Lee to Rangers, Not Yankees

Joel Sherman and Ken Rosenthal are both reporting that the Seattle Mariners stepped away from an agreement with the New York Yankees to trade Cliff Lee and instead are trading him to the Texas Rangers for Justin Smoak, Mark Lowe, three others and cash.

So the good news, Cliff Lee is probably not pitching against the Yankees tonight. The bad news, is the Yankees appeared to have Lee in their hands, only for the Mariners to back out the last second and now he's on the NL West-leading Texas Rangers.

I really do not think it was necessary for the Yankees to acquire Lee. They still have the best record in the majors and one of the best pitching rotations without Lee, and will probably sign him in the offseason.