Should the O's go after Cliff Lee?

[OriolesRedskins28]

From MLBTRADERUMORS.com:

"The Dodgers should claim Lee and dare the Phillies to let him go for nothing, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs writes."

Full article: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... cliff-lee/

Should the O's give this idea a shot? $25 million per year for the next 4 years is pretty darn expensive and very risky for a pitcher in his 30s but I think it would be worth a shot. This is all hypothetical of course (Lee can even veto a trade to 21 teams and I'm sure the Orioles are on that list) but if the O's could get Lee without giving up a lot of talent in return but had to take on his entire contract should they do it? With some money coming off the books in coming years (Gregg and Reynolds this year, Roberts next year etc.) it's possible the O's could afford to take on his contract although they would probably be better served investing that money in extending their own players like Wieters and amateur talent.

If Angelos would be willing to take on that contract without taking money away from signing amateurs, player development, and extending the O's own young players I would support the move so long as Lee is known a good clubhouse guy who could at least mentor the younger pitchers as he ages. Aces don't grow on trees.

[David]

Of course we should! That would make my year! Although I somehow doubt Angelos will take that contract on.

[ofahn]

Of course we should! That would make my year! Although I somehow doubt Angelos will take that contract on.

David, I respect your enthusiasm but I see that as a monumental mistake.

We would be committing over 90M for the next four years for a guy that is on the downside of his career. If we could buy the LAST four years of his career for that money I couldn't write the check fast enough.

The reality is that Peter Angelos won't spend enough to buy Lee AND pay Matt Wieters AND the rest of what we would need to be a perennial playoff team. His track record is VERY clear on that. The best guess is that the most money this team will spend is about 150 to 170% of what the Rays spend. That doesn't leave a lot for Lee's salary.

Finally, adding Cliff Lee does NOT fix 3B. 2B, 1B or the rest of our starting staff. Let's do that first and THEN think about adding someone like him.

[David]

I'm just saying that if we had Lee that could be 3 games out of 5 that we could pin and say "Alright, let's score 4 runs and take a win". Obviously we'd have to wait for Hammel to return but still.

[ofahn]

I'm just saying that if we had Lee that could be 3 games out of 5 that we could pin and say "Alright, let's score 4 runs and take a win". Obviously we'd have to wait for Hammel to return but still.

Agreed, but that doesn't change the reality of the economics.

[David]

I did say at the end that I doubted Angelos would do that.

[Matt P]

They could afford it if they wanted to. Like you pointed out there is money coming off the books the next few years and even though others are going to receive raises in salary they still could afford him. Peter just doesn't want to spend the money and the team has the no 3+ years to pitchers contract rule.

[MikeNewcomb92]

I completely agree with ofahn on this topic. It would be completely illogical to spend that kind of money for a pitcher that has already pitched his best and is on the decline and will only produce less the next four years. We need to worry about getting a hound staff together as opposed to one pitcher.

[birdwatcher55]

Would be a foolish move by the Orioles