From the Liberty Bell to the Space Needle...

Jim Bates

Ever since the first conference call with Cliff Lee after the trade, the talk has been "Lee hates Seattle". Seems to me his comments have been a bit mis-construed, given the emotion of the moment. The guy was on vacation after ending the season on a team just shy of it's second World Series victory for pete's sake. And, not only that, he was supposedly under the impression that he would be signing an extension - as he had seemingly fallen in love with the City of Brotherly Love.

Anyway, who wouldn't be a bit shell-shocked given those circumstances?

"Through the media, it may have looked like I didn't want to be traded to the Mariners," he said. "But that wasn't the case at all. It was just shock."

Lee said his reserved reaction to the trade reflected his emotions at the time.

"The things I said were real. That's how I felt. I could have stood up there and made up something to sound good for whoever. Instead, I said exactly how I felt and told what happened. It's not Seattle. I could have been traded to any other team and said the same thing."

Now, even after his press conference in Seattle on Friday, some still think it's not only imPROBable - but imPOSSible that he would even consider signing with the M's.

Well, you know rosy little ol' me....

I didn't get that impression at all. Cliff was definitely a bit uncomfortable, and it remains to be seen if his discomfort was because of dislike of the media in general (ala Erik) or the fact that he is bran-spanking new to Seattle and hasn't even had the chance to talk to teammates or find the nearest Starbucks yet, let alone.

“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “I’m back in the American League with one of the best defenses in the game. It’s going to be fun watching Ichiro and (Franklin) Gutierrez run around the outfield. (Chone) Figgins, Jack Wilson, (Casey) Kotchman, those guys are defensive-oriented players. To be a starting pitcher you have to like that. I like that a lot.”

Seems to me, if the team performs well this season, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that Cliff would consider Seattle as one of his options for a long term deal.

I mean, how could he not love us?

:-)

And, even if he does decide that the Emerald City is not his cup of coffee, those two shiny draft picks will be waiting.