96 wins, Not 96 Tears!
Lately, we have been pondering question marks that may appear on the horizon of the 2008 Cleveland Indians. One of those question marks is Cliff Lee. This lanky left-hander has won 51 games for the Tribe since the 2004 season.
Last year, Cliff suffered an abdominal muscle strain in spring training. He never quite seemed to recover, as he appeared to lose control of his fastball and dip his record for 2007 to 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA in 20 appearances. He also allowed 112 hits and 73 runs in 97 innings.
Although Lee claims to be 100% and looking to get straight for this season, there is a lingering concern. Cliff developed a bit of an attitude during his difficulties. Everyone should probably remember when he boinked Sammy Sosa in Texas on “Sammy Sosa Night” and put him out of the game. There was a reported bit of a scuffle in the walkway between the visitor’s dugout and clubhouse between Victor Martinez and Lee after the incident. When calm was restored, the two combatants traded stares until it was time to go back out onto the field, only for Victor to become visibly upset with his pitcher on the field until Lee was removed from the game.
The next time Lee pitched was back in front of the home crowd at then Jacobs Field and when he imploded again on the mound, the fans really gave it to him upon his removal from the game. Lee made a very bush league “salute” with his hat to the fans that caught the wrath of skipper Eric Wedge.
An abdominal strain can be overcome. Possibly a bit more difficult to overcome is a yard of attitude. Here is hoping Cliff Lee can put both behind him and be the excellent pitcher that he is capable of for the Indians. However, a trade may be eminent, as this ball club and its manager do not put up with attitude issues.
Case in point; Milton Bradley
Last year, Cliff suffered an abdominal muscle strain in spring training. He never quite seemed to recover, as he appeared to lose control of his fastball and dip his record for 2007 to 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA in 20 appearances. He also allowed 112 hits and 73 runs in 97 innings.
Although Lee claims to be 100% and looking to get straight for this season, there is a lingering concern. Cliff developed a bit of an attitude during his difficulties. Everyone should probably remember when he boinked Sammy Sosa in Texas on “Sammy Sosa Night” and put him out of the game. There was a reported bit of a scuffle in the walkway between the visitor’s dugout and clubhouse between Victor Martinez and Lee after the incident. When calm was restored, the two combatants traded stares until it was time to go back out onto the field, only for Victor to become visibly upset with his pitcher on the field until Lee was removed from the game.
The next time Lee pitched was back in front of the home crowd at then Jacobs Field and when he imploded again on the mound, the fans really gave it to him upon his removal from the game. Lee made a very bush league “salute” with his hat to the fans that caught the wrath of skipper Eric Wedge.
An abdominal strain can be overcome. Possibly a bit more difficult to overcome is a yard of attitude. Here is hoping Cliff Lee can put both behind him and be the excellent pitcher that he is capable of for the Indians. However, a trade may be eminent, as this ball club and its manager do not put up with attitude issues.
Case in point; Milton Bradley
The Cuyahoga Falls Police are glad he is gone.
It's probably a very good thing Milton never applied for work with the Post Office!
…Good Riddance!
…Good Riddance!
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2 comments:
i still can't understand why there is all this sudden hatred, or at least dislike, for cliff lee??? just 3 seasons ago he was the talk of the town having won 18 games and finished 4th in the cy young vote. he then followed that up with a 14-win 2006 campaign which was one more win than what c.c. sabathia got that year. granted he had a bad year last year, but he was injured from the start and never was able to recover from it. the last time i checked, he is still on this side of 30, is a lefty, has won 54 games and is 18 games above .500 for his career. shoot, the tribe once paid $4 million for a pitcher who was 34 games below .500 in the form of jason johnson, so i hardly think lee is a piece of trash to just throw away. why not take the high road and actually try to work lee back in the rotation instead??? that would be the better course of action in my opinion, especially considering that c.c. will be gone after this season. you can never have enough pitching and to just discard him at this juncture would more than likely come back to haunt the indians. they already committed one big mistake with another player from the bartolo colon trade. i would hate to see them make another.
Cliff Lee's destiny is in his own control.
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