RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling Indians trade Cy Young winner because they knew they couldn't afford to keep him on the payroll...

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Cliff Lee(notes) is more than just a consolation prize.

The Philadelphia Phillies didn’t get Roy Halladay(notes), instead acquiring the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner from Cleveland on Wednesday.

Looking to bolster their so-so rotation, the NL East leaders sent four minor-league prospects to the Indians for Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco(notes). The Phillies strongly pursued Halladay, but quickly struck a deal to land Lee once they deemed Toronto’s asking price for the six-time All-Star was too high.

“One of our goals was to acquire a top-of-the-rotation guy, somebody who we felt was going to make a difference. And we think that Cliff can certainly do that,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said.

The left-handed Lee is 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts this season after going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 2008. The Indians dealt CC Sabathia(notes), then the reigning Cy Young winner and in the final year of his contract, to the Milwaukee Brewers last summer.



“I’m going to miss all these guys here, but it’s an opportunity for me to help a team that’s in first place,” Lee said after the Indians lost to the Los Angeles Angels 9-3 in Anaheim, Calif. “They’re the defending world champions. So as far as that goes, I’m excited.”

The Phillies sent Triple-A pitcher Carlos Carrasco(notes), infielder Jason Donald(notes) and catcher Lou Marson(notes) along with Single-A pitcher Jason Knapp to Cleveland.

“The value was compelling,” Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. “It had to be compelling.”

Lee turns 31 next month and his contract includes a $9 million club option for next season.

Amaro acquired Lee without giving up top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, rookie left-hander J.A. Happ(notes), who is 7-2, or highly touted minor league outfielders Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown.

“Watching him go through last year and this year, it’s not like it’s far off of Halladay at all,” Phillies closer Brad Lidge(notes) said of Lee. “He’s that kind of pitcher. And not having to give up Happ to get him, that’s pretty impressive.”

Lee gives the Phillies another top starter to join Cole Hamels(notes). The MVP of the World Series and NLCS last fall has been inconsistent this season—Hamels was 7-5 with a 4.42 ERA, though he pitched well in a victory at Arizona on Tuesday.

The Phillies have a comfortable lead in the division—six games ahead of second-place Florida. They’ve sought pitching help since No. 2 starter Brett Myers(notes) had hip surgery in June. Jamie Moyer(notes) leads the staff with 10 wins, but he is 46 and has a 5.32 ERA.

The addition of Lee means Philadelphia has to drop someone—possibly Rodrigo Lopez(notes)—from its starting rotation. Lopez, though, is 3-0 with a 3.09 ERA in four starts. The Phillies also have Pedro Martinez(notes) rehabbing in the minors. The three-time Cy Young Award winner signed a $1 million, one-year contract during the All-Star break.

“I’d rather have a surplus than have needs,” Amaro said. “It’ll work itself out.”

Manager Charlie Manuel said he’ll probably make a decision about the rotation on the team’s plane ride to San Francisco on Wednesday night.

Francisco, batting .250 with 10 homers and 33 RBIs, upgrades Philadelphia’s bench, which has lacked a solid right-handed hitter.

The Indians have been a disappointment this season and their decision to deal Lee for prospects is another blow for Cleveland fans, who have seen stars such as Manny Ramirez(notes), Jim Thome(notes) and Sabathia leave via free agency or trade.

“We’ve been through this before with much less talent in our cabinet,” Shapiro said. “If we hadn’t made tough decisions and trades before like this in the past, we wouldn’t have had guys like Cliff.”

Lee came to Cleveland, along with center fielder Grady Sizemore(notes), from the Montreal Expos in a 2002 deal for Bartolo Colon(notes).

The club had hoped to sign Lee to an extension but talks broke off during spring training. A succession of injuries and dismal relief pitching dropped the Indians out of contention and forced Shapiro to begin rebuilding.

The Indians traded infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa(notes) to St. Louis last month, sent reliever Rafael Betancourt(notes) to Colorado last week and dealt first baseman Ryan Garko(notes) to San Francisco on Monday.

AP Sports Writers Tom Withers in Cleveland, Gregg Bell in Seattle and Andrew Bagnato in Phoenix contributed to this report.

I think you meant "teams that can buy championships" for the last one.

C'mon, Joe. The system is a joke.

Where else but MLB do you see this bullshit trades? Uh...besides the NBA.

In the opinion of at least one, Pirates' ownership the pits

Ben Bouma, a producer at ESPN and TBS and a former Pirates public relations manager, lives in Pittsburgh and is quite passionate about the Pirates’ plight. The Pirates, on pace for an American professional sports record of 17 straight losing seasons, have gutted their team of name players and decided to start anew, but in the process barely have a major league team on the field.

Bouma points out that in 1997, the Pirates’ payroll was $9 million, $1 million less than Albert Belle’s salary. The Pirates’ current payroll is $25 million, 25 percent less than what Alex Rodriguez is making this season.

“Four players in MLB make $20 million to $25 million and three of them play in that [Yankees] infield. [The Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez makes $23 million.] With 67 percent of the season gone, the Pirates are only on the hook for less than $9 million for the remainder of 2009,’’ Bouma writes in an e-mail. Bouma points out that the Pirates are the only team in the majors without a player making at least the MLB average salary of $3.26 million (Paul Maholm is highest at $2.5 million).

“Last year, the Pirates are believed to have received a revenue-sharing check of $27 million from MLB, based on figures leaked to the Wall Street Journal,’’ Bouma writes. “They receive close to $35 million from the national TV contracts. That is $62 million before anyone buys a ticket, sets foot in PNC Park on Opening Day and buys a hot dog, or watches or listens to a game on local TV and radio. Not to mention what they will receive from MLB for the MLB Network and MLB.com/MLB.TV and Extra Innings packages. On top of this, they let go many front-office people [some with 20 years of service] earlier this season.

“This is no longer a problem of ‘how baseball is structured’ any longer. This is both fundamentally and ethically wrong . . . It is high time this [ownership] group is held accountable for the complete mismanagement of the franchise as their excuses have run out.’’

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, after making his final deal Friday, said, “We need to break the cycle of losing. We need to break the cycle of being in a situation where we’re making trades every year. We have the pieces in place to build something.’’

My guess is the Pirates ownership is in a yearly for profit mode. There's a group of owners looking to make big $ year in and out. Nothing wrong with that but dont claim poverty when you dont even spend all your revenue sharing $ on payroll. The Reds operate in stewardship mode, breaking even knowing the profit will come whenever the team is sold. former Cincinnati owner Carl Lender did what the Pirates are doing for a few years and the Reds are suffering from it. Thankfully the new ownership is spending in a break even mode and the Reds look very close. It's teams like Pittsburgh that make it hard for other small teams to lobby for more revenue sharing.

I really am a baseball genius.

I called my shot 1 week before Yahoo.

Damn, I'm good.


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-dismantledindians&prov=ap&type=lgns

Indians owner discusses financial state of Tribe
By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer
1 hour, 26 minutes ago

(AP)—Cleveland Indians owner Paul Dolan projects the team will lose $16 million this season and says the recent trades of Cy Young winner Cliff Lee(notes) and All-Star catcher Victor Martinez(notes) were necessary long-term moves.

Dolan estimates the team will draw about 1.7 million fans this season, more than 500,000 less than the team expected before opening day.

The Indians, who came within one win of the World Series in 2007, expected to contend this season but went into Thursday’s game at 45-62 and in fourth place in the AL Central.

The trades of Lee and Martinez have led to a backlash from Indians fans.

Dolan also said ownership will have input into whether manager Eric Wedge returns next season.

Let's cut the crap about "big market" versus "small market" and look at this from an honest standpoint. Cleveland has been hit hard by the recession and has been fucked financially for years. Declining revenue and distance from the Division lead and Wild Card let to Shapiro making the trades he did. And, frankly, he didn't do too badly with either deal. He saved some cash and built up his team for the future with some pretty attractive players. basically, It's the Bartolo Colon trade all over again. Twice. And, just like in that trade, you Cleveland fans will bitch this year, and maybe next, but will quickly see that Shapiro did right by you. Or did you forget where your current CF and the pitcher you just traded came from?