Phillies Today: Deep-rooted friendship helped lead Cliff Lee to rejoin Phillies, spurn Yankees

Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 10:46 PM Updated: Thursday, December 16, 2010, 7:39 AM

By Marc Carig/The Star-LedgerThe Star-Ledger
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Chris Gardner/European Pressphoto AgencyCliff Lee smiles as he pulls on his Phillies cap after being introduced Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. Lee turned down more money from the Yankees and Rangers.

PHILADELPHIA — The moment Cliff Lee hit free agency, it was assumed that a certain pitcher in the Yankees rotation could wield some influence over Lee’s next destination.

And, ultimately, that’s precisely what happened.

But the pitcher was not Lee’s longtime friend and former teammate CC Sabathia. It was Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett.

In a blockbuster signing made possible only through the power of personal connections, the two men who engineered Lee’s landscape-altering signing with the Phillies were brought together years ago by Burnett.

“This is the guy who made it happen,” Lee’s agent, Darek Braunecker, said, as he draped his arm around a smiling Scott Proefrock, the Phillies executive who general manager Ruben Amaro credited with reviving a deal that materialized at the 11th hour, and that, at various points, had been pronounced dead.

Braunecker is Burnett’s agent, Proefrock Burnett’s neighbor outside Baltimore. That friendship proved critical, and with Lee’s blessing, Braunecker and Proefrock orchestrated Lee’s return to Philadelphia. No amount of money — it seemed — was going to change a disappointing outcome for the Rangers and Yankees.

“I never wanted to leave this place in the first place,” said a smiling Lee, who was traded by the Phillies following the 2009 season when a contract extension could not be worked out.

With his free agency looming, Lee said he made it clear to Braunecker that the Phillies were his destination of choice, even though it was uncertain at the time whether a reunion was even possible.

Lee and his family had fallen in love with the city during his first stint, and the opportunity to help form what he called a rotation capable of “historic” things added to the appeal of a reunion.

In the end, it was enough for Lee to take a five-year deal from the Phillies, and turn away the Yankees’ bid of seven years for $154 million.

“It’s plenty of money,” Lee said. “When you hit a certain point, enough is enough. It’s a matter of where you’re happy, where your family is most comfortable, what team gives you the best chance to win.”

Lee also disputed the notion that his wife’s treatment at Yankees Stadium — where she was reportedly taunted by fans during a game — played a role in his decision.

“That was way overblown,” Lee said. “It was false and it had zero to do with the whole thing.”

Until Friday, the Yankees and Rangers remained the presumed front-runners for Lee’s services. But Lee’s camp reached out to the Phillies, a move that altered the course of Lee’s deliberations.

The Phillies have operated under a longtime club policy of shying away from offering contracts for more than three years to pitchers, one of the roadblocks that ultimately prompted the Phillies to trade Lee away.

But when the Phillies indicated to Braunecker that they would waive that policy for Lee — Amaro called it a “special circumstance” — Lee said his decision had, all of a sudden, become easy. Braunecker took Amaro’s call on Friday night, jotted down a five-year offer on the back of a nearby CD cover, and began a critical 72-hour stretch of negotiations.

Proefrock and Braunecker had stayed engaged in a loose dialogue, starting a few days after the World Series. Yet, three times over the weekend, talks broke down.

Proefrock even sent an e-mail to Braunecker on Sunday afternoon. It read, “Sorry things didn’t work out.”

Thee hours later, Braunecker wrote back: “Is this eating at you as much as it’s eating at me?”

Soon the talks were back on, and by Monday night, the Rangers and Yankees learned that they would come away from their pursuit of Lee empty-handed.

“The fact of the matter is,” Braunecker said. “There’s nothing the Yankees could have done differently.”

Marc Carig: mcarig@starledger.com

Related topics: new-york-yankees, phillies
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