Everyone knew Cliff Lee was going to get paid this offseason. With Sunday's reported trade of Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, however, Lee now stands to make even more.
The Red Sox have stolen the headlines from the Yankees with their latest move to acquire the incredible slugger from the Padres. In the the last week, the Sox picked up one of the game's premier first basemen while the Yankees dished out about $80 million to two players whose combined age approaches 80.
Boston is the early offseason leader, but it's the free-agent lefty, Lee, who will be the biggest winner when it's all said and done.
That's because the Yankees know they have to sign Lee now. The Red Sox somehow managed 89 wins with a banged-up squad, and on Sunday, they got a lot better. The loss of Victor Martinez will hurt, but at the end of the day, Gonzalez is an upgrade, at least offensively, over Martinez in the middle of the lineup.
You could make the argument now that the Red Sox are the favorite in the AL East, which is exactly why the Yankees will now likely employ a suffocating, full-court press on Lee to get him in pinstripes for 2011.
Lee would stand to make even more money if he had more suitors — right now it looks like a two-horse race between New York and Texas — but he'll likely be able to raise his price tag just knowing how badly the Yankees are going to feel they need him now. Add in the fact that free-agent outfielder set the market extremely high with an absurd seven-year, $126 million agreement with the Nationals, and it's easy to see Lee will wake up on Monday likely to be worth even more than he was on Sunday.
Like the Red Sox made a splash with Gonzalez, the Yankees will try everything they can to do the same with Lee. Adding one of the game's best pitchers to a rotation that already features the likes of CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes may go a long way in doing that.
Having Lee and Sabathia at the top of the New York rotation would give the Yankees the best 1-2 pitching punch in all of baseball, not to mention it would give them arguably the two best left-handers in the game. The silver lining for Red Sox fans, though? Adrian Gonzalez hit .337 against lefties in 2010.