http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/12/14/lee.to.phillies/
Tuesday December 14, 2010
Free-agent prize Lee rejects Yanks, Rangers to return to Phillies
Story Highlights
Cliff Lee is returning to the team he helped pitch into the 2009 World Series
Lee probably took less money from the Phils than the Yanks or Rangers offered
He's said to be intrigued by joining the Phillies' already stellar rotation
Jon Heyman, SI.com
Almost a year after they traded him, Cliff Lee is headed back to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Lee, the most highly sought pitcher on this winter's free-agent market, turned down more lucrative offers from the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers to return to the team he helped pitch into the World Series in 2009.
Lee reached a preliminary agreement on a $120 million, five-year contract, plus a vesting option for a sixth year. The deal is subject to the 32-year-old left-hander passing a physical.
The Yankees had offered Lee six years at $22 million each, plus an option year for $16 million, for a total of $148 million over seven years. The Rangers' offer was for $120 million over six years, plus an option.
The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner apparently could not bypass the chance to join the Phillies' already stellar pitching staff of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. With Lee, it becomes the most formidable rotation in either league.
The Phillies are now in serious talks with the Red Sox about trading pitcher Joe Blanton to clear payroll space for the Lee deal.
The Phillies weren't even known to be in the hunt for Lee until earlier Monday, when they were revealed to be the "mystery team" that was pursuing him along with the Yankees and Rangers.
But just hours later the Yankees and Rangers both received telephone calls telling them they were out of the running.
Lee is said to have absolutely loved his brief time with the Phillies in 2009, when he won two World Series games against the Yankees. People close to Lee say he envisions himself as No. 2 in a rotation with Halladay at the top, Oswalt pitching third and Hamels fourth. Now they may well have the best No. 1 pitcher in baseball, the best No. 2, the best No. 3 and the best No. 4.
Philadelphia offered him a three-year deal for about $54 million after the 2009 season. When he turned it down, the Phillies dealt him to the Seattle Mariners on Dec. 16 as part of a four-team, nine-player swap while simultaneously acquiring Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays and signing him to a new contract that added $60 million over three seasons.
Lee is 102-62 with a 3.85 earned run average over nine seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Phillies, Mariners and Rangers.
A fourth-round draft pick in 2000, Lee is has excelled in the postseason, going 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA for Philadelphia and Texas in the past two years, including 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the Yankees.
Lee won 18 games for Cleveland in 2005, then got hurt in spring training in 2007 and was demoted to the minors. He returned to the big leagues, finished 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA and was left off Cleveland's postseason roster. He rebounded to go 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 2008 and was voted the AL Cy Young Award.
He was 14-13 for the Indians and Phillies in 2009, and 12-9 for the Seattle Mariners and Rangers this year.
With Lee's departure, the Rangers could move closer Neftali Feliz from the bullpen to the rotation and may attempt to acquire 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke in a trade from the Kansas City Royals.
Showing posts with label Cy Young Award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cy Young Award. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Maybe Rocket was at Jose Canseco's party
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/02/22/2008-02-22_roger_clemens_attorney_maybe_rocket_was_.html
Roger Clemens' attorney: Maybe Rocket was at Jose Canseco's party
BY TERI THOMPSON, MICHAEL O'KEEFFE, NATHANIEL VINTON and CHRISTIAN RED
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Saturday, February 23rd 2008
Roger Clemens may be backpedaling on his long-time stance that he never attended a 1998 party at Jose Canseco's house.
In the wake of the Daily News' report Friday that a photograph exists of Clemens posing with a young man at Canseco's Florida home - a photo said to have been taken on June 9, 1998 - the Rocket's attorney issued a statement that seems to suggest Clemens may have attended the party after all.
Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, has told federal investigators and Congress that Clemens was at the party and talked about steroid use with Canseco, while the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has vehemently disputed such claims. Clemens reiterated those denials before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week. Canseco likewise submitted an affidavit to the committee that corroborates the Rocket's version of events.
In his testimony before Congress, Clemens told ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va.), "So could I have gone by (Canseco's) house later that afternoon and dropped my wife or her brother-in-law, the people that golfed with me? Sure, I could have. But at the time of the day that I would have expressed it to be, I was on my way to the ballpark. I know one thing. I wasn't there having huddled up with somebody trying to do a drug deal. I know that for sure."
Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin issued a statement Friday that in part reverses course. "We know that baseball announcers broadcasting the games at the time said Roger was not at the party. Jose Canseco has said Roger was not at the party, as has Canseco's former wife. Roger was playing golf at the time of the party, and has stated that he may have stopped by the Canseco house after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game," read Hardin's statement.
The proof Clemens attended may also lie in photographs from the party. As The News first reported, McNamee attorney Richard Emery was informed of the existence of the photograph that allegedly shows Clemens and the young man at Canseco's home. Emery also told The News a second photograph exists, showing Canseco posing with the same boy on the same day.
"I don't know anything about it. No one's talked to me or Jose. No one's said anything about it. We don't know the validity of (the photos)," Robert Saunooke, the attorney for Canseco, told The News on Friday. "There's no doubt that Roger Clemens has been to Jose's house. But the question was (about) this particular date for a barbecue and that didn't happen. You can take a picture of me every day of the week and I can say, 'This is one day and that's another.' How are you going to tell which day you took the photo of me?"
According to Emery, the photos in question have been turned over to federal investigators and Congress. Emery told The News that McNamee's lawyers, including Earl Ward, were called by the father of the boy in the photo following the Feb. 13 hearing in which Clemens faced off against McNamee. The boy was about 11 at the time the photo was taken.
The father of the boy informed McNamee's lawyers that he was frustrated by the attacks on McNamee, particularly those of committee member Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who repeatedly called McNamee a liar. The man told the lawyers about the photo of his son, and also that he had contacted Hardin before the hearing.
"I find it interesting that it was offered to Hardin on Feb. 12 - and he walked away from it, probably because he didn't want any contradictory evidence that showed Clemens was at the party," Emery said.
Emery has not seen the photos himself, but gave the information he learned about them to Congress and to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO steroids case. The Justice Department could investigate Clemens for perjury and any such photographic evidence could prove damning if it's valid.
According to Emery, the boy’s father told McNamee’s lawyers that he wants to keep his son, who is now a college baseball player and is draft-eligible, out of the controversy.
Roger Clemens' attorney: Maybe Rocket was at Jose Canseco's party
BY TERI THOMPSON, MICHAEL O'KEEFFE, NATHANIEL VINTON and CHRISTIAN RED
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Saturday, February 23rd 2008
Roger Clemens may be backpedaling on his long-time stance that he never attended a 1998 party at Jose Canseco's house.
In the wake of the Daily News' report Friday that a photograph exists of Clemens posing with a young man at Canseco's Florida home - a photo said to have been taken on June 9, 1998 - the Rocket's attorney issued a statement that seems to suggest Clemens may have attended the party after all.
Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, has told federal investigators and Congress that Clemens was at the party and talked about steroid use with Canseco, while the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has vehemently disputed such claims. Clemens reiterated those denials before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week. Canseco likewise submitted an affidavit to the committee that corroborates the Rocket's version of events.
In his testimony before Congress, Clemens told ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va.), "So could I have gone by (Canseco's) house later that afternoon and dropped my wife or her brother-in-law, the people that golfed with me? Sure, I could have. But at the time of the day that I would have expressed it to be, I was on my way to the ballpark. I know one thing. I wasn't there having huddled up with somebody trying to do a drug deal. I know that for sure."
Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin issued a statement Friday that in part reverses course. "We know that baseball announcers broadcasting the games at the time said Roger was not at the party. Jose Canseco has said Roger was not at the party, as has Canseco's former wife. Roger was playing golf at the time of the party, and has stated that he may have stopped by the Canseco house after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game," read Hardin's statement.
The proof Clemens attended may also lie in photographs from the party. As The News first reported, McNamee attorney Richard Emery was informed of the existence of the photograph that allegedly shows Clemens and the young man at Canseco's home. Emery also told The News a second photograph exists, showing Canseco posing with the same boy on the same day.
"I don't know anything about it. No one's talked to me or Jose. No one's said anything about it. We don't know the validity of (the photos)," Robert Saunooke, the attorney for Canseco, told The News on Friday. "There's no doubt that Roger Clemens has been to Jose's house. But the question was (about) this particular date for a barbecue and that didn't happen. You can take a picture of me every day of the week and I can say, 'This is one day and that's another.' How are you going to tell which day you took the photo of me?"
According to Emery, the photos in question have been turned over to federal investigators and Congress. Emery told The News that McNamee's lawyers, including Earl Ward, were called by the father of the boy in the photo following the Feb. 13 hearing in which Clemens faced off against McNamee. The boy was about 11 at the time the photo was taken.
The father of the boy informed McNamee's lawyers that he was frustrated by the attacks on McNamee, particularly those of committee member Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who repeatedly called McNamee a liar. The man told the lawyers about the photo of his son, and also that he had contacted Hardin before the hearing.
"I find it interesting that it was offered to Hardin on Feb. 12 - and he walked away from it, probably because he didn't want any contradictory evidence that showed Clemens was at the party," Emery said.
Emery has not seen the photos himself, but gave the information he learned about them to Congress and to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO steroids case. The Justice Department could investigate Clemens for perjury and any such photographic evidence could prove damning if it's valid.
According to Emery, the boy’s father told McNamee’s lawyers that he wants to keep his son, who is now a college baseball player and is draft-eligible, out of the controversy.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Trainer provides physical evidence against Clemens
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-clemens7feb07,0,7944007.story
Trainer reportedly provides physical evidence against Clemens
Brian McNamee is said to have given federal investigators items that he kept from earlier seasons that could link the pitcher to drug use. Clemens' lawyer accuses the trainer of deception.
By Lance Pugmire and Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
February 7, 2008
Roger Clemens' former trainer has given physical evidence to federal investigators that will confirm the pitcher used performance-enhancing drugs, the trainer's attorneys said Wednesday.
The evidence includes vials with traces of steroids and human growth hormone, blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that may contain the seven-time Cy Young Award winner's DNA, the New York Daily News reported on its website, citing an anonymous source.
The evidence has been sent to a lab for testing of drugs and blood, the Daily News reported. Depending on the results, prosecutors could seek a DNA sample from Clemens.
"If Roger Clemens' DNA is on that used needle, that's the functional equivalent of the little blue dress in the Monica Lewinsky case that forced Bill Clinton to admit his affair," former federal prosecutor Brian Lysaght said.
Lanny Breuer, an attorney for Clemens, accused trainer Brian McNamee of smearing Clemens and attacked his credibility.
"Brian McNamee is obviously a troubled man who is obsessed with doing everything possible to destroy Roger Clemens," Breuer said in a statement, adding that McNamee had lied to baseball and government investigators and "now he apparently has manufactured evidence."
"He now claims he kept blood, gauze and needles from Roger Clemens for seven years," Breuer said. "It defies all sensibility. It is just not credible -- who in their right mind does such a thing?
"As Roger has said under oath to Congress and to the American public, at no time did he take steroids or growth hormone. Despite the desperate smears of Brian McNamee, Roger is looking forward to testifying before Congress next week to set the record straight."
The disclosure is the latest dramatic development in the steroid allegations involving Clemens, which surfaced in December with the release of former Sen. George Mitchell's report examining the use of performance-enhancing substances in Major League Baseball.
McNamee told Mitchell's investigators that he injected Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, with steroids or HGH on 16 occasions in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Until now, it was not known if there was any physical evidence that might back up McNamee's allegations. Clemens has said the only injections he received from McNamee were for vitamin B-12 and the pain reliever lidocaine.
The Daily News report said McNamee kept the evidence from the 2000 and 2001 seasons out of fear Clemens would deny use of the drugs if the issue were ever investigated.
The onetime strength and conditioning coach of the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees preserved the evidence because as "a former police officer," he knew it was important to do so, Richard Emery, an attorney for McNamee, told The Times.
Emery declined to describe the evidence but said it was delivered to U.S. Justice Department investigators from San Francisco "some time ago."
McNamee and Clemens will be on Capitol Hill today. As McNamee gives his deposition, Clemens will meet several of the lawmakers scheduled to question him under oath next week -- meetings Breuer said had been in the works before Wednesday's disclosure.
Clemens was deposed Tuesday by attorneys with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He said he denied under oath having taken steroids or HGH, as McNamee has alleged.
Ronald J. Nessim, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said Clemens is in "high jeopardy" of a criminal case if he's lying.
"It's true his reputation is in tatters, with his Hall of Fame chances being questioned and all that, but nothing he's done is criminal unless he's lying," Nessim said. "It's very brazen if he's doing it in Congress. Prosecutors and members of Congress don't like that.
" . . . Even if it's a one-on-one credibility contest, physical evidence at some point can become sufficient to prosecute. If it's powerful evidence, he's vulnerable."
Breuer said the disclosure deprived Clemens of the opportunity to refute the claim to government investigators.
"It's a complete stunt," the attorney said, "calculated to do only one thing, and that is to destroy a good man's name. Sadly, it works."
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco, which is supervising the investigation of performance-enhancing drug use in sports that started with the 2003 raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), said his office had no comment on the Daily News' report.
Emery said McNamee will discuss his turnover of the evidence at a news conference after today's deposition.
The one-on-one meetings Clemens will hold today were offered by his representatives to selected committee members in advance of next week's televised hearing. The so-called "courtesy calls" enable legislators to talk to witnesses without the five-minute limit on questioning that applies in a hearing, and outside that potentially adversarial setting.
"Roger has nothing to hide," Breuer said. "He feels the best way to show that is to meet with members and let them know he never took steroids or HGH."
Breuer said he did not know which members had accepted invitations to meet with Clemens.
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
Trainer reportedly provides physical evidence against Clemens
Brian McNamee is said to have given federal investigators items that he kept from earlier seasons that could link the pitcher to drug use. Clemens' lawyer accuses the trainer of deception.
By Lance Pugmire and Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
February 7, 2008
Roger Clemens' former trainer has given physical evidence to federal investigators that will confirm the pitcher used performance-enhancing drugs, the trainer's attorneys said Wednesday.
The evidence includes vials with traces of steroids and human growth hormone, blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that may contain the seven-time Cy Young Award winner's DNA, the New York Daily News reported on its website, citing an anonymous source.
The evidence has been sent to a lab for testing of drugs and blood, the Daily News reported. Depending on the results, prosecutors could seek a DNA sample from Clemens.
"If Roger Clemens' DNA is on that used needle, that's the functional equivalent of the little blue dress in the Monica Lewinsky case that forced Bill Clinton to admit his affair," former federal prosecutor Brian Lysaght said.
Lanny Breuer, an attorney for Clemens, accused trainer Brian McNamee of smearing Clemens and attacked his credibility.
"Brian McNamee is obviously a troubled man who is obsessed with doing everything possible to destroy Roger Clemens," Breuer said in a statement, adding that McNamee had lied to baseball and government investigators and "now he apparently has manufactured evidence."
"He now claims he kept blood, gauze and needles from Roger Clemens for seven years," Breuer said. "It defies all sensibility. It is just not credible -- who in their right mind does such a thing?
"As Roger has said under oath to Congress and to the American public, at no time did he take steroids or growth hormone. Despite the desperate smears of Brian McNamee, Roger is looking forward to testifying before Congress next week to set the record straight."
The disclosure is the latest dramatic development in the steroid allegations involving Clemens, which surfaced in December with the release of former Sen. George Mitchell's report examining the use of performance-enhancing substances in Major League Baseball.
McNamee told Mitchell's investigators that he injected Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, with steroids or HGH on 16 occasions in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Until now, it was not known if there was any physical evidence that might back up McNamee's allegations. Clemens has said the only injections he received from McNamee were for vitamin B-12 and the pain reliever lidocaine.
The Daily News report said McNamee kept the evidence from the 2000 and 2001 seasons out of fear Clemens would deny use of the drugs if the issue were ever investigated.
The onetime strength and conditioning coach of the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees preserved the evidence because as "a former police officer," he knew it was important to do so, Richard Emery, an attorney for McNamee, told The Times.
Emery declined to describe the evidence but said it was delivered to U.S. Justice Department investigators from San Francisco "some time ago."
McNamee and Clemens will be on Capitol Hill today. As McNamee gives his deposition, Clemens will meet several of the lawmakers scheduled to question him under oath next week -- meetings Breuer said had been in the works before Wednesday's disclosure.
Clemens was deposed Tuesday by attorneys with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He said he denied under oath having taken steroids or HGH, as McNamee has alleged.
Ronald J. Nessim, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said Clemens is in "high jeopardy" of a criminal case if he's lying.
"It's true his reputation is in tatters, with his Hall of Fame chances being questioned and all that, but nothing he's done is criminal unless he's lying," Nessim said. "It's very brazen if he's doing it in Congress. Prosecutors and members of Congress don't like that.
" . . . Even if it's a one-on-one credibility contest, physical evidence at some point can become sufficient to prosecute. If it's powerful evidence, he's vulnerable."
Breuer said the disclosure deprived Clemens of the opportunity to refute the claim to government investigators.
"It's a complete stunt," the attorney said, "calculated to do only one thing, and that is to destroy a good man's name. Sadly, it works."
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco, which is supervising the investigation of performance-enhancing drug use in sports that started with the 2003 raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), said his office had no comment on the Daily News' report.
Emery said McNamee will discuss his turnover of the evidence at a news conference after today's deposition.
The one-on-one meetings Clemens will hold today were offered by his representatives to selected committee members in advance of next week's televised hearing. The so-called "courtesy calls" enable legislators to talk to witnesses without the five-minute limit on questioning that applies in a hearing, and outside that potentially adversarial setting.
"Roger has nothing to hide," Breuer said. "He feels the best way to show that is to meet with members and let them know he never took steroids or HGH."
Breuer said he did not know which members had accepted invitations to meet with Clemens.
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
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