The official HBT Cliff Lee recap

It’s been about 18 hours since the Cliff Lee deal went down. I slept for about three and a half of those, but the rest of that time my HBT buddies and I have been cranking the Cliff Lee coverage. In case you missed some, here’s everything. If this doesn’t interest you, at least save it someplace in case someone asks you to write a term paper on the subject of unhinged obsession. May come in handy!

OMG! He’s actually going to Philly!
Great, NOW what will the Yankees do?
And for that matter, now what will the Rangers do?
Is the Philly rotation one of the best ever?
OK, maybe its not the best ever.
More importantly: is it time to crown their a–, Denny-Green style?
Methinks the Yankee Executive doth protest too much.
Methinks I doth snark too much.
Who are the winners and losers in this deal?
Winners besides Cliff Lee’s accountants, anyway?
And losers besides those who have to share a press box with Andy Martino next spring?
A list of silly things people have said since the deal went down.
You knew this was coming: Cliff Lee just wasn’t cut out for New York!
Cliff Lee would’ve gone back to Texas for seven years, but Chuck Greenberg said no dice.
Brian Cashman on the Yankees’ Plan B: “Patience.” I haven’t heard anything so inspiring since Jimmy Carter told us to wear sweaters.
Tiffany Simons and I go over a whole bunch of this stuff … but on video! It’s like being in the future, really.

There will be a lot more stuff to spew out of this story as the day goes on. And Tiffany and I will be dusting off the video equipment later as we talk about it all ins a rare offseason edition of HBT Extra.

So like they say, keep it locked in to HBT and rip off the dial!

They played the Futures Game yesterday, pitting the top prospects from the United States against the top prospects from the rest of the world. You most likely missed it because, for reasons that have still yet to be adequately explained to me, the game takes place on Sunday afternoon, when literally all 30 major league teams are in action. Oh well.

If you did happen to see it, however, you saw a lot of bombast, as the two teams combined for eight home runs, with Team USA prevailing, 10-6. It was the United States’ eighth win in the past nine Futures Games.

Yusniel Diaz of the Dodgers system hit two homers — he was the first one to do that in a Futures Game since Alfonso Soriano did it back in 1999 — but Taylor Trammell of the Reds system was the game MVP following his 2-for-2 (HR, 3B) performance. Other highlights involved Reds pitching prospect Hunter Greene, who threw 19 fastballs among his 27 pitches, each and every one of them hitting triple digits, with one registering at 103.1 m.p.h. Not that velocity is everything: a 102.3 m.p.h. pitch he threw ended up being deposited over the fence for a two-run homer by Luis Alexander Basabe of the White Sox system.

Also of note was a homer from Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Pirates system. Notable for it breaking a tie and putting the U.S. up by two, but also notable because Ke’Bryan is the son of former big leaguer Charlie Hayes. Feel old yet?

There was a lot of back and forth, and certainly a lot of bombast, but the U.S. took its final lead on a wild pitch. Here are some highlights:

Here’s hoping, in the future, the Futures Game is moved to Sunday evening or even Monday where people will have a better chance of seeing it.

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