Recent Stories with tag cliff lee

Yesterday the Mariners finalized a trade that sends three lower-tier prospects to Philadelphia in exchange for 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee. Reaction is bubbly.

"THANK YOU SANTA Z!!!"--Seattle Times commenter

"This is, quite frankly, a heist. The Mariners are getting a Cy Young caliber pitcher for some decent-but-not-great prospects. They aren’t giving up Morrow. They aren’t giving up Saunders. They aren’t even giving up Triunfel. And yet, they walk away with one of the five or six best pitchers in baseball."--Dave Cameron, USS Mariner

"The virtues of acquiring a starting left-handed pitcher in his prime with the resume of Cliff Lee are apparent to any attentive Mariners fan. To summarize: JEEZUSRUKIDDINMEDRINKSALLAROUND!"--Art Thiel, Seattlepi.com (It's worth reading the rest of Thiel's thought-provoking column about the national perception of the Mariner franchise.)

"This is about as good as a right left punch can get. It gives me a boost of energy knowing that this is what the team is doing and that expectations are we will go further."--M's pitcher Ian Snell, via KIRO's Shannon Dreyer

"We've acquired a very, very nice piece to help this organization move forward. It will be exciting to watch him pitch at the top of out rotation – him and Felix Hernandez.... I don't think we're done yet."--Jack Zduriencik

"Lee succeeds in the same way that Ben Sheets used to succeed--by just throwing strikes over and over with sufficiently good stuff to maintain a solid strikeout rate. He doesn't miss a ton of bats--his contact rate is actually below-average--but he's consistently ahead in the count, which puts him at a significant advantage. In a way, he and Felix take remarkably different paths towards a similar end result, and it'll be all kinds of fun to watch them BACK TO BACK OH MY GOD."--Jeff Sullivan, Lookout Landing...

(more)

If your sports fan coworker came back beaming yesterday after a long lunch, he or she may have, like me, gotten twin text messages bearing tidings of great joy. 

First, at about 12:24 p.m., friend David: "Locker is coming back!"

Then, at 1:20 p.m., friend Clint: "Holy crap! Cliff Lee to the Mariners?"

True and (apparently) true. Husky star quarterback Jake Locker, on the morning that ESPN projected him as the first overall pick in the NFL draft, walked into the Husky football offices with his chocolate lab Ten and told coach Steve Sarkisian "I'm staying."

Locker's decision to forego the NFL draft and return for his senior season means that the Huskies will have a very potent offense next year. Between Locker, running back Chris Polk, and receiver Jermaine Kearse, the Dawgs could have the best combination of skill players in the league. Locker's decision will also give top QB recruit Nick Montana a year of seasoning before taking over the reigns in 2011.

The supposed acquisition of 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, is a little murkier. ESPN's Jayson Stark, who reported the trade in the first place, now writes that the deal is "close" but "not done." Didn't stop me from dreaming last night that the Mariners won the World Series.

(I was watching with friend David and Kyle MacLachlan's character from Twin Peaks. The Mariners won in the fifth game after a series of throwing errors got Matt Stairs--who apparently has signed with the M's in my subconscious--around with the series-winning run.)...

(more)