The Philadelphia Phillies, as expected, declined their team
option worth $27.5 million for the 2016 season on Cliff Lee and will instead
pay him $12.5 million to buyout his contract and hit free agency. Lee missed
the entire 2015 regular season and the left-hander has been limited to just 13
starts over the past two seasons due to reoccurring pain in the flexor tendon
in his elbow but there is no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Should that
deal come from the New York Yankees?
The Yankees have plenty of names that can be listed as
pitching depth as we head into the 2016 season but does New York have enough
real depth in case of an injury? The problem with the Yankees rotation entering
the 2015 season will be the same problem and questions that the team faces in
2016. Will CC Sabathia’s knee hold up, Michael Pineda’s shoulder, Masahiro
Tanaka and Nathan Eovaldi’s elbow, Luis Severino’s innings and Ivan Nova’s
Tommy John surgery and struggles with his command and efficiency. Lee would not
fix any of those question marks but he would add to a list of minor league
options that is looking seriously deficient at the moment with just Bryan
Mitchell and Rookie Davis as suitable options for the rotation aside from Adam
Warren.
The Yankees usually sign one or two reclamation projects
every season and hand out one or two minor league deals to veterans, see Andrew
Bailey, Jared Burton and Kyle Davies as recent examples of this, and Lee could
be the latest example of that. Obviously this all hinges on Lee’s willingness
to come to New York, he and his wife were weary of it once before already
during his career, and Lee’s health and the health of his elbow. If Lee is
willing and Mother Nature is willing to cooperate then Lee makes the most sense
for a minor league deal for the team this offseason.
Come on Mother Nature…. Help the Yankees out for once.
Might as well. He's been great before, and if the Yankees don't want to sign anybody big, seeing what he can do in spring training would be fine with me.
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