Sorry about that, but the news being thrown out at us today was crap and I felt no need to post three or four different posts about "mystery teams", Lee's indecision and whatnot. Instead, here's a summary:
“Dude, I got no idea,” he said. “In terms of when are they going to make a decision, when they do, the whole world will know.”Those were Brian Cashman's words to Chad Jennings earlier today when asked about Lee.
As for that mystery team, it appears, at least according to Joel Sherman (and others), could be the Phillies.
The Nationals and Angels have also been brought up as the "mystery team".There is a lot of buzz on the Phillies. I have it on strong authority that Phillie officials loved Lee and he loved playing there (that bodes well, for what it is worth, Lee being comfortable in a large, northeast city). The Phillies have shed a lot of money this offseason (Werth, Jamie Moyer, J.C. Romero) without doing anything significant.
On the surface it does not seem vital to add another high-end starter when the Phils already have Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. But the presence of Lee would give them arguably one of the best rotations ever. What if they were, for example, able to trade most of the salaries of either Raul Ibanez or Joe Blanton to provide additional funds to go after Lee and try to extend the best period in franchise history with a super rotation. Or maybe the Phillies could sign Lee and use Hamels or Oswalt to trade for a high-end, righty-swinging bat to play the corner outfield.
Karl Ravech reported earlier today that the Rangers were making a strong push to sign Adrian Beltre, which to Ravich indicates that Lee may be leaning towards the Yankees... Who the hell knows?
And finally, the Daily News is now reporting that there will be no decision from Lee today:
The Yankees and Rangers will be forced to wait until at least Tuesday before learning of the star lefthander's fate, as a source told the Daily News that Lee is not expected to make his decision Monday night.I'm officially starting to hate this as much as LeBron's decision... At least we all knew the date that would happen.
Lee has been mulling over offers from both the Yankees and Rangers since late last week, weighing the pros and cons of a move from Texas to New York. The Yankees have offered a seven-year deal in excess of $160 million, while Texas is believed to have guaranteed six years.