Arms race

Batting wins games, pitching wins championships

It's an old chestnut, but it's never been more true than now. And right now the road to the 2011 championship must go through Philadelphia.

With the scary R2C2 rotation (Roy & Roy and Cliff & Cole, geddit? No, I did not come up with it), the Phillies have arguably the best rotation in baseball. Some pundits are already calling it the best in history...I'd rather wait and see.

The Yankees have now missed out on Lee twice, first in the 2010 trade period where he ended up leaving the Mariners for the Rangers and now when choosing Phillies over the Yankees.

Whilst it's refreshing to see that on the surface a player chose factors other than money, it's not quite true. Lee's contract per year with the Phillies is actually approx $1-2m more than the Yankees apparently offered, although 2 years shorter.

However, it is interesting to see the other factors influencing Lee. Did the clash between fans and Mrs.Lee during the ALCS have an impact?

Did Lee's relationship with Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies catcher influence the decision? Tim Kurkjian certainly thinks so.

Seth Livingstone of USA Today goes through some of the reasons Lee ended up in Philly and not Texas or New York.

The Red Sox rotation is one of the few, if healthy and playing to potential, that could compete with the Phillies. Lester remained at the ace level in 2010 and Clay Buchholz approached it. John Lackey has yet to warrant his $82m contract and Josh Beckett had a horrible year after signing a contract extension.

Daisuke showed on occasion brilliant form, such as his flirt with a no hitter in Philadelphia in May, and sometimes horrible form, as when giving up 6 earned runs in less than 5 innings in Baltimore....also in May.

If Lackey can show his Angels form and Beckett can have an average career year (15 wins w a sub 4 ERA) then the Sox rotation would be close to the Phillies.

However, and this is for a later post, in the field and at the plate the Red Sox have taken a massive step up.

Finally, on a different note, for every Cliff Lee there are many, many Robert Pearsons.