4 Responses to “Lee Negotiations Likely to Pick Up”
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I think that the Yankees should and will sign Lee and Jeter but for the long term if both guys sign elsewhere you can make a case that the Yankees would be better off.
Understand the long term ramifications that giving a pitcher on the wrong side of 30 that many years can create… BUT
Championships are priceless… having Cliff Lee would give the Yankees a strong chance at winning 2 titles in the next 4 years… if years 5-7 end up being a disaster but Lee was a major asset in getting titles 28 and 29 before that, how do you argue?
Continue to feel that fans are too hung up on players salaries…
If you don't like the idea of signing Lee to a 6 or 7 year deal, then do what the Yankees should do, and add the cost of the 6th and 7th year to the early years. In other words, a 7 year deal at $25 million a year is REALLY a 5 year deal at $35 million a year, plus two free years at the end.
Or put it on a sliding scale: first year is $40 million, next year is $35 million, year after that $30 million, etc. Then the first year's salary is partially deferred: the Yankees have agreed to pay Lee $40 million for year one, with $25 million payable in 2011 and $15 million payable in 2017. Something like that.
The Yankees aren't offering Lee 6 years (or 7 years) because they think he's going to hold up that long. It's just a way of paying him more for the years when he'll actually produce at a superstar level.
I would suggest 5years at 23-25mil is already an overpay and effectively adding in a 6th year salary… As good as he was this year, he wasn't worth a lot more than that performance-wise and the likelihood of him even repeating that next year, yet alone maintaining it for 5 years is minimal. Is Lee really an ace at age 36 and 37? Or is he more likely a $15mil type pitcher? That extra 5-10mil per in the last2 years is effectively a 6th year.