As Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee continues to build on his amazing postseason resume, we feel compelled to remind you of this sobering fact: Lee was once a Washington National, sort of.
↵(Well, in reality, it's Thom Loverro of the Washington Examiner who reminded us all of this yesterday, but since Lee dominated again in shutting down the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, we figured it'd be worth bringing up, because it's more topical).
↵Back in 2002, Lee was one of the top prospects in the Montreal Expos' system. However, the Expos were pushing for an improbable playoff berth, and figured they needed to make a big splash to make it happen. Therefore, general manager Omar Minaya decided to send Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips to the Cleveland Indians for Bartolo Colon. The rest, as they say, is history.
↵Worse, as Loverro writes, Lee was young enough to be eligible for arbitration in 2006, meaning he would have been under control with the team once Mark Lerner became owner.
↵(But hey, on the bright side, the Nationals could give Lee $250 million and make this pain go away, right?).
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