It's time to untangle your underwear Yankees fans. Get them out of that collective bunch you have tied them into with news of Cliff Lee heading to the Phillies.

I know what you're saying, "Surely you can't be serious." Yes. Yes I am, and stop calling be Shirley. After Lee, the starting pitcher free agent class is sketchy. It's a class of guys who would probably have to stay back and not advance to their next grade. Do you want to take a chance on Erik Bedard? Jeff Francis? Freddy Garcia? Jeff Suppan? Brandon Webb? Chien-Ming Wang? Get the picture? Or do you want to convince Andy Pettitte to come back? I'd go with the latter. Take care of the lefty as he has been taking care of this organization with that left arm over the years.

Let me try and guess what you are saying now, "Yes, but Chris that's fine. Bring Pettitte back, but we needed Lee." True, the Yankees could have solidified the top half of their rotation by bringing in the Arkansas native, but seven years and the yacht load of money they were offering was a bit much for a guy that will be turning 40 at the end of the deal.

Plus chew on this, are you ready for this? If Pettitte comes back, and I know its two years later and Pettitte is two years older, the Yankees pretty much have the same rotation intact that won them the 2009 World Series. CC Sabathia is the top dog. Why can't A.J. Burnett have a bounce back year? Pettitte is a crafty veteran lefty who knows how to pitch and knows how to get guys out. Phil Hughes established himself last year as a viable starter, he's your four. Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre, and a no- roster invitee to be named later could battle out for the fifth spot in Spring Training.

I am not ignoring the obvious either. The Red Sox did get better. Exponentially better. However, last time I checked their pitching staff is the same staff they had last year. The same staff the Yankees lineup handled. Is Carl Crawford pitching? Is Adrian Gonzalez pitching? You know, I remember last year as Spring Training broke, the Twitter-verse was booming with bold predictions of a World Series title in the Pacific Northwest. How did that work out for the Mariners? You can't judge anything until the teams get onto the diamond and all 162 games are played.

One more thing, check out the Yankees farm system. It is blossoming with young and talented arms. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Graham Stoneburner are just a few of the names you will be hearing of on the rise this year in the minors. It's true you can't rush these guys along. They need time to develop. The Yankees have that time. They can still compete for a World Series title with the guys they have in place. Hell the team they had got to the ALCS for crying out loud. They didn't need to go on a spending spree.

According to the buzz on Twitter every other team should just do what Lou Brown thought Indians fans wanted his fictional Tribe team to do in the movie "Major League." Go outside and shoot themselves. It's the Phillies and their monster rotation that will get them back to being a World Series champion. How did that Phillies rotation do against the Giants? Oh yeah. That's right. They lost. Don't go handing anything to Philadelphia yet.  By the way, The Giants beat Halladay and Oswalt in the NLCS and beat Lee twice in the World Series handing him his first two post season defeats ever.  I just love how everyone is annointing the Phillies in the NL and ignoring the defending champs.

Let me also bring up a shocking reality. The Yankees can't win the World Series every year! I know they would like too, but they can't! I always have to remember though, patience does not exist in this dojo, does it? No Sensei!

I am probably the only one that was glad to see Lee go to Philly. It means maybe, just maybe, the Yankees will go the route of the Giants and develop their arms from within.
 
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