The offseason is officially underway. Two Phillies notes, neither one a surprise.
1. Cliff Lee will be back, as the team exercised his $9 million option. This is an easy call. Lee was fantastic, obviously, for the Phils, who were 2-0 in his two World Series starts and 0-4 in the other ones. In a marketplace where top starters like CC Sabathia and Johan Santana make more than $20 million, Lee is a bargain at $9 million. Certainly expect that this could be a long-term relationship and there’s no reason to think the Phillies won’t try to lock Lee up before he hits the market this time next year.
2. Brett Myers will not be back. More here in the Daily News. Myers was on the 2000 Piedmont Boll Weevils for Greg Legg (with Marlon Byrd and Ryan Madson) who lost the SAL Championship Series. That was one year before the Boll Weevils became the…Lakewood BlueClaws.