Cliff Lee makes a statement

Cliff Lee, perhaps the most sought after pitching free agent since C.C. Sabathia a few winters ago signed with the Philadelphia Phillies last night. While that may seem as no surprise to some and a great surprise to many, Lee simply made the decision based upon where he and his family wanted to spend the next five to six years of their lives together. Ultimately that place was not New York, Boston, Texas, or Los Angeles. He chose the team that he wanted to play for.
Is that all he did though? Maybe his wife told him she liked Philly more than any of his other choices, similar to what happened in the Mark Texiera negotiation with the Yankees, maybe he wanted to pitch alongside Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt, or maybe he just made the biggest statement any one athlete can make to themselves and their fans:


It's not about the money, it’s about the game.


In an off-season were we have seen Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford sign astronomical deals that will keep them in Washington and Boston respectively for the next seven years, and the master of all things team oriented Derek Jeter hold out for more money because he wanted to be paid for his past successes instead of the ones he could earn on the field in the future. We saw Cliff Lee and his agent last night stand up for the people who still believe that this game a) does not need a salary cap, and b)believe that players are not all greedy people who just want the money and the years of security so they can "feed their families."


Now let's not give Cliff too much credit here, he is going to making a hefty sum of money over the next five maybe even six years in Philadelphia, but he did turn down both more years and more money from the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers. When’s the last time you ever saw a player that the Yankees went hard after in free agency turn them aside and sign elsewhere? It has certainly been a long time.


Hopefully this signing and decision by Cliff Lee will ultimately send a ripple effect through athletes in all sports to allow themselves to make decisions not based on their wallet but based on their heart and what they believe is right. Trust me when I say there are plenty of examples of having a player leave for the money. If you don’t believe that statement you haven’t been following sports for the past couple of decades.