Cliff Lee traded to the texas rangers!!!

[yavozerb]

Cliff Lee was going to a contender no matter what. Turns out it was the Texas Rangers, not the New York Yankees.




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"Just heard from [Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik]," Lee texted to ESPN The Magazine's Amy K. Nelson. "It's official. From last [place] to first."

After talks between the Seattle Mariners and Yanks fell apart Friday afternoon, the Rangers jumped in and reached agreement on a trade for the left-hander.

The M's sent Lee and reliever Mark Lowe to Texas for first baseman Justin Smoak and minor leaguers Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke and Matthew Lawson.

The Mariners will also send $2.5 million to the Rangers to subsidize the $4 million still owed to Lee. Texas has financial limitations due to bankruptcy hearings associated with the sale of the team. There has been speculation the Rangers -- despite leading the AL West -- would not be able to add weapons for the stretch run.

And there still could be trouble. An anonymous official of an MLB team said the Rangers taking on $1.5 million in salary "is going to be an issue" since the team is currently being run by the league. It is not clear if the bankruptcy court would allow the team to take on that kind of debt.

Lee is 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA this season for the Mariners, his first in Seattle. The Phillies traded him this offseason after acquiring Roy Halladay.

Lee won the Cy Young while with Cleveland in 2008. Over nine seasons he is 98-55 with a 3.84 ERA.

It's unusual for a team to trade a start pitcher within it's own division, but the Mariners have been a huge disappointment. Heading into Friday's action, they trailed the Rangers by 16 games.

When asked how he felt about the deal, Lee texted "good I guess. Gonna be on a very good team. Definitely gonna be hot!"

By trading for Lee now, the Rangers potentially gain four more starts from the lefty than they would have gotten if the acquired him at the trade deadline. If his travel plans work out, he should be on the mound for the Rangers Saturday night against the Orioles.

The Yankees had offered Seattle a three-player package, centered around catcher Jesus Montero -- who is rated as one of the best prospects in baseball, despite questions about whether he can be a catcher in the big leagues -- second baseman David Adams and a young prospect.

But the deal began to unravel, a source told ESPN.com, when the Mariners became concerned about the health of Adams, who is out with a sprained ankle.

A source told ESPN.com that Seattle and Texas were very close to a deal for Lee on Wednesday. But the Mariners were pushing for Smoak, the Rangers balked and the deal stalled.

So on Thursday, the Mariners turned their attention to the Yankees and began closing in on that deal. But when those talks blew up, the Rangers -- who by then were aware of all the reports about that Seattle-New York deal -- got back into the picture and agreed to trade Smoak. So the pieces came together very quickly at that point because the two teams almost had a deal done 48 hours earlier.

And now Lee is on his way to Arlington.

"Bout to go get my stuff from the field," he texted. "Gonna miss my teammates and coaching staff! Good people!"

ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney and ESPN.com Amy K. Nelson contributed to this report.

[yavozerb]

I liked smoak, but davis can now come back up take over at 1st and the rangers have their ace..hell yes

[IronMexican]

Glad he didn't go to NY.

[JamStone]

Nice trade for the Rangers. How good are those three minor league prospects they traded?

Good for me as a Tigers fan since he didn't go to Minnesota or Chicago White Sox.

[Melmart1]

When I heard reports this morning about the Yankees, I thought for sure he would end up there. They always seem to get their guy. But the fact that the Rangers got him ... wow! Unbelievable!

[Melmart1]

I am happy with the price, too. I didn't want to give up Perez, Holland or Scheppers, but I thought for sure we would have to give one of them up. Smoak and Beavan will eventually be very good, but I think they are a fair price for Lee.

[gaKNOW!blee]

jaysonst (http://twitter.com/jaysonst)
Want to guess Cliff Lee's career ERA in his new home park? How about 7.62 -- his worst at any park in MLB where he's pitched more than once!

lol

[TheMACHINE]

Mother fucker! cock sucking son of a bitch!

[Spursfan092120]

Right out from under the Yankees noses....This was Steinbrenner after he found out.

6rtQMa78TQk

[Melmart1]

lol

He won't be facing the Rangers' lineup in that park anymore. A few visits from his old team and their shitty bats and that stat goes way down and is pretty meaningless, methinks.

[Greg Oden]

lmao yankees

I hope everyone associated with that franchise dies in a grease fire.

[dallasmavsnfuego214]

I'm just so happy we snagged him away from the Yankees. I think this is a turning point in franchise history. New management, hopefully new era. This is our year to win the division and hopefully we can make a deep playoff run with Lee!

[Melmart1]

Oh, man, this article is too true. Fuck you, Yankees!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-leetrade070910

This is how it feels. This, New York, is what it’s like to be a baseball fan anywhere else in the country.

Normally, it’s the Yankees breaking hearts. They sign the best free agents. They trade for stars. This is the New York Yankees’ world, and 29 other teams deign to live in it.

And the script was going as usual Friday. New York was set to acquire Cliff Lee(notes) from the Seattle Mariners for three prospects, including its best, catcher Jesus Montero(notes). The dominant team in baseball would get even better by sacrificing kids from a system loaded with them. Championship No. 28 looked likelier than ever.


Then a snag. One of the prospects, David Adams, twisted an ankle six weeks ago. The Mariners saw medical reports and worried. They reopened the bidding. Texas swooped in. Two hours later, Cliff Lee was a Ranger.

The improbability of this was staggering. The billion-dollar Yankees lost to the bankrupt Rangers. The American League East lost to the West. New York lost to Arlington, Texas. This doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t.

It’s one thing for the Knicks to lose the LeBron James sweepstakes. Bumbling organizations run by foofs get outfoxed all the time. The Yankees are a legitimate franchise, though, an iconic monster, a moneymaker with a front office of tremendous businesspeople and scouts. The people in charge make them great. The Yankees’ brass would succeed in a small market, too.

And just as they landed Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Roger Clemens and David Cone and Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson(notes) and countless others in trades, they were going to get Cliff Lee because they wanted him, and what the Yankees want they get. For them to sacrifice a player of Montero’s caliber – at 20 years old, he is hitting well in Triple-A after a rough first month, and scouts see him as a 30-homer-a-year hitter – meant they coveted Lee. Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, is as loath to give up prospects as anyone outside of Tampa Bay, especially with the Yankees favorites to sign Lee when he hits free agency in November.

Consider the Yankees’ past open-market coups: CC Sabathia(notes), Mark Teixeira(notes) and A.J. Burnett(notes) in the $425 million offseason of 2008. Jason Giambi(notes) and Johnny Damon(notes) and Gary Sheffield(notes) and – ahem – Carl Pavano(notes) before that. Hideki Matsui(notes) and Jose Contreras(notes) and – double ahem – Kei Igawa(notes) and Hideki Irabu, too. Good, bad or otherwise, all of those signings reinforced that no matter who you are, no matter what you offer, the Yankees can and will trump you. Only once in recent years have they gone all-in and lost, and Boston spending $103 million for six years of Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes) doesn’t look nearly the privilege that it did then.

So in came the Rangers, underdogs not just because their owner, Tom Hicks, wiggled his way so deep into debt Major League Baseball needed to take control of the franchise’s finances. Nor because their GM, Jon Daniels, made this team what it is – a legitimate first-place outfit at 50-35, with the biggest division lead in the game – on the strength of dealing Teixeira to Atlanta for Elvis Andrus(notes), Neftali Feliz(notes) and others three years ago.

No, the Texas Rangers were not considered threats Friday morning because the Yankees fancied Lee, and whomever they fancy ends up in pinstripes.

Oh, they liked Johan Santana(notes) and Roy Halladay(notes) and Carlos Beltran(notes). When the price became prohibitive – either in prospects or dollars – they backed off. Not here. The Yankees offered a diamond to the Mariners when others wanted to give them a handful of zircon.

No shock, then, that when the Rangers came over the top with their own gem – first baseman Justin Smoak(notes): a VVS1 diamond grade when it comes to young talent – and added Blake Beavan, a 21-year-old sinkerballer who has a 2.78 ERA with 12 walks in 110 Double-A innings, plus reliever Josh Lueke and second baseman Matt Lawson, the Mariners jumped at the offer.

The Yankees were livid. They had Lee.

The Rangers were ecstatic. They have Lee.

And while the balance of power doesn’t shift tectonically, it makes the Rangers plenty more viable in October than they were Friday morning. Colby Lewis(notes) looks much better pitching Game 2 of a postseason series than he does an opener. With Josh Hamilton(notes), Vladimir Guerrero(notes), Nelson Cruz(notes), Ian Kinsler(notes), Michael Young(notes) and Andrus, the Rangers can mash with anyone, Yankees included.

Don’t mistake this for the Rangers being favorites. That role remains the Yankees’. They won the World Series last year. The Rangers have won one playoff game in the franchise’s 50-year history. Not one championship. Not one series. One game, the first of the 1996 postseason against the Yankees.

New York went on to win that World Series and four others since. They were called bad for baseball and the Evil Empire and cursed everywhere outside of the Bronx. And yet when they craved a player, he was theirs, because as much as winning is the Yankee way, even more so is getting what they want.

For once, they know how it feels when they don’t.