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The Phillies placed starter Cliff Lee on waivers a few days ago, and the deep pocketed Dodgers claimed him off waivers on Friday. The Phillies have 48 hours to either 1. pull him back off waivers and keep him, 2. let the Dodgers take Lee and his enorrmous contract for the next 3+ years for nothing, or 3. work out a deal with the Dodgers and eat some salary to get a decent prospect in return.
They have three options, one of which will occur sometime today. What makes things more interesting is the fact that Lee is scheduled to start at 1:05pm this afternoon vs the Diamondbacks.
Lee is having a decent, yet unspectacular, season thus far. In his blog post this morning, ESPN's Buster Olney opines that the team should just let the Dodgers take Lee and his exorbitant contract:
The Phillies have saved a lot of money already, in unloading the contracts of Shane Victorino andHunter Pence, and if they got rid of Lee's contract, they could put themselves in position to be much more aggressive. They've made mistakes and they're paying for them, but now the Dodgers -- with their bottomless wallet -- are essentially offering them a bailout. They'd be crazy to pass it up -- unless the Phillies are confident that he's going to perform at a $29 million level during the next three seasons.
We will soon find out what the Phillies will do with Lee, either sometime later this afternoon, or before his scheduled 1:05 start, as if they have consummated a deal, it makes sense that the Dodgers would prefer he not make the start today.
Will Lee make his start this afternoon?