Cliff Lee to the Rangers

[Guest]

dammitttt this is really disappointing for my fantasy team

 

You play in an AL West only league?

Going from Safeco to Yankee stadium as a lefty? From the AL West to the AL East? Significant

 

Meh, it's mostly offset by having a competent team around him to get some wins.

[mookie]

Mariners also getting Zach McAllister. Looks like he still has some things to figure out at AAA, but definitely a decent little arm.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=mcalli001zac

[rawaction]

dammitttt this is really disappointing for my fantasy team

 

You play in an AL West only league?

Going from Safeco to Yankee stadium as a lefty? From the AL West to the AL East? Significant

 

He did great in Philly's small park.

[jersey cubs fan]

dammitttt this is really disappointing for my fantasy team

 

You play in an AL West only league?

Going from Safeco to Yankee stadium as a lefty? From the AL West to the AL East? Significant

 

He did great in Philly's small park.

 

Wouldn't a lefty benefit from pitching in NY, or at least not suffer as much from the short RF porch as a righty conceivably would? I thought the whole thing was lefty hitters have an advantage, but that would be negated against LH pitching.

[mookie]

dammitttt this is really disappointing for my fantasy team

 

You play in an AL West only league?

Going from Safeco to Yankee stadium as a lefty? From the AL West to the AL East? Significant

 

He did great in Philly's small park.

 

Wouldn't a lefty benefit from pitching in NY, or at least not suffer as much from the short RF porch as a righty conceivably would? I thought the whole thing was lefty hitters have an advantage, but that would be negated against LH pitching.

 

Got this from the Rotoworld boards...

 

Since 2008 Lee has gone a combined 5-4, 2.07, 1.11, 54 K in 82.1 IP in 11 starts against Boston, Tampa, Toronto and Baltimore. Not too shabby...

[UMFan83]

BTW, is this the new lower to middle market "moneyball" strategy? To trade for all stars in the last year of their contracts in the offseason, and then trade them again at the deadline when seemingly they are more valuable?

 

Obviously Oakland did it with Holliday last year and now Seattle with Lee.

[Cubswin11]

dammitttt this is really disappointing for my fantasy team

 

You play in an AL West only league?

Going from Safeco to Yankee stadium as a lefty? From the AL West to the AL East? Significant

 

Meh, it's mostly offset by having a competent team around him to get some wins.

That and the fact he is a really good pitcher and that he is still going to be a top 10 pitcher regardless of what ballpark he pitches in.

[mookie]

Ooooooooooooooooooh. The Mariners are backing off! Maybe the Rays will swoop in there and snag him. I am guessing it will be either the Rays or the Rangers.

 

Both teams definitely have the chips to trump the Yankees offer.

[Guancous]

Lee traded to the Rangers for Justin Smoak, Mark Lowe and 3 other players.

 

So... anyone think we can steal Jesus Montero from the Yankees for Lilly, straight up?

[mookie]

Justin Smoak. Wow. I think this is a really dumb deal for the Rangers.

[NonProfitCow]

Well done Seattle. Jack Zduriencik is a really good GM.

[Clem Fandango]

I can't believe they gave up their top prospect and others for a half year rental of a guy they won't be able to keep after the season. I admire Texas' cojones but I admire Seattle's ability to get the most out of Lee a bit more.

 

Short term this obviously makes Rangers a better team, but long it pretty much gives he Rangers a window till the end of the season to do some real postseason damage

[BCVM22]

Well done Seattle. Jack Zduriencik is a really good GM.

 

Great trade for Seattle. Smoak is a pretty decent return on what was basically a rental player anyway, and he got three other guys thrown in there as well.

[Clem Fandango]

Mariners also get Blake Beavan. Wow.

[Outshined_One]

Lee traded to the Rangers for Justin Smoak, Mark Lowe and 3 other players.

 

The other three players are reportedly RHP Blake Beavan, RHP Josh Lueke, and 2B Matt Lawson.

 

Mariners got a really good deal for Lee.

[OleMissCub]

Awesome for the Rangers!!

[erik316wttn]

Haha, I love it when someone grabs a player out from under the Yankees.

 

Let's see if we can peddle Z off on them.

[Elrhino]

It's a good move for everyone. The Rangers have a true #1 ace of the rotation for the first time since .... god knows when. Colby Lewis has been a great story, but he's not exactly someone you want to hang your hat on. They got the Marineers to eat 2.5 million (it can't be stated enough how impressive it is that Josh Daniels/Nolan Ryan can pull of a trade for a #1 pitcher with their ownership mess what it is).

 

 

Smoak and Chris Davis were redundant prospects in their system. Chris Davis gets another shot to prove himself in the majors, after he was moved up too soon. Smoak gets to work on progressing without the pressure of having to produce for a team that's going to be in a pennant race/playoffs. Beaven gets out of the Rangers glut of pitching prospects and gets a clearer path to a major league rotation.

[CUBZ99]

This is great news for the Cubs and Hendry has no excuse for not getting a great return for Ted Lilly.

[RedFlash]

Haha, I love it when someone grabs a player out from under the Yankees.

 

Let's see if we can peddle Z off on them.

 

Same here. But one could argue that Texas needed Lee more then NY and that the Yankees could afford to pass on Lee.

[TruffleShuffle]

smoak has a LD rate of 23.9% but a babip of just .238... without bad luck his numbers would actually be solid.

[Guest]

Smoal for a half-year rental? Wow.

[J.R.]

Texas paid a price to make a statement for the benefit a football-deluded populace.

 

They have been locally irrelevant for almost their entire existence. I applaud the Rangers' management for at least trying to change that.

[Elrhino]

The Rangers fans aren't too broken up about losing Smoak because Chris Davis is OPSing at .950 in AAA he's only a few months older than Smoak. Smoak might figure it out, but it was apparent it wasn't going to be this year. It's hard to say they didn't get max value for Smoak when you're getting one of the top 5-6 starting pitchers in baseball in return. Even if Lee is a half year rental, they'll take the draft picks and continue to churn their (quite good) minor league/player development system.

 

Cliff Lee gives them a legitimate #1 rotation ace, Cy Young contending pitcher that they haven't had since maybe Fergie Jenkins. It breeds a lot of excitement into a franchise that has only won one playoff game in their entire franchise history. Lee could win more than that this year alone for them.

[shnsajax]

The Rangers fans aren't too broken up about losing Smoak because Chris Davis is OPSing at .950 in AAA he's only a few months older than Smoak. Smoak might figure it out, but it was apparent it wasn't going to be this year. It's hard to say they didn't get max value for Smoak when you're getting one of the top 5-6 starting pitchers in baseball in return. Even if Lee is a half year rental, they'll take the draft picks and continue to churn their (quite good) minor league/player development system.

 

Cliff Lee gives them a legitimate #1 rotation ace, Cy Young contending pitcher that they haven't had since maybe Fergie Jenkins. It breeds a lot of excitement into a franchise that has only won one playoff game in their entire franchise history. Lee could win more than that this year alone for them.

 

Most of the ones I know don't like Davis either regardless. I would take Smoak over Davis everyday of the week. I am a little surprised at this still though, but yeah they are still loaded in the minors. With Ryan unsure if he can buy the team he might figure why not go for it now.