Seattle Mariners to acquire Cliff Lee

By Morgan Butcher in Uprising on 12/14/09

Before reading this I want to save you time by letting you know that this is in no way a spiritual blog, so if you are reading this with the intent of spiritual growth and didn’t know that Cliff Lee is a baseball player and not a preacher man… I am sorry.  Otherwise, let me begin…

OMG!!!!! I apologize, but this was the only way I could describe the excitment that is running through my veins after hearing about the possible trade that would send the 2008 Cy Young winner to Seattle next season.  It has been a LONG time since the Mariners front office has excited me with an off-season transaction.  The last one being incredibly disappointing, with the acquisition of… um… wait… I forgot his name… Oh yes, Richie Sexson.  If you are any bit of a baseball fan (or a sports fan in general), the thought of two of Major League Baseballs best starting pitchers throwing one after the other, is mind boggling!  This is the kind of one-two punch the Mariners organization has been looking for, since missing their opportunity of adding a star pitcher to team up with Randy Johnson.

Cliff Lee at 31 years old, is at the top of his game.  In 2009, Lee went 14-13, granted he split the season between AL and NL with the Indians and Phillies.  The Indians were terrible last year and Lee went 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA.  The Indians didnt produce runs for him which is exactly why he had 9 losses.  For the Phillies he threw in 12 regular season games, 3 of which he went the complete game.  He was 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA, he had a tough start in the NL and the Phillies were not hitting like they were used to when he came over in the trade.  Not to mention that in 2008 he was an easy pick for Cy Young winner, he was 22-3 with a ridiculous 2.54 ERA and 170 stirkouts.  BAD… I think not.

Cliff would also does a great job taking away the long ball from hitters, and with the kind of defense he will have in Seattle there is no reason why he should give up any more than 3 runs per game.  In the last 2 years he has pitched 455 innings, only giving up 29 home runs, which averages out to one dinger every 15.2 innings on the mound.  BAD… I think not.

His leadership and maturity in and out of the clubhouse will be a great addition as well, especially with the young pitching that the Mariners have; the average age of the 13 pitchers on last years roster was just under 26 years old!  The oldest of them being David Aardsma and Garrett Olsen.  No offense to either of them, especially Aardsma coming out as a solid closer last year, but I dont really want either of them giving the younger ones advice!  Put a guy like Lee in there who has seen and done more than any of the guys on that pitching staff and have them learn and watch him.

Aside from Lee and his personal greatness, the Mariners starting as a whole would look really, really good going into the season.  Felix Hernandez is obviously the man, he was the runner up for the AL Cy Young in 09’, and with a couple more runs from his offense, probably would have won it.  Felix is the Mariners future and you have him as your ace, a title that you have to give to him, he has earned every bit of it, coming off a 19-5 season with a 2.49 ERA… Let me say it again 2.49!  That is better than Cliff Lee had his 2008 Cy Young season!  Not to mention his 217 strikeouts, most of which making players look worse than half the kids on my Richmond little league team in 5th grade.

From there you add Captain Cliff, which I need not explain the significance.  At the number 3 spot you have Ryan Rowland-Smith, who I have always thought would be a GREAT number 3 starter, not quite fine tuned enough for the #2 spot, but definatly going to give you a quality start.  The 4 spot you sit in Brandon Morrow, and pray that he turns into the everyday, solid starter that you envisioned him being when you picked him over Sir Lincecum (yes he does deserve the Sir entitlement).  Finally the number 5 spot you have a toss up between two guys who emerged as pretty good starters, in Doug Fister and Jason Vargas, and Ian Snell who came over in the trade for Jack Wilson.

All in all, I have carried this blog on far longer than I had originally intended.  All I wanted to say is that the thought of Cliff Lee wearing a Seattle Mariners jersey makes me smile, and gives me warm fuzzies in my stomach.  I am going to put my trust in Big Z (Seattle Mariners GM; aka “The guy continuing to make Bill Bavasi look silly”).  But i think it is safe to say that with Mr. Hernandez, followed by Mr. Lee pitching one after the other… and getting some pop in the middle of the lineup (which i think can and is going to happen), the Mariners are going to make it a memorable 2010 baseball season… FINALLY!!!!!!

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