Let me just preface this article by saying this article may have a sense of biasness in it, but I just can’t help myself.

The latest buzz around Major League Baseball is Cliff Lee is on his way out of Seattle.  Lee and King Felix make a leathal 1-2, better yet 1-1, combo in baseball but the Mariners are still 34-49.  Teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies seem to be the big buyers in baseball but teams like the Twins and Rays seem to be interested in well.  Obviously anyone would take Cliff Lee but does every team have something to offer in return and Lee is a free agent after this season (the odds are he will be a rent-a-player).

The Mariners are said to want 2 top notch prospects and another young player who isn’t far from the Majors.  So who has the best odds to land Cliff Lee?

Twins – 4:1; I told you I was going to be biased about this but I have reasons to back it up.  The Twins may have the best 2-3 prospects to send to the Mariners.  For starters the Twins have Wilson Ramos.  Granted he is batting just over .200 this year but he is a top prospect in the Twins system and he catches, a position the Mariners have been looking to fill a void since Dan Wilson.  The other prospect they can send over is Aaron Hicks who was the 14th overall pick in the 2008 draft (probably a top 5 prospect in the organization).  Finally, the Twins can throw in a pitcher currently on the roster like Scott Baker or Nick Blackburn.

The reason the Twins won’t get Lee:  The Twins don’t do rental players, never have and if they don’t do it for Lee it’s safe to say they never will.

Rays – 5:1; It’s been reported that the Rays are willing to trade BJ Upton for Lee and I’m thinking their is a possibility they give up a guy like Wade Davis who already has Major League experience and is still young.  If the Rays are willing to offer that package they may get away with giving up just 2 players instead of 3.

Why the Rays won’t get Lee:  The Rays may not be willing to deal Upton because if they want to keep Lee they will have to offer him an $80-100 million contract giving them a 0% chance they re-sign Carl Crawford.

Yankees - 7:2; The Yankees are willing to give Lee that huge, long-term contract he will be looking for.

Why the Yankees won’t get Lee:  I’m not quite the Yankees have the prospects to match up with the Twins and Rays but I know they will be big players in Lee if he becomes a free agent at the end of the year.

Red Sox - 7:2; I give the Red Sox the same odds because just like the Yankees they are willing to pay the big bucks to sign Lee to a long term deal.  The health of the Red Sox have been in question all season long with Beckett hurt and now Buchholz was recently placed on the DL.  The Red Sox will be willing to give up some prospects but again, will they be as good as what everyone else can offer.

Why the Red Sox won’t get Lee:  The Red Sox package to get Lee won’t be good and if it is they will retract the deal just like they did with the Twins and Santana a couple years ago!

Phillies – 10:1; The Phillies are regretting getting rid of Cliff Lee with every pitch he throws.  The Phillies are struggling offensively as well as the pitching end other than Halladay.  They could definitely use Lee, who wouldn’t?  The second Lee left, they were woking out a deal to try and get him back.

Why the Phillies won’t get Lee:  Lee seemed to like pitching for Philly so they are hoping he may want to sign as a free agent this offseason because the Phillies basically gave up all of their top prospects to the Blue Jays in exchange for Halladay.

So in conclusion it looks as though the Twins are getting Lee (in my dreams) so we shall see what happens but my final odds of whether or not Lee will get traded by July 31st trade deadline is 2:1.

-Jason