"Even though Philadelphia was probably not in, they were always in the back of our mind," Greenberg said. "I think if we wouldn't have gone to Arkansas that last time, I think he was going to sign with the Yankees. We pried the door open a little bit to give ourselves another opportunity. And ultimately the Phillies were able to take advantage of that opportunity that we created."
The Rangers applied the stall on Dec. 9, after the Yankees added a seventh year to their 6-year, $140 million offer, and after free- agent outfielder Carl Crawford signed a 6-year, $142 million deal to move from Tampa Bay to Boston. The Rangers presented Lee with several creative offers, none of which contained a seventh year.
That Lee would even listen to such talk offered faint hope that he would bypass guaranteed money in favor of guaranteed bliss. And in the end, that's what he did. But Lee's willingness to listen to Texas also initiated the Phillies' last-minute entrance into the mix, which initiated a weekend of financial wrangling, the Phillies gradually bumping up the years from 3 to 4 to 5, then offering an option for a sixth.
In the end, Lee's rental run to the World Series here trumped the rental run he made with the Rangers last season, Greenberg said.
"We didn't know specifically that Philadelphia was in on Cliff until the day he agreed to terms with Philadelphia," said the Texas CEO. "But all along we thought if a mystery team would come forward that there was a pretty good chance that it would be Philadelphia . . . At the very first meeting he spoke very highly of the experience he had pitching for the Phillies. And it was clear that pitching here and in Philadelphia were the two most enjoyable experiences of his career."
Seattle? Not so much. And he apparently wasn't convinced New York would have been either.
