Yankees To Acquire Lee
It came out today that the New York Yankees were the frontrunners in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.
It was announced today that they Yankees and the Mariners had serious talks last night and that a trade is likely in the coming days (or even hours).
Rumor has it that the Yankees would be sending catching prospect Jesus Montero, and a few other prospects 2B David Adams and possibly a thrid player to the Mariners in exchange for Lee.
Buster Olney of ESPN has reported that the Yankees want Seattle’s decision prior to their game tonight in which Lee is scheduled to face the Yankees.
The reason, or at least the reason I assume, nothing has happened yet, is the fact that Seattle is three hours behind us on the East coast. It’s only 10 o’clock if you live in Seattle.
I would say the Yankees will be getting Lee, the only question is whether or not Lee will pitch tonight for the Mariners.
That brings us to the question of the Yankees rotation.
We know that CC, Andy and AJ are basically locked into the starting rotation. If you bring in Lee you have only two spots left for three guys.
Obviously Lee will get one of those spots, but who will get the other?
Will it be Phil Hughes, who started off so dominantly, and has cooled off of late giving up 22 runs in his last 5 starts?
Or will it be Javier Vazquez, who started off poorly and has picked it up of late, giving up just 15 runs in his last 7 starts?
If it were up to me, I’d let Hughes make maybe 1-3 more starts then move him back to the bullpen for the remainder of the season to help solve their problems. Plus, Hughes is going to have an IP limit seeing as this is his first year as a starter.
Then next season move Hughes back to being a full time starter with no IP limit.
What do you think will happen?
