascinating to know where Lee is going to land after the trade deadline.
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