Forget what the thermometer - and the calendar - tell you.
Yes, it's single digits out there. Ignore it. Summer just arrived in Philadelphia. The Phillies have signed Cliff Lee.
You read that right. Almost exactly one year after trading him away, the Phils have stunned the baseball world by re-signing the ace left-hander.
That puts together a pitching staff that could be termed the Four Aces: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt.
Making the Lee deal even more delicious is the fact that he clearly snubbed the Yankees along the way. The New Yorkers offered Lee more money and more years. He chose to pitch for the Phillies anyhow.
The numbers being tossed around indicate that the Yankees dangled as much as $50 million more than what was being ponied up by the Phillies.
Didn't matter. He signed a preliminary deal on a $100 million, five-year contract with the Phillies late Monday night. All the 32-year-old left-hander stil has to do is pass a physical.
The move has to come as an especially 'in-your-face' rebuke to the Yankees. Lee is one of the few pitchers to dazzle them in post-season play. He won both games in the 2009 World Series for the Phils against the New Yorkers. Their way of solving this problem. Signing him as a free agent. But Lee instead snubbed their offer for the chance to come back to Philly.
It gives the Phils an embarrassment of riches in their starting rotation. Halladay won a Cy Young Award this year in the NL. Lee won the award in the AL in 2008.
Lee brings with him a 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.
Forget the cold. Summer has arrived early in Phil-Lee.
Hard to believe, Harry.
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