CASPER
New member
Turns out the Philadelphia Phillies do have enough money for both Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay — and Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, too.
A year after Phillies traded him away, Lee chose to rejoin them and form a fearsome foursome that is the envy of all of baseball.
The free-agent pitcher passed up an extra $50 million from the New York Yankees and reached a preliminary agreement on a $100 million, five-year contract with the Phillies on Monday night, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
The agreement is subject to the 32-year-old left-hander passing a physical, the person said on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not final.
The Yankees and Texas Rangers had been considered the front-runners, but the Phillies wound up with the most-prized free agent of the offseason, reaching a deal that gives them a dominant rotation that likely is the strongest in the majors.
Lee, the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner, joins Halladay, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who won the NL honor last month.
A year after Phillies traded him away, Lee chose to rejoin them and form a fearsome foursome that is the envy of all of baseball.
The free-agent pitcher passed up an extra $50 million from the New York Yankees and reached a preliminary agreement on a $100 million, five-year contract with the Phillies on Monday night, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
The agreement is subject to the 32-year-old left-hander passing a physical, the person said on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not final.
The Yankees and Texas Rangers had been considered the front-runners, but the Phillies wound up with the most-prized free agent of the offseason, reaching a deal that gives them a dominant rotation that likely is the strongest in the majors.
Lee, the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner, joins Halladay, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who won the NL honor last month.