Opinion

The Philadelphia Phillies have been one of the most successful baseball teams in the MLB the past three seasons. Recently, as most of you have heard, the Phillies lost their all-star left fielder, Jayson Werth, to the Washington Nationals for a ridiculous amount of money, but also gained the most coveted free agent in the 2010 class, Cliff Lee.

Everyday on the way to school, I pick up a copy of AM New York, a local newspaper in New York City. While sifting through the pages, I see an article entitled “Yankees wait on Cliff Lee.” Just then, my phone vibrated. It was an e-mail from my fellow writer Steve Lenox. “I was right,” he said, and went on discussing the Cliff Lee deal.

Cliff Lee is a happy man.

Forget the fact he swindled himself out of more than $30 million to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. Okay, maybe not swindled, because Lee voluntarily left that money on the table.

He knew what he was doing. He knew he’d be the most at peace in Philadelphia. His trial run there in 2009 — despite the fact the Phillies failed to sign him that time around — was nothing short of magical.

Philadelphia has just acquired another ace in Cliff Lee. The lefty has arguably been one of the best postseason pitchers of all time. Lee will be joining a rotation that already consists of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. 

The baseball winter meetings have my brain racing with random thoughts of money, American sports, athletes and hypocrisy.

Carl Crawford just inked a seven-year, $142 million deal to play with the Boston Red Sox.

Is Jayson Werth actually worth the seven-year, $128 million contract the Washington Nationals gave him?

Then there is first baseman Carlos Pena: He signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Chicago Cubs after batting a meager .196 last season with the Tampa Bay Rays.

While we were all waiting to see if Cliff Lee would choose to be in Texas or the Bronx in 2011, he went out and LeBron-d us.

Lee will be taking his talents to the city of brotherly love and join Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt to create one of the, if not the, greatest starting rotations that the world has ever seen.

When the Yankees found out they would be playing the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series, everyone in baseball figured Cliff Lee would be auditioning for his new team. 

He took the mound in Game 3 in New York and dazzled everyone in attendance with his eight innings of one-hit ball and added in 13 strikeouts as well.  I would say that is a pretty solid audition, wouldn't you?

Isn't it ironic that both Cliff Lee and LeBron James got their careers started in Cleveland?

Isn't it also ironic that both men are considered to be at the top of their respective sports in terms of talent and ability, and left via free agency to join teams that have a wealth of top tier talent?

Let's just tap the breaks on that last part for a minute.

The Yankees reportedly reached an agreement with free agent catcher Russell Martin, and with so many possible backstops already in their system, this raises some questions.

Now that Cliff Lee has signed a huge contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, other teams that were in the sweepstakes for Lee are suddenly left scrambling for another pitcher to fill their need. 

That pitcher could come through a trade or free agency.  

Zack Greinke is being shopped by the Royals, and if a team is willing to give up some top prospects, they could use his arm next year.