Message #4 by Rob Reed @ July 13, 2010, 07:25am moving to Texas makes this fellow a bit scary... awesome pitcher the last few years, and he did fare well - especially at the start - when he pitched at hitters park Citizens Bank last year... I'm hanging on to him in my money league and closing my eyes (especially after his complete game, 6 earned first start with TX at TX)

Message #3 by Rob Reed @ December 31, 2009, 12:12am still plenty to like... goes to a pitcher's ballpark after posting spectacular numbers at Citizens' Bank when he first got there... like last year, nothing in his peripherals indicates much of a regression... Top 3 pitcher in 2008. Top 20 in 2009. Top 10 again, I think...

Message #2 by Rob Reed @ December 17, 2008, 04:15pm A strange beast... From a blog entry I posted today on ERA and FIP at http://www.playertrack.com/blog.pl?7: In 2008, he ranks 3rd in ERA (2.54) and 3rd in FIP (2.83), making him the #1 pitcher in all of baseball looking at these two categories solely. In Cliff, we have a strange beast. In 2005, Cliff was the 27th best pitcher in baseball according to PLAYERtrack. He posted a 3.79 ERA and a 3.97 FIP. These were his best figures until 2008, where PLAYERtrack ranked him as the #3 pitcher in all of baseball. In 2006, his FIP was 4.66 (ERA was 4.31; PLAYERtrack rank of 92). In 2007, his FIP was 5.22 (ERA was 6.29; PLAYERtrack rank of 262!). All through last season, I was predicting a major drop off because of his ugly stats the previous 2 seasons, yet it never happened. And, now, I want to justify my criticism by being able to point to a high FIP like I could have for Fausto Carmona in 2007 to show a predicted regression. But, I can’t. Cliff's K/9 went up by almost a full strikeout (+.75). Hitters actually fared better against him in 2008 (.274 BABIP), then they have since PLAYERtrack started recording pitching stats in 2005 (previous high was .269 in 2006). Conclusion? By all appearances, Cliff Lee is here to stay as a top 10 starter.

Message #1 by Rob Reed @ 6/10/08, 11:29pm sell high Brian Joura of fantasybaseballgenerals.com just came out and said to sell high here, and I cannot agree more... 4-0 in his last four with an ERA over 5 and a whip over 1.7. It is gonna get worse... let someone else get those bad stats and get the best you can for him now.

x=year; y=% of available fantasy points per year x 1000

PLAYERtrack player stats & ranks
        for Cliff Lee

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2013 31 31 222.2 14 8 0 0 2.87 22 1.01 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 222 8.97 193 .277 2.92 79% 24 2013 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 4

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2012 30 30 211.0 6 9 0 0 3.16 26 1.11 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 207 8.83 207 .298 3.24 81% 21 2012 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 12

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2011 32 32 232.2 17 8 0 0 2.310 18 1.03 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 238 9.21 197 .280 2.70 82% 25 2011 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 3

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2010 28 28 212.1 12 9 0 0 3.18 16 1.00 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 185 7.84 195 .284 2.69 72% 18 2010 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 14

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2009 34 34 231.2 14 13 0 0 3.22 17 1.24 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 181 7.03 245 .307 3.15 77% 2009 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 20

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2008 31 31 223.1 22 3 0 0 2.54 12 1.11 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 170 6.85 214 .288 2.83 80% 2008 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 19

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2007 20 16 97.1 5 8 0 0 6.29 17 1.52 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 66 6.10 112 .296 5.22 64% 2007 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 181

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2006 33 33 200.2 14 11 0 0 4.310 29 1.41 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 129 5.79 224 .292 4.66 76% 2006 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 56

G GS IP W L SV HLD ERA HR WHIP 2005 32 32 202 18 5 0 0 3.79 22 1.22 SO K/9 HA BABIP FIP LOB QS 143 6.37 194 .271 3.97 74% 2005 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 38