Cliff Lee's Decision

Up until last night, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Cliff Lee would either end up on the Texas Rangers or on the New York Yankees. Both teams had met with him multiple times, and extended contract offers that were lucritive in both length and dollar amount. Both teams had made it known to him that he was the focal point of their offseasons. It appeared that Lee was destined to either remain in the heart of Texas or to be wearing pinstripes.

Early in the day on Monday, rumors began to swirl that there was a third team that had offered a contract, a mystery team that had bid upon his services. Most pundits dismissed this notion as a negotiating ploy intended to drive up Lee's price on the market. Both the Rangers and Yankees held firm on their offers, secure in their belief that it would be down to those two. Then, late Monday night, Cliff Lee signed. Turns out, there really was a mystery team all along - the Philadelphia Phillies, who had just traded him to Seattle in the past offseason in a three team deal which garnered them Roy Halladay.

The rotation that Philadelhia is going to be sending out now has a top four of Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels. This is, quite simply, the best starting rotation in baseball going into 2011. The only team that is even close is the San Fransisco Giants, who they lost to in the NLCS just about a month and a half ago. The Phillies have four bona fide aces that will go out and pitch for eighty percent of their games. Oh, and their number five starter, Joe Blanton? He's gotten 25 wins in the two and a half seasons he's been in Philadelphia, and would slot as a solid number three on a lot of teams.

Speaking of the last NLCS, it appears that the Phillies are taking their defeat to heart. After watching that pitching staff shut down their offense and the offense of the Texas Rangers, they went out and built an even better rotation than the one they faced. Yes, their offense may be slightly worse than it was last season with the departure of Jayson Werth, but he was deemed expendable due to the presence of Dominic Brown, their top prospect. If Brown can produce even a fraction of what Werth gave them, then the trade off is worth it.

As it stands, the road to the World Series in the national League now runs through Philadelphia. Barring injury, no other team can boast the rotation and nucleus the Phillies have. And they are set up to rule the National League for years to come.