Lee to Yanks Close?

Dave · July 9, 2010 at 7:12 am · Filed Under Mariners 

The New York Post is reporting that the M’s are close to sending Cliff Lee to the Yankees for Jesus Montero (20-year-old catcher), David Adams (23-year-old 2nd baseman), and a third prospect. Many other sources confirm that the deal is close, but nothing is done. Texas or Minnesota could still jump in and make a deal that the M’s like more, but this is a really strong offer – Montero is legitimately an elite prospect, and probably the best hitting prospect in the minors. For Texas to beat this offer, they’d have to put Justin Smoak on the table. For Minnesota, it’s probably something like one of their starting pitchers and Aaron Hicks.

So, yeah, while I’d rather not see Lee go to the Yankees, this is good news for the M’s. They’re going to get a great return for Lee, assuming this report is true. We’ll have more if it becomes official.

Comments

118 Responses to “Lee to Yanks Close?”

  1. SonOfZavaras on July 9th, 2010 11:24 am

    Great, great haul.

    But I hate the Yankees.

    Just had to say it.

    Amen, brother. Nothing worse than a bunch of happy Yankee fans.

    I was SURROUNDED by them at The Terrace Club seats I had last night. And their raised-in-Seattle Homegrown Yankee Larvae.

    Haven’t fought off the urge to hit somebody so many times since Courtney Love was doing every interview she could in the mid-90s.

  2. Westside guy on July 9th, 2010 11:26 am

    If Rob Johnson was a highly rated hitter with questionable catching skills I think many of us would forgive the miscues behind the plate as long as he tears the cover off the ball at the plate.

    Mike Piazza was criticized for years as being a crap defender yet nobody cared as long as he put up the offensive production.

    You said it much better than I did!

  3. MsofEnchantment on July 9th, 2010 11:27 am

    Are you serious? If this holds up, we’ve plugged a serious long-term hole with a young player under team control for several years. With the continued development of Saunders, Ackley biding his time in Double A, Guti signed long-term, Ichiro! being Ichiro!, and the King around for awhile. There’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. How about this potential lineup going into the future:
    LF – Ichiro (L)
    2B – Ackley (L)
    1B/C – Montero at some point (R)
    1B – Branyan (L)
    DH – Bradley (S)
    CF – Guti (R)
    LF – Saunders (L)
    SS – does it matter? Triunfel eventually
    3B – Figgins (S)

  4. Shanfan on July 9th, 2010 11:27 am

    I hate the idea of Lee going to the Yankees but he probably was this winter anyway. Can we throw Sean White in the deal, that’d take some of the sting out of it?

    Indians fans must be rubbing their wounds too knowing their 1-2 punch wound up Yankees as expected while they got a few promises and more bad baseball while rebuilding…again. Too bad we have a useless used car salesman and fellow owner as the commisioner of baseball, otherwise he might eventually do something in the best interest of the game.

  5. darthbuhner on July 9th, 2010 11:31 am

    I like Lee so much, a small part of me would be happy to see him get a ring and fat contract with the Yankees, since it won’t happen here. But him switching and pitching against the Ms at Safeco would be a memory that would haunt me for life. It would be worse than the still-painful memory of Norm Charlton giving up a walk off grand salami to Chris Hoiles in Baltimore in 1996. Ow.. still hurts.

  6. spankystout on July 9th, 2010 11:32 am

    I would love Smoak but the Rangers aren’t that dumb so I’ve been thumping the Yanks and Montero bible for a couple weeks now. Just glad Jack is getting premium offers and not settling. Montero was ranked as the 4th best preseason prospect. Higher than Ramos and Hicks, and Montero is only 20 in AAA.

  7. djtizzo on July 9th, 2010 11:32 am

    I’m hearing now that Adams might not be involved in this trade!!!!

    Who else might they persue? What pitching prospects do the Yanks have that can contribute soon?

  8. scott19 on July 9th, 2010 12:09 pm

    This isn’t a must-win game.

    Then again, are any of them from here on out?

    At this point, they might as well just lose out the rest of the season, shoot for the worst record in baseball, and let Z grab the number one pick next year.

  9. scott19 on July 9th, 2010 12:19 pm

    Who else might they persue? What pitching prospects do the Yanks have that can contribute soon?

    Well, if Z wanted to make things even more interesting, he could always throw in Ian Snell so we could get Joba The Hut back in return.

  10. matthew on July 9th, 2010 12:20 pm

    Dave wrote: “Side effect of this deal – Pineda may make MLB debut tonight. He’s the scheduled guy to go for Tacoma.”

    If Pineda’s pitching, I’m going to tonight’s game. How soon until we know?

  11. matthew on July 9th, 2010 12:21 pm

    scott19,

    If he wanted to make it interesting, he could throw in Bradley.

  12. scott19 on July 9th, 2010 12:25 pm

    True that, Matthew…though, geez, would that be a brutal place for him to play!

  13. Grayfox3d on July 9th, 2010 12:47 pm

    To repeat the #Yankees aren’t getting Cliff Lee, #Mariners concerned about David Adams ankle plus apparently another team has jumped in hard

    Joel Sherman tweet.

  14. SonOfZavaras on July 9th, 2010 12:54 pm

    Just to waylay any hysteria still lurking around, ready to post at any second on here (and most of the savvy guys who frequent this site know this, I realize):

    Cliff Lee will NOT be pitching against us today. It also seems likely not FOR us, either.

    If the trade is consummated, he’s likely to spend today/tomorrow with the Yankees medical staff, taking a physical that’s required before a trade goes down.

    And the last report I’ve heard about Pineda is that he’s still scheduled to start for the Rainiers tonight.

  15. joser on July 9th, 2010 12:55 pm

    Not sure I like the idea of Pineada’s first experience of the majors being a start against the Yankees. Then again, if he shuts them down how awesome would that be?

  16. SonOfZavaras on July 9th, 2010 12:55 pm

    To repeat the #Yankees aren’t getting Cliff Lee, #Mariners concerned about David Adams ankle plus apparently another team has jumped in hard

    Joel Sherman tweet.

    ?!? Well, that’d qualify as breaking news.

  17. matthew on July 9th, 2010 1:10 pm

    Ahahah. Dave kills me.

    “MLB needs a Trade Czar for these situations to just step in, assign Justin Smoak to Mariners, Cliff Lee to Rangers, and end this.”

  18. matthew on July 9th, 2010 1:16 pm

    I will be happy when I see Smoak trending higher than LeBrand on Twitter.

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