Unbe-Lee-vable: Cliff Lee Signs With Phillies
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Phillies fans may think they're dreaming as they wake up on this cold, December morning. But it's true: fan favorite, pitcher Cliff Lee, is signing with the Phillies.
This is one of those days lifelong Phillies fans pinch themselves and say, "Wait a second, is this for real?"
For the past several weeks, Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee was being courted by the Yankees and Rangers.
Lee, of course, became a fan favorite here in Philadelphia in the second half of 2009, and many a heart was broken when he was traded before the start of last season.
Even so, not even the most optimistic Phillies fan thought Lee would be back in red pinstripes, not with the way Texas and New York were going after him.
But around midnight Monday night, Twitter started lighting up with the unthinkable rumor that Clifton Phifer Lee was once again a Phillie.
Then it hit MLB.com, that the Rangers and Yankees had been notified Lee had signed with the Phillies, giving the Fightin' Phils a starting rotation with two Cy Young award winners and a World Series MVP: Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and now Cliff Lee.
There are still some formalities for the 32-year-old -- he has to pass a physical before the deal is complete.
But Cliff Lee takes fewer years, snubs the Yankees, and signs with the Phillies in a reported five-year, $100-million deal.
And as Phillies fans rejoiced, Yankees and Rangers fans were crying in their beer over the loss of Cliff Lee.
In Texas, there had been high hopes that Lee would choose the Rangers over the Yankees. But KRLD Sports anchor Chris Schneider says the Phillies' sudden emergence blew everyone away.
"I mean, everyone knew there was a chance that there would be a dark horse stepping up. Maybe the Angels. I don't think anyone mentioned Philly, though, until yesterday and there started to be a few rumours and whispers," Schneider said on Tuesday morning, "but I don't think anyone gave it really serious consideration."
And in New York, WFAN morning man Craig Carton tried to put a positive spin on all that bitterness and frustration:
"Cry and moan and bitch and weep all you want that Cliff Lee's got no backbone and couldn't handle New York City and instead went to that dump 100 miles south of here, but when it's all said and done, all you've got to do is win the Wild Card and then everybody starts off zero-zero."
Reported by Jim Melwert and Paul Kurtz, KYW Newsradio 1060.
