New York Yankees

Early Tuesday morning, Cliff Lee made a surprising announcement that he would be returning to Philadelphia with the signing of a five year, $120 million contract proposed by the team Monday night. This announcement left the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers still looking to add a starting pitcher to their rotation.

Cliff Lee just went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

I hope this isn't the first place you're hearing it.

While many baseball fans outside of New York were relieved to see the Yankees would not be able to fix their starting pitching troubles this year, it's still something that has left some of us glum. Why? Because the Northeastern stranglehold on baseball just returned to pre-expansion form.

On a night when Brett Favre’s record for consecutive regular-season starts finally came to an end, Major League Baseball and pitcher Cliff Lee stole the spotlight.

As one of the hottest free agents on the market this offseason, much of the speculation about Lee’s new home pointed toward the New York Yankees.

After all, the Yankees have seemingly had their way in free agency with the ability to throw money at any superstar they thought might help them add to their trophy case.

In a stunning turn of events Monday night, 2008 Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee agreed to return to the Philadelphia Phillies, turning down higher offers from the two teams long believed to be the only contenders in the Lee sweepstakes.

As fans in Philadelphia drool over a rotation led by possibly the two best pitchers in all of baseball, fans in both Texas and New York are left wondering where they go now.

Well, it is finally official.

Cliff Lee is signed sealed and delivered to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Including all option years, Lee was offered a total of $148 million by the New York Yankees and $161 million by the Texas Rangers. Surprisingly, the Rangers offered MORE total dollars than the almighty Yankees.

Around 12:30 this morning, my phone buzzed with an e-mail alert, one I was not ready for and expecting.

According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, Cliff Lee has just agreed to sign a five-year deal for about $115 million with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The deal, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, has a vesting option for a sixth year in Philadelphia.

As The New York Times‘ Ben Shpigel wrote two days ago, a 26-year-old pitcher by the name of Greg Maddux received a lucrative contract offer from the New York Yankees in 1992. The deal spanned five years and was worth $34 million, which was tremendous amount of money then.

In one of the more surprising developments of the baseball offseason, Cliff Lee has decided to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee's deal with the team is worth $115 million over five years. This signing comes as a surprise as most people expected Lee to either stay in Texas with the Rangers or sign with the New York Yankees.

According to ESPN's Karl Ravech and confirmed by other sports news outlets on Twitter, it appears the Texas Rangers are aggressively going after former Boston Red Sox third baseman, Adrian Beltre.

I'm sure Cliff Lee had a nice little weekend in Arkansas, doing whatever it is that people in Arkansas do.

Couples boar hunting with Kristen? Smoking a pipe on a porch? Waiting out a tornado in the cellar?

My understanding of landlocked American states is extremely limited.

And while I may be ignorant in the ways of the "The Natural State" (thanks Wikipedia!), I do know that Arkansas' best pitcher didn't announce this weekend where he'll be playing baseball for the next seven years.