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Your getting a elite pitcher that's PROVEN in the majors. That costs $$$ in FA and yet you don't give up any really premium prospects. How is it not a steal? Oh right and cliff lee been pitching in hitter's ballpark and goes to Safeco.
The worst case here is you flip him down the road however I think this is a perfect case to lock cliff lee with a extension. Let's go 10 years for ~150 million. With the rate the us dollar inflation goes it will outpace the decline in the later years. So you will be getting just insane value when cliff lee gets near his 40s.
Go long, invest now and defer as much as possible until late in his contract(ie 10 million for first 3-4 years and maybe 35 million when he hits 40).
OBP_Train