Gotta wear shades
=== Cliff Lee ===
From Day One, Cliff Lee has made noises about extending, that are a good one or two notches friendlier than we'd expected.
And this week, the quotes ramp it up, with the subtext like "if it doesn't work out to sign before the season" and "if I have to go to free agency, fine" and like that. Not exactly in those words, but that's the vibe.
Shannon Drayer, on her blog, taps what is in Lee's mind ... drumroll ... when you go to free agency, says Cliff, you commit to a team without knowing whether you'll like it there.
Am not sure why I never thought of it in exactly those words...
..............
Zduriencik consistently executes his game plan: let Cliff Lee get comfortable in Seattle, and then negotiate.
It hearkens back to the Dale Carnegie win-win days: you've got two reasonable men; why shouldn't they come to an understanding?
Honestly, Zduriencik's has an almost supernatural feel for business negotiation, and for talent recruitment in particular. I thought he was supposed to be a scout.
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=== Same Birthday as Dr. D, Minus a Week ===
Looking at Cliff Lee's game, you see a lot that reminds you of Dr. D's birthday twin Jamie Moyer:
- First pitch, precision-, randomly-located FB
- Second most-used pitch, changeup (plus change speed game)
- Mixes in breaking pitches mostly to keep hitters off the 1-2 whipsaw
- 6+ strikeouts, 1+ walks, low HR (in the real league, San-Man ... 8K in the other one!)
Jamie Moyer with a 91 fastball would be illegal. Billy Beane thought that even at 87 mph, he was more frustrating to hit than Pedro Martinez.
There are a coupla differences, granted. Lee doesn't quite have Moyer's dead-fish changeup and so his BABIP isn't as scintillating as Moyer's was. Lee is certainly more of a power pitcher, attacks the hitters with an 18-inch chain as opposed to willow-switching them across the face until they break down in tears.
But still, you're talking about smooth, CG-balanced, graceful lefties painting the black like Rembrandt and out-thinking hitters.
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=== Random Noodling ===
Don't know where to put this in the article, but I don't understand why Cliff Lee throws his breaking ball so seldom. At times, it almost looks like Erik Bedard's.
Lee uses his yakker as a parsley garnish to the FB-change meat and potatoes. The few times I've seen him, the curve was my favorite pitch. ? Maybe his curve has developed bite recently?
Lee is the real blinkin' deal, there are no doubts about that.
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=== Don't Let 'im Fool Ya Out There ===
SSI has warned that because they don't show fatigue as clearly, butter-smooth lefties tend to be ridden too hard. Until they break down. But Jamie Moyer, of course, never did break down, and Cliff Lee has been remarkably injury-free.
Moyer's path to durability, despite that fact that he weighed 118 lbs., was:
- Extreme fitness, even drawing admiration from Ichiro
- Crazy grace and balance - he could "pause" and not wobble any time he wanted
- An insistence that he not throw pitches after he was tired
You can take it from there, as to whether Cliff Lee matches up with Jamie on the above three points. I don't know whether Cliff Lee has the commendable habit of managing his own pitch counts.
But I do know that I'm okay with having a RH Felix followed by a LH 91mph Jamie Moyer.
The more so if they get that Steve Carlton guy going third day, fanning 10 men per ballgame and sponging up whatever chunks of grue were left by the first two fiends.
I'll sit in the view level with a box of Kleenex. Man, I love Stars & Scrubs.
Enjoy,
Jeff