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The Evil Empire might have a lot of championships and money. But they don’t have the 2008 AL Cy Young winner. 

The Texas Rangers acquired starting pitcher Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners for first basemen Justin Smoak, pitchers Blake Beaven and Josh Lueke, and infielder/outfielder Matt Lawson. 

Lee is 8-3 on the season with a phenomenal 2.34 ERA

Seattle traded for Lee in an attempt to send the Mariners to the playoffs, which at the time seemed like a realistic possibility. However, after a miserable start that included the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr., a playoff berth seemed pretty unrealistic. 

The New York Yankees appeared to be the frontrunners after offering up prized catching prospect Jesus Montero. The Minnesota Twins were also believed to be involved. They offered catching prospects as well. 

Obviously, these two deals must not have included much else since the Mariners traded Lee to a division rival.

Lee joins a fairly loaded Rangers roster which includes five All-Stars. Four of the five All -Stars are hitters, though, and reliever Neftali Feliz is the team’s only pitcher headed to Anaheim.

The Rangers have a 5.5 game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for first place in the American League West. Adding Cliff Lee was not only crucial for Texas’ postseason success, but crucial in their bid for October at all. Texas has been notorious for their second half meltdowns over the past few years. 

While Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson have been superb in the first half, Lee gives the team a true Ace with postseason experience. 

Lee was 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA during last year;s postseason with the Phillies. He was 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA against the New York Yankees in the World Series. 

Can Lee make Texas a postseason favorite? Only time will tell. 

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According to the New York Post ‘s Joel Sherman, Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee will be traded to the Texas Rangers along with pitcher Mark Lowe in exchange for first base prospect Justin Smoak and three other players.

The Rangers will be Lee’s fourth team in two seasons, and the acquisition of the Mariners ace and 2010 AL All-Star ostensibly puts the Rangers in the pole position for the AL West division crown.

Lowe is said to be missing the rest of the season with back surgery, which makes the acquisition odd, but the Mariners are also said to be sending the Rangers cash.  Buster Olney of ESPN reports the Mariners will be sending the Rangers upwards of $2 million, which is another curious aspect of this trade.

The Rangers, who play in one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in all of baseball at The Ballpark in Arlington, haven’t had a legitimate major league ace since, perhaps, Nolan Ryan in the early 1990s.  The Rangers have seen big-name pitchers come to Texas and get shellacked, namely, Kevin Millwood, Chan Ho Park, and Rich Harden.

If any pitcher were going to succeed in Texas, though, it would be Lee, an extremely good control pitcher who doesn’t walk batters and doesn’t give up home runs.  Lee could be exactly what the Rangers need to put them over the top in 2010 and, potentially, beyond.

Whether the Rangers will be able to retain Lee after the season, of course, will depend on the Rangers’ much publicized bankruptcy proceedings in Texas.

That Smoak would be the key piece of the puzzle for the Mariners is interesting, as Smoak—a highly touted prospect in the Rangers’ system—has had a miserable time hitting for the Rangers, even in their hitter-friendly ballpark.  Moving from hitter-friendly Arlington to pitcher-friendly Safeco Field might have an adverse impact on Smoak’s development.

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It looks as if the “superteam” in baseball will not have the best pitching rotation. According to ESPN, talks between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees over Cliff Lee have broken down. 

Lee, a dominant lefty, was scheduled to be traded to the New York Yankees and the deal looked all but finalized. 

This afternoon, however, talks have stalled after the Mariners became concerned over second baseman David Adams’ health. Adams is currently dealing with a sprained ankle and is not playing. 

The deal seemed to please everyone. The Yankees get another star to add to their rotation, and to pitch alongside CC Sabathia, A.J Burnett, Phil Hughes, and Andy Pettitte.

The Mariners were going to acquire David Adams, a young prospect, and catcher Jesus Montero, who is currently one of the best prospects in baseball.

Although the talks have stalled for now, their is still a chance the Yankees can finalize a deal if they offer another prospect. Other interested teams are the Rangers, Twins, and Rays.

Lee is scheduled to take the hill tonight opposite of Phil Hughes for what will surely be a good pitchers’ duel. 

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On Thursday night, the Seattle Mariners lost to the New York Yankees, 3-1. This is hardly newsworthy, as the Yankees are a far better team than the Mariners.

However, prior to the Mariners’ loss against the Yankees, they were swept, at home, by the…Kansas City Royals.

Currently, the Mariners sit 16 games out of first place in the AL West. Save for Ichiro, every single player on the Mariners is vastly underachieving.

Chone Figgins, .287 lifetime batting average, is hitting .235 on the year. David Aardsma, 38 saves and four blown saves last year, has only 16 saves this year and has blown four saves already. Jose Lopez, .272 batting average, 25 home runs, and 96 runs batted in last year, is hitting .242 with five home runs and 32 runs batted in this year. I could keep going and going with useless stats.

So, what do we do?

Well, we’ve got some options. Let’s start with the man most talked about, Cliff Lee.

When the Mariners do finally trade Cliff Lee, here is what I’d see in return: AAA players who are ripping the cover off the ball, or a young guy in his first or second year in the majors who has an unbelievably high ceiling. Maybe this is just me, but I don’t want any guys from Single-A or Double-A ball who are going to take three to four years to get to the Majors. I want guys who are going to contribute in 2011.

Bring up Michael Pineda. This kid has been lighting it up. His line for the year so far is a record of 10-1, 2.25 ERA, and 104 strikeouts in 96 innings, and batters are only hitting .216 against him. Let’s find out what he can do against MLB clubs. 

Trade Jose Lopez. He cannot play defense, and he has absolutely no strike zone. Case in point, on Thursday’s game, Lopez went 0-for-4 and saw SIX PITCHES! The Mariners have a guy named Dustin Ackley down in Double-A who they picked second in last’s year draft. I’m sure the Mariners can get something from him, although it doesn’t really need to be much.

Most importantly, tell Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas, and Doug Fister that the only way they are going to win is if they pitch a complete-game shutout, because this is the worst offense I have ever seen.

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There has been significant movement in the Cliff Lee trade drama over the last 48 hours, and just when it seemed like the Tampa Bay Rays had moved in as the front runners, a new team has emerged.

While there are more than five teams that are all jockeying for position, there is one team that is working hard to get a deal done and has spoken with the Mariners about possible players that could be involved.

ESPN’s Jayson Starks says the Mariners are telling teams that it’s going to take two blue-chip prospects and a third young player to get a deal done.

We’ll go through each team that is in the running and who this new front runner is, as well as what players might be involved.

Begin Slideshow

It was reported yesterday that the Twins made a concrete offer of 22-year-old catcher Wilson Ramos and 20-year-old outfielder Aaron Hicks for the Mariners’ Cliff Lee. If true, it’s a good starting place for negotiations. The Twins will likely have to offer at least one more prospect to get Lee.

Wilson Ramos came into the 2010 season as the Twins top prospect after a strong half-season at AA New Britain in 2009 and also the Twins’ top trade chip. His future as the Twins’ backstop is blocked by current catcher Joe Mauer, who signed a major contract before the start of the season.

Ramos did well when the Twins called him up from May 2nd through 12th this year while Mauer was injured. He hit .296 in seven games (8 for 27) and hit three doubles. However, seven of those eight hits came in his first two games, after which he hit poorly.

Even worse, Ramos hasn’t hit this year at AAA Rochester.  He’s currently hitting .208 with an awful .244 on-base percentage and .563 OPS. Right handed pitchers have given him a whole lot of trouble at the AAA level.

Ramos turns 23 on August 10, so he’s still young enough to be a future star if he can prove his terrible first half of 2010 was an aberration. However, he’s hurt his top prospect status considerably from where he stood in Spring Training.

Aaron Hicks was the Twins first-round pick in the 2008 Draft (14th overall). He’s never played higher than the Class A Midwest League so far in his professional career, and after 842 professional plate appearances he has a career .271 batting average and a .793 OPS, which isn’t particularly impressive. However, his career .374 on-base percentage is much more so.

You have to figure that someone else is going to offer the Mariners two prospects on a par with where Ramos and Hicks are right now. Thus, it’s probably going to come down to who can offer the best third prospect for the Mariners to pull the trigger. That, or the Mariners get the one top prospect (and couple of grade B prospects) they want above all others.

One example of such a player might be 20-year-old Yankees catcher Jesus Montero. Aside from being two years younger than Ramos, he presently has a .732 OPS at AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre and had an OPS more than 100 points higher than Ramos in similar playing time in the AA Eastern League last season.

If the Yankees are willing to make Montero the centerpiece of a three-prospect package, you’d have to think they’d win the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes. I think it would be a mistake for the Yankees to give up Montero, however.

With Jorge Posada now 38 (he turns 39 on August 17th), it wouldn’t be a wise move to trade away a great candidate to be the next in the long line of long-term Yankees’ catchers.

There’s also reports of the Reds trying to tempt the Mariners with first baseman Yonder Alonso, who is blocked by Joey Votto in Cincinnati. I can’t see the Mariners accepting a package centered around Alonso, though.

Alonso is already 23 years old and has a feeble .678 OPS after half a season at AAA Louisville. His career minor league OPS after 716 plate appearances is only .778, which doesn’t suggest that he’s going to be a great slugging 1Bman at the major league level any time soon.

The Mariners are reported to have a lot of interest in the Brewers’ 20-year-old prospect Brett Lawrie. Lawrie is playing second and has a robust .837 OPS at AA Huntsville as I write this. However, with the Brewers currently 10.5 games behind the first-place Reds and 8.5 games back of the second-place Cardinals, I can’t see the Brewers trading prospects for veterans this year.

B.J. Upton from Tampa Bay is another name that’s been thrown around. I can’t see the Mariners making a deal around him when they have Franklin Gutierrez in center field already.

The road looks open for the Twins. They’ll have to sweeten the pot with a third prospect to close the deal, though.

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With just a few weeks to go before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, the hottest name on the rumor sheets is Seattle left-hander Cliff Lee, who has turned in one brilliant performance after another lately.

Only one problem: The Mariners have yet to make him officially available. But there are a select few teams that are waiting by the phone, desperately wanting for it ring.

We’ve read several rumors over the past month and a half about teams that may have inquired about his services and there’s been talk about players that could be involved in any deal that would send Lee their way.

Here are five teams that could land the left hander in the coming weeks.

Begin Slideshow

EDIT: Erik Bedard will miss Tuesday’s start with a stiff shoulder.

Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Erik Bedard is scheduled to make his first start of the season against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old southpaw had surgery to repair a torn labrum last August, and hasn’t pitched since.

In three rehab starts (11 innings) between Rookie League and Triple—A this season, Bedard boasts a 1.64 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 14/3 K/BB ratio.

He’s worth an add in all leagues, although managers should be leery of his long—term value.

Since posting a 3.16 ERA with a 10.93 K/9 and 2.82 BB/9 in 182 innings in 2007, Bedard has combined to pitch just 164 innings in the last two seasons. In fact, he’s failed to reach the 200-inning mark in any one of his six seasons at the big league level.

Not only is Bedard extremely fragile, but he’s been wildly inconsistent as well. Here are his strikeout and walk rates since 2006:

• 2006: 7.84 K/9, 3.16 BB/9
• 2007: 10.93 K/9, 2.82 BB/9
• 2008: 8.00 K/9, 4.11 BB/9
• 2009: 9.76 K/9, 3.69 BB/9

Now his opponent’s batting average and WHIP totals since 2006:

• 2006: .261 BAA, 1.35 WHIP
• 2007: .216 BAA, 1.09 WHIP
• 2008: .235 BAA, 1.32 WHIP
• 2009: .217 BAA, 1.19 WHIP

While he was very good (2.82 ERA, 9.76 K/9, 3.69 BB/9) when he last pitched in ‘09, Bedard shouldn’t be counted on as a reliable fantasy pitcher.

Given a few favorable matchups, however, Bedard could provide above—average strikeout totals this season. With the stellar Seattle defense behind him, a respectable ERA could follow as well.

Still, his long—term value is bleak. If he pitches well through July, keeper/dynasty league owners should look to maximize his value before a killer WHIP or another DL stint destroys it.

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Fantasy Baseball’s Pitching Line of the Week

Felix Hernandez (SP-SEA): 9 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K, W

Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners pitched a complete game two-hitter in the Bronx this Wednesday in what was his best start of the 2010 season to date.

He fanned every starter on the Yankees roster with the exception of first half MVP candidate Robinson Cano. Additionally, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez each struck out twice against King Felix. 

This outing was Hernandez’s third straight game pitching at least nine innings and third complete game of the season. Roy Halladay is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball who has eaten more innings than the King thus far in 2010.

Felix Hernandez was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2002 out of Valencia, Venezuela. After tearing his way through Minor League Baseball, he debuted for the Mariners on Aug. 4, 2005 at the age of 19.

In 2009, Hernandez’s brightest season, Felix earned 17 wins, 200-plus strikeouts, and a trip to the MLB All-Star Game. Moreover, Felix finished second in the American League Cy Young voting and was rewarded handsomely with a five-year, $78 million contract.

Since his debut, Hernandez has won more than 10 games in three of his four full seasons in the bigs and is on pace to do so again in 2010. A career 8.17 K/9 pitcher, King Felix’s repertoire includes a fastball, changeup, curveball, and slider. These tools have Hernandez on pace to surpass his career high for strikeouts in a season (217 in 2009). 

Notable Achievements

Named No. 1 pitcher prospect by Baseball America (2005)

Hit a grand slam off Johan Santana in his only plate appearance in 2008

Pitched for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic (2009)

Named to the American League All-Star team (2009)

Finished second to Zack Greinke for the American League Cy Young Award (2009)

Felix made history on June 3, 2010 when he struck out four Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning.

Felix Hernandez is currently owned in 98 percent of Y! leagues. 

The “Double Dipper” is a starting pitcher who will get two starts in the same week. Each Sunday we will preview the top three options in each league and highlight streaming options for players owned in less than 50 percent of Y! leagues.

The No-Brainers in the NL

Roy Halladay, PHI (@SD, vs. SF): Until he gives you a reason not to.

Mike Pelfrey, NYM (vs. CIN, vs. ATL): He’s 10-2 and has a save!

Jonathan Sanchez, SFG (@ MIL, @ WAS): Despite being just 6-6, he’s rockin’ decent ratios and a .211 BAA.

The No-Brainers in the AL

CC Sabathia, NYY (@ OAK, @ SEA): 6-0 in last six starts. 

Felix Hernandez, SEA (vs. KC, vs. NYY): See the King’s profile above.

Jered Weaver, LAA (@ CHW, @ OAK): 10.27 K/9, leads MLB in K’s.

Warning: Streaming can be lethal. The following are owned in less than 50 percent of Y! leagues.

John Ely, LAD (vs. FLA, vs. CHC): Only two earned runs in last two.

Justin Masterson, CLE (@ TEX, @ TB): One ER, 5:0 K:BB, and glimpses of the “breakout” we’ve been waiting for last outing vs. Toronto.

Madison Bumgarner, SFG (@ MIL, @ WAS): MadBum gets the nod on the road versus two mediocre offenses despite his 0-2 start.

Erik Bedard, SEA (vs. KC, vs. NYY): First start in a year, but it’s the Royals! His second start depends on if his labrum is intact following Tuesday’s trip.

Vicente Padilla, LAD (vs. FLA, vs. CHC): Just because his looks intimidate you enough to start him twice.

Don’t Touch ‘Em

Aaron Laffey, Jesse Litsch, Jeff Suppan, Kevin Slowey

Week 14 One-Start Stars Owned in 50 Percent or Less

Livan Hernandez, WAS, 42 percent Y! – Wednesday vs. SD (Jon Garland) – ERA under three.

Tommy Hunter, TEX, 24 percent Y! – Thursday vs. BAL (Jeremy Guthrie) – 5-0, 1.98 ERA.

Tim Wakefield, BOS, four percent Y! – Wednesday @ TB (David Price) – Will the success in TB continue?

Who will win the pitching duel of the week: Stephen Strasburg or Matt Cain?

Who will be the best Two-Start Pitcher owned in 50 percent or less in week 14?

Leave a comment, or reply to us on Twitter

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Written by Alan Harrison exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com.

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The All-Star game rosters were announced today and there are a couple of snubs like there are every year.

But one stands out to me not just because I’m a Mariners fan but because statistically he deserves to be part of the All-Star game.

Felix Hernandez was robbed of a spot on the American League All-Star roster, because of his 6-5 record.

But that record is skewed. Hernandez plays for one of the worst offensive major league teams in the MLB and gets absolutely no run support at all.

He only has two starts where he allowed more than three runs and only one start where he pitched less than six innings.

Hernandez is also tied for the most quality starts with 14, which by the way is more than CC Sabathia, David Price, and Andy Pettite.

But his stats don’t stop there. Hernandez has three complete games and is third in strikeouts in the American league. He has also been on a tear lately, pitching three straight complete games with at least eight strikeouts in each complete game.

And last Wednesday he threw a two-hit shutout against the mighty New York Yankees.

Hernandez also is better statistically in almost category than Sabathia other than wins. He also has better stats than Fausto Carmona and Phil Hughes except for wins.

Maybe the managers or players should have voted him in because he deserved it. Going through a year of adversity like this, he deserves a nod to be in the All-Star Game.

King Felix deserves to be in the All-Star Game and it’s not his fault for having a lackluster offense behind him that doesn’t give him any run support.

I know it’s too late now to start a campaign, but maybe stats should be more incorporated into getting an ace pitcher with stats better than his peers into the All-Star Game. But that’s just me.

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