Phillies Sign Cliff Lee

[thejusman1]

Great news for anti-Yankees fan everywhere. Too bad the Phillies are now a lock to win the NL.

[StlSluggers]

Well at least I don't have to watch the Mets this year...

Or any other NL team.

Geez...

[BitterDodgerFan]

Lincecum + Cain + Sanchez + Bumgarner + Giants bullpen > Halladay + Lee + Hamels + Oswalt + Phil's pen

Still, that's a downright nasty starting rotation.

you forgot zito who brings negative value

[Matthias]

It's not like they buy all their big name players through free agency...Lee will be in a group of 3 starting players signed through free agency along with Polonco and Ibanez. Every other starter was either brought through the system or aquired from talent they developed. If anything I respect how the Phillies have created such a "stacked" team this way instead of ways such as the Yankees, Sox, and Mets have done. I don't understand how that is not appreciated in some ways

Probably because it's not true.

Missing someone....o wait 2 players
And even with this I wasn't trying to bash these teams I'm just saying the Phillies are doing it right. Yet I still hear people saying they're cheaters and buy wins and other comments like that. Just trying to point out Phillies have done a great job developing talent and putting it to great use.

I didn't make this chart otherwise it would be updated. But you realize that 1 of those 2 players, Gonzalez, was acquired through trade not free agency. The Red Sox gave up some very highly regarded minor leaguers to get him.

So what I'm trying to point out is that if you were to create the same chart for the Phillies, my guess is that they wouldn't have any fewer outright free agency signings so to try to draw a difference between them and the Red Sox in favor of the Phillies just isn't accurate.

[Matthias]

Well at least I don't have to watch the Mets this year...

Go watch a Cyclones game with me. You can see the future of the Mets competing.

[converge241]

Lincecum + Cain + Sanchez + Bumgarner + Giants bullpen > Halladay + Lee + Hamels + Oswalt + Phil's pen

Still, that's a downright nasty starting rotation.

you forgot zito who brings negative value

What? Zito was awesome in the postseason!

Giants rotation is damn good and id rather have Wilson than Lidge but the overal Phillies pitching is better to the OP

[MaudDib]

Is no one worried about their offense? I understand that it will be hard to score runs off of them (assuming that Lee's back doesn't give him trouble and the rest stay healthy) but that offense has some issues. Rollins, Howard, Placido and Ibanez all seem to be on the decline. Utley has had problems staying healthy recently and is also on the wrong side of 30. There is Dominic Brown but not really sure how much you can rely on a rookie. They are going to have to win a lot of 3-1 kind of games. And when you do that you really need a closer/bullpen that you can rely on.

[bigken117]

The Giants top 1 can hang with the Phils top 1, but the remainder isn't that close. Lee > Cain, Oswalt >>>> Sanchez, Hamels >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bumgarner

[Art Vandelay]

It's going to be really funny when the Phillies implode next year.

[skjelstrom]

That definitely shows Philadelphia is the place to be. Both Halladay and Lee took major pay cuts just to play with the Phillies. It's also a slap in the face to the Yankees who offered more years and more money

Is no one worried about their offense? I understand that it will be hard to score runs off of them (assuming that Lee's back doesn't give him trouble and the rest stay healthy) but that offense has some issues. Rollins, Howard, Placido and Ibanez all seem to be on the decline. Utley has had problems staying healthy recently and is also on the wrong side of 30. There is Dominic Brown but not really sure how much you can rely on a rookie. They are going to have to win a lot of 3-1 kind of games. And when you do that you really need a closer/bullpen that you can rely on.

Phillies offense isn't really that bad. Assuming they can stay away from a ton of injuries as they had last year. The giants won the world series with mostly pitching, and timely hitting when it was needed. Howard still has some power in him, Utley isn't done yet, Rollins I don't think will perform much better (still better than the average SS), Polanco hits for a nice average, Victorino is a clutch hitter that can hit for average, Brown has shown a TON of potential, Ruiz is a clutch hitter also. That only leaves one player below the mendoza line - Ibanez. Doesn't sound bad to me especially with a rotation like they have.