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Reactions To The Cliff Lee Trade

Now that we know for sure that Cliff Lee is headed to the Rangers, the pundits are already chiming in about the big swap --- both about what it means for Texas and Seattle, and about what it means for the teams that fell short in the Lee sweepstakes.

• Since the Rangers didn't have to give up any of their blue-chip pitching prospects, the trade is "a huge, huge 'win' for" Texas, tweets Evan P. Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
• Grant also tweets that he was told that one of those young pitchers, Martin Perez, "was deemed untouchable" by the team.
• Jim Bowden of Sirius XM Radio thinks "both teams win on this deal," though the Rangers are the "biggest winner" since it helps their chances in October.  Bowden also compliments the Mariners for getting more talent back for Lee than they dealt to acquire him in the winter.  (Twitter link).
• USA Today's Bob Nightengale writes that last night, the Rangers thought that Lee was going to the Yankees.  (Twitter link)  Nightengale also thinks this trade makes Texas GM Jon Daniels the executive of the year.
• The Phillies are taking some heat for not getting as much minor league talent for Lee when they dealt him over the winter.  ESPN's Jayson Stark tweets that one scouting director rated Philadelphia's haul for Lee as "last by a long shot" compared to what Seattle and Cleveland both got for the pitcher within the last year.
  
• John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds "made what they thought was a serious offer" for Lee today, though Fay thinks both "the Rangers and Yankees offered a better package than the Reds could have put together."
• Ed Price of Fanhouse.com comments that the Rays didn't want to give up any significant prospects for Lee (via Twitter), while the Mets simply didn't have the caliber of prospects that Seattle was looking for.  Price notes, however, that Jeremy Guthrie could be on the Mets' radar screen.
• The Mets could use this Lee deal as a guideline, however, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.  The Mets could follow the Rangers' example and try to get a trading partner to add money into a deal, since Olney reports that New York won't be able to add to their payroll before the deadline.
• Rays manager Joe Maddon is unsurprisingly happy that Lee isn't in Yankee pinstripes, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.
• Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski says his team "had interest [in Lee], but we didn’t come close to a deal," reports John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press.
• Alyson Footer of MLB.com tweets that the Lee trade may help Houston move Roy Oswalt, since the "more attractive pitcher is off the table & Roy is the next best option."

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