Cliff confirmed furious about trade speculation.

Let us VANIMAL

Brown with the HOSE

lol Nats

ANUSMOUTH

LOCK IT DOWN

Couple of sources reporting Cliff Lee put on waivers o.O

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...ed-on-waivers/

I really don't want to see him go =/

Waivers is standard. David Wright was on waivers last season, Carl Crawford this. Tons of players get put on waivers just to see if they clear. It's really no big deal at all, since baseball waivers are revokable, meaning if someone makes a claim on your player you just take him back off of waivers.

Basically, Cliff's not going anywhere.

ya, tons of guys get put on waivers...

heck I really don't see why every single player isn't put on waivers every year, there's no downside ever

I'm pretty sure most competent GMs put the whole team through waivers just so they can sneak a trade if someone clears.

Looks like Blanton to the Dodgers for a bag of baseballs.

C-Ya Heavy B

Dodgers claim cliff lee too ... given how back loaded the contract is letting him go should be considered IMHO

I wouldnt.

What else would they spend the money on? There are no available third basemen worth a damn and while there are a few outfielders, they'll have enough money for one of them as it is.

Then they'd have to address the hole in their staff and again, the free agent crop outside of Greinke, who it seems the Angels are going to try to re-sign, is nothing special.

Lee's WAR over the previous four years were 7.2, 6.6, 7.2, 6.2. He's gotten a little unlucky this year (worst BABIP and HR rates of his career) but all the best metrics which predict future performance (GB%, K%, K/BB rate, etc) are in line with his last few years.

Unless they're concerned that they won't have the actual cash to pay those out years, it shouldn't matter because for luxury tax purposes the salary they use in the calculation is the average annual salary of the deal, not the individual yearly salary.

I didn't know that. Does it include the max value of all options? Otherwise you could backload a contract with player options to get around luxury tax calcs

Welcome to the NHL.

It includes any buyout money.

I think Lee's last season is optional at $27.5mm or so (which becomes vesting if he hits certain innings requirements) or it has a $12.5mm buyout.

The $12.5 million is used in the AAV calculation. If the contract vests the 27.5 or whatever is used for that specific year. So, yeah, you could be able to get around the luxury tax that way (maybe even with super long NHL style contracts heavily front loaded?) although to this point I haven't seen it done.

Maybe there's a clause in the CBA or something preventing that stuff? Dunno.

What prevents it is very few teams are in any position to worry about the luxury tax.

I wouldn't be surprised if Theo Epstein used options to stay under the cap with the Red Sox...

Yeah, but the Phils are one of those teams. So, just thinking out loud here, if those kinds of things are permissible...

They could theoretically offer Hamilton a 11 year, $110 million dollar contract that's structured something like, $25, $25, $25, $25, $3, $2, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1. The AAV, and thus the luxury tax hit, is only $10 million per, and after the first four years the contract is easily moveable if the team who signs him to such a deal runs into further cap issues after those first four years. Just pay a small market team the remainder of the contract ($10mm) and maybe a low level prospect and they'll have no worries about having room under their luxury tax.

Teams could theoretically use their cap space as a commodity for high-salaried teams. Lots of interesting possibilities.

Again, welcome to the NHL. Like it here?

You gotta be careful here. The only reason Josh Hamilton would sign that contract is if $110M for 11 years was fair market value. If it is then he could play 4 years and retire, totally screwing you as you just overpaid massively for 4 years of Josh Hamilton.

Hey,

I'm going to the Phillies/Cardinals game Sunday afternoon; first time attending any game in Philadelphia. Any places you guys suggest hitting for some pre and post game grub and drinks?

Chickies and Pete's.

Kendrick should probably off himself