Lee Avoids Boredom by Joining Phillies

I'm so sick of hearing about Cliff Lee, that I'm going to make this post short just so I don't add to the incessant conversations about his destination for next season. The thing is, his decision regarding that destination is so noteworthy that I would be remiss in leaving it out of this blog.

Lee to Philadelphia is a huge story because it's a head-turner. We as fans and consumers of baseball were blindsided by this move, and our reaction to it would be much different if Cliff Lee had been boring and signed with the Yankees. But Cliff Lee is not boring. In fact, nothing about him is. He's been arguably the best postseason pitcher over the last two seasons, has been constantly coveted by numerous teams, and helped take a franchise who had never won a playoff series prior to this year to a World Series. We've grown accustomed to seeing players like Lee don the pinstripes as soon as they put up accomplishments like Lee's. But Cliff Lee is not boring. And now he's a Phillie.

Lee makes the Philadelphia Phillies' starting rotation the best in baseball, period. Anyone who disputes that ought to make their way to a sauna and sweat those thoughts out of their head. And all because Cliff Lee is not boring. Something interesting to note here - we would have been saying the same thing about the Yankees' rotation had they gotten Lee, but not the Texas Rangers....and Lee went with the familiar territory in Philly over New York.

So now the three elite teams in baseball are housed in the northeast. Philadelphia may be all that's relevant in the National League. And Cliff Lee is set to be part of a team that will be very good for a very long time - not too bad for someone who settled for less money, eh? Certainly, that's not boring either.