The numbers had been crunched and all the scenarios exhausted Monday night when Cliff Lee finally made his decision.

He picked up the phone, thanked Rangers general manager Jon Daniels for his time in Texas and revealed he was signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. Agent Darek Braunecker simultaneously delivered the news to New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman. And just like that, Lee was back where he felt he belonged.

The most intriguing negotiation of the hot stove season came to a stunning conclusion late Monday when Lee, 32, spurned bigger offers from the Yankees and Rangers and agreed to a five-year, guaranteed $120 million contract with the Phillies, sources said. The deal includes an “easily reachable” vesting option for a sixth year, a source said, and most likely will ensure that Lee finishes his career in a Philadelphia uniform

I fully admit that I’m a waning baseball fan. I just don’t give a shit about this hot oven bullshit, but whenever the Yankees get their dick smashed in for LESS money, I suddenly wake up and have my self a good laugh. Cliff Lee basically said to Brian Cashman, thanks for all that cash but I’m going to keep my soul and get paid far less with significantly less job security. Love it.

And yes I do understand now that the Phillies are basically a lock to win the next 5 world series with Roy Oswalt as their FOURTH starter but who gives a fuck. That’s all philadelphians have. Its not like Vick will win a Super Bowl. So let them have baseball and acting like dickheads. I’ll take philly fans over yankees fans 10 times out of 10 times. Besides, playoff baseball is literally the easiest thing in the world to ignore if your team is out of it.

I just can’t understand how that happened. How do you go to batting practice and not have your head on a swivel. The guy was just sitting there like he was taking in a fucking ballet not like he was sitting directly where 400 foot bombs were being hit at his skull. If you ask me he kind of gets what he deserves, just sucks that what he gets is probably a concussion and memory loss for the rest of his life. Don’t want to get smashed in the brain by a baseball, wear a glove. Not too difficult to figure out.

PS

I could literally watch that slow mo take a million times, does that make me a bad person?

The White Sox have added Manny Ramirez in what appears to be a straight waiver claim.  The White Sox would pick up the remaining $3.825 million on Manny’s two year, $45 million contract.  There is still a chance that the teams could work out a trade that would involve a mid-level prospect going to the Dodgers in exchange for L.A paying a portion of Manny’s contract.

This is a great move that has nothing but upside.  The Sox get a huge upgrade at the DH position and add a big piece to the offense to try to make a run at the Twins in this last month of the season.  Worst case scenario is that we don’t make a charge to the top and Jerry Reinsdorf’s retirement account is a few million dollars lighter.

If nothing else, this season just got so much more entertaining.  Things have just been kind of sluggish lately as we sit 4.5 games back and can’t find a spark.  Manny pretty much brings a spark and some excitement wherever he goes.  I can’t wait to have Manny and Ozzie in the same clubhouse just to see them try to one up each other every day.  So much crazy shit is going to happen.

I’m wondering if Konerko is going to like the Manny Hug or not?  He doesn’t seem as touchy feely as Big Papi.

Washington Nationals rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg has a significant ligament tear in his right elbow and will probably need major surgery that could sideline him for a year, the team said on Friday.

The promising right-hander will seek a second opinion before the Nationals make a final decision on whether surgery is needed, the team said on its website (www.washington.nationals.mlb.com).

He could miss at least a year and perhaps the entire 2011 season if he undergoes the surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the Washington Post reported (www.washingtonpost.com).

The procedure, called Tommy John surgery, is named after a former Major League pitcher who was the first professional athlete to successfully undergo the operation in 1974.

As much as I want to make fun of the Nationals organization and their fan base for being a huge joke I can’t. Because Strasburg was awesome to watch and if history tells us anything there is a chance he will never be the same pitcher again. Same old song and dance though. Young pitcher with electric stuff, throwing 100 mphs and 2 offspeed pitches blows out his arm way to early. Somewhere Mark Prior is sitting in a dark corner nodding his head.

PS

Think I can still trade Strasburg in my fantasy league? Been meaning to do that for about a month and a half now but just been too lazy. This might be the perfect time, right before that second opinion comes back.

And MLB doesn’t? Hey Bud, way to get your ass kicked by a bunch of 12 year olds. What a joke.

And people make fun of grown men who bring gloves to the ballpark. Whatever, you keep getting smashed in the eyeball and looking like a fool while I make sick catches and impress the front office to the point where they have to give me a contract.

Baseball will be a little less interesting without you. Now when does Ryno get announced as manager?

PS

Cubs really sent him out on top huh.

Big time series starting tonight on the Southside.  The White Sox forgot to bring their bats to Baltimore and just lost 3 out of 4 to the suddenly on fire Orioles.  While the Twins rested and ate cake yesterday, the Sox took the late flight home from the city that Avon Barksdale once ran.  Hopefully the squad got some sleep and will come out hungry for their biggest series of the year.

Sox vs Twins, two out of three gets you first place and some momentum going into the last six weeks of the season.  The series probables are:

Freddy Garcia vs. Scott Baker

John Danks vs. TBD (Slowey just got scratched with a bad elbow)

Gavin Floyd vs. Francisco Liriano

I like the White Sox to take game 2 and the Twins to take game 3 so the Garcia vs. Baker match-up tonight could decide who grabs the top spot in the AL Central.  Should be a great series and a lot of good baseball from two teams playing as well as anybody over the last month.  Look for Hawk to use a lot of “Don’t Stop Now…..BOYS.”