Contemplating Scott Diamond

Scott Diamond's delivery.

Cliff Lee's delivery.

As I watched Scott Diamond pitch Wednesday afternoon, I was suddenly struck by the sense that his delivery is very much like that of Cliff Lee.

Both are left-handers who use a fairly high (by today's standards, at least) and deliberate leg kick, throw straight overhand, and have a pronounced lift of the left (trailing) leg after releasing the pitch.

Neither is noted for velocity, although I'm confident that Lee does throw harder than Diamond. But speed isn't what makes Lee one of the game's best pitchers. It's his uncanny location of both the fast ball and curve.

Diamond can't match that. Few can. It's entirely possible that Wednesday was about as well as Diamond can pitch: Six innings, three hits, three walks, five strikeouts. And such an outing from Lee would be a bit of a disappointment.

I'm not, clearly, claiming that Diamond is equivalent to Lee, or even suggesting that he has a chance to be that good. Pitching with a similar delivery hardly means similar results. I don't even know if Diamond has consciously modeled his motion on Lee's.

I will say, however, that Lee is a darn good role model for a left-hander with an OK fastball and good curve. Can you name a better one?

I was slightly surprised that Ron Gardenhire took Diamond out after the sixth inning. He had a four run lead, and had thrown just 87 pitches. On the other hand, Diamond had given him six good innings in his two previous major league starts only to flounder in the seventh.

Off the Cliff

So while everybody was watching the Yankees and Rangers duke it out over Cliff Lee, the  lefty decided he didn't want to get hitched to either. He and the Phillies have reportedly agreed on a five year deal.

Cliff Lee: 102-61, 3.85
for his career.

Certainly the Yankees aren't happy; they based their plans on the notion that they would land Lee because It's All About the Money. (The Rangers, whether they are or not, should be pleased that they didn't land Lee. A six-year big-money contract for a pitcher is risky business. Texas would be better off making Neftali Feliz a starter again.)

For that matter, this deal isn't done yet, and perhaps won't be until the Phillies clear some payroll. They are said to be shopping starters Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick — Blanton makes a lot of money for a fifth starter — and outfielder Raul Ibanez. 

None of those three hold much appeal to the Twins, who have plenty of pitch-to-contact starters and corner outfielders. Minny would be in the market for relief help.

But the Lee fallout might reach the Twins in a couple of ways. First, Carl Pavano. He is the best remaining free agent starter on the market, and there's no way the Yankees view him as a fallback position from Lee. If the Twins do re-sign him (and I hope they don't), they'll have six starters in the fold.

The Yankees are short of starters. They have CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes. They're stuck with A.J. Burnett; Job One for the new pitching coach is fixing him. Andy Pettitte is doing his annual Favrian retirement sulk in Texas; I rather expect the Yankees to pony up more than they planned to get him back. And that's four -- counting Burnett.

I wonder if the Yankees would consider trading Joba Chamberlain  for Nick Blackburn.

AP: Cliff Lee traded to Rangers

Texas has apparently won the Cliff Lee sweepstakes with a package headed by Justin Smoak, a highly regarded first baseman, and three minor leaguers.

Smoak's been in the majors for much of this season and hasn't hit much, but Baseball America had him as the 13th best prospect in baseball entering the season, which is considerably higher than they ranked Wilson Ramos. I can't tell you much offhand about the other three prospects, but Smoak's inclusion makes it a pretty rich package for a half-season rental.

At this point the Twins have to demonstrate that the players on hand are capable of contending.

Notes, quotes and comments

For all the chatter about all the suitors for Milton Bradley — that the Cubs could get the likes of Pat Burrell or Mike Lowell for the temperamental outfielder — when the deal came down, it was for Carlos Silva.

The former Twins mainstay went 5-18 with a 6.81 ERA in his two seasons with Seattle. Good luck with that, Cubbies.

* One of my minor delights this offseason has been the increasingly frequent times that an agent overplays his hand and winds up hurting his client. A couple of examples this week:

• Cliff Lee says he "thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies. I thought I would spend the rest of my career there." The Phillies GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., says: "We made what we thought was a pretty substantial offer ... Like I said before, I just didn't feel comfortable that we were going to be able to get to the finish line. And so we ended up moving toward the Halladay situation." Translation: Lee's agent asked for so much the Phillies ran away.

• Johnny Damon has said all offseason he wants to remain with the Yankees. But his agent — Scott Boras — has insisted on a three-year, $39 million deal, which was too long and too rich in the Yankees opinion. Now the Yanks have signed Nick Johnson to be their primary DH. Johnson replaces Hideki Matsui, and Curtis Granderson fills the outfield slot formerly held by Damon. And the Yankees get younger and cheaper. Upshot: Damon won't be where he wants to be, and — assuming Boras was dragging out the Damon talks to make it look as if the Yankees were a possible suitor for another LF client, Matt Holliday — that mirage appears to have faded also.

* Falling apart around their ears: Tony Oliva got trapped in a bathroom in the Twins' Metrodome offices Wednesday when the door handle came off. Moving day is next week. I bet they can't wait.

Comparing the big pitching trades

The ornately complex four-team transaction that involved two former Cy Young winners and a heap of Grade A prospects finally complete, everybody's in a hurry to declare who won or lost.

Too soon. What we can tell is who got what they wanted, and at first blush everybody involved (with the exception of the Blue Jays) should be pretty happy with the results.

The Jays can't be happy with it because they lost the best pitcher in their 31-season history, Roy Halladay (pictured). They got prospects back — good prospects, to be sure, but prospects nevertheless. The Jays traded Halladay because they are getting more than they would have had they hung on to him for his walk year. It's small comfort.

Seattle gets a year of Cliff Lee to pair up with King Felix Hernandez — and a real clear shot at unseating the Angels in the AL West.

Philladelphia swaps a year of Lee (who wants to hit the open market next winter) for three of Halladay (who was eager to sign an extension and has pitched better than Lee anyway.). They also get some extra cash ($6 million) and lose a little bit overall in the exchange of prospects.

And Oakland wedges itself into the deal at the last minute to swap prospects. Michael Taylor's more useful to the A's than to the Jays, and Brett Wallace fits the Jays needs more than Taylor does.

This makes four trades in two years involving Cy Young winners — Johan Santana from the Twins to the Mets before spring training 2008, CC Sabathia from Cleveland to Milwaukee in midseason 2008, Lee from Cleveland to Philadelphia in midseason 2009, and now the Halladay-Lee megadeal.

Obviously, we don't know how the new trade will work out. If Kyle Drabek and Wallace live up to the hype and Halladay breaks down, Toronto can wind up looking pretty good; if Phillippe Aumont turns into a top-flight closer and Lee leaves without lifting Seattle to postseason glory, the M's can have egg on their faces.

What I will say is this: The Twins did not get a prospect in the Santana trade as well regarded at the time as Drabek, Taylor, Wallace or Aumont — or even Matt LaPorta, the jewel in the Sabathia trade.

We outsiders will never know how serious the rumors of Jon Lester or Phil Hughes were, if there was ever truly an opportunity for Bill Smith to get one of those pitchers for Santana.

The Twins's take on the Santana trade at this point is two (mediocre) years of Carlos Gomez, J.J. Hardy, Jon Rauch and whatever Delois Guerra may eventually amount to. At this point, we can be justified in saying that they would have been better off keeping Santana for his walk year and taking the draft picks.

But then, they'd still be looking for a shortstop.

Notes and comment

A rather self-destructive win for the Twins Friday: Yeah, any win helps — and Nick Blackburn may have righted his ship — but 53 pitches from Joe Nathan is not good.

*One reason the Detroit Tigers enter Saturday with a 3.5 game lead in the AL Central — they can win pitchers duels. The Tigers have 13 wins when scoring three runs or less, the most recent being Friday's 3-2 win over Oakland. (The Twins have nine.)

* The long awaited sale of the Chicago Cubs to the Ricketts family is virtually complete. The biggest hurdle now might be the fact that the Tribune Company, which is selling the team and ball park, is in bankruptcy.

* Dumb idea connected with the sale: A Tribune writer suggests that one of the first things the Ricketts should do is lower beer prices at Wrigley. Uh, no. They have too many problems with drunks there now.

* Cliff Lee career ERA pitching in the American League: 4.01. ERA since being traded to the Phillies: 0.82.

* Speaking of pitchers fleeing the Big Boy League for the Quadruple A National League: John Smoltz, released by the Boston Red Sox, signed this week with the St. Louis Cardinals, who will deploy him in the starting rotation.

If there's any place the aging Smoltz can regain his Hall-of-Fame form, it would figure to the St. Louis; Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan have quite the track record with seemingly washed up pitchers. I still think he's best suited for relief work.

*What is it with the Twins and inner ear infections this season? First Denard Span, now Justin Morneau and even third base coach Scott Ullger.

All done for Glavine?

Tom Glavine signed with the Atlanta Braves this offseason -- the one team he was willing to play for -- got hurt, made his way through rehab, and just when he declared himself ready to pitch, the Braves released him.

It seems harsh, but the reality is that the Braves aren't the Braves of Glavine's heyday, and there really isn't much point in giving a 43-year-old, even a Cooperstown-bound 43-year-old, 22 starts the rest of the season. It's time for them to give Tommy Hanson, a prime prospect, the ball and the chance to develop.

Glavine can probably still help a contender, but whether he wants to is another matter. He's got 305 lifetime wins, a World Series ring and more than enough money.

* Speaking of old lefties once-great and now something less, Randy Johnson got rained out Wednesday. He's slated to try for win No. 300 Thursday.

* Last season Cliff Lee got snippy with Carlos Gomez when Go-Go bunted. same thing happned Wednesday. It seems so obvious that bunting on Lee bugs him that it really ought to be the Twins strategy some day -- bunt, bunt, bunt until he can't think straight.