Looking back at Cliff Lee's 2008 season and what might have been

Clifton Phifer Lee might be the most dominant pitcher of the 2000s who never gets talked about. He started his career in a small market in Cleveland, and was having an average career, and then he presented himself as one of the game's premier pitchers in 2008.

In his age 29 season, seemingly out of nowhere Lee posted a 6.8 WAR season, to lead the American League. It was the year of "black ink" for Lee, who also led the league in wins (22 compared to just three losses), ERA (2.54), and finished first in the American League Cy Young vote. A pitcher emerging at 29 with this kind of talent doesn't happen very often in Major League Baseball.

By the way, headlining that rotation was some lefty by the name of CC Sabathia, who would end the year with Milwaukee Brewers in what is considered one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time. Sabathia finished that year with a 2.70 ERA, 10 complete games (5 of them being shutouts), and finished 5th in NL CY Young voting and 6th in NL MVP.

So until the trade deadline in 2008 Cleveland had dueling aces on their roster, trading Sabathia at the deadline and Lee in '09. Somehow that '08 team still managed to finish a disappointing 81-81 (third place in the division) , and miss the playoffs. Nevertheless, let's look at the trade returns for Lee and Sabathia and what might have been.

CC was traded in early July for a package of mostly non-descript MLB players who are great answers in the immaculate grid (Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson) and perhaps the most infamous player to be named later, Michael Brantley. Dr. Smooth amassed 24 WAR in his 10 years in Cleveland and became a fan favorite. All things considered pretty good value, given that the club wouldn't have been able to match the 161-million-dollar mega contract Sabathia got from New York in 2009.

Lee on the other hand is a different story, traded to the Phillies at the deadline in '09 for a massive return (Ben Francisco, Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson). Again, the only major contributor of note here being Cookie Carrasco.

We know the trajectory of the club since making that trade, but might things have looked differently should the club not have moved on from Cliff Lee? We will never know for sure, but Lee continued to build on his 2008 breakout. Finishing the last 5 seasons of his career with All Star appearances and top ten Cy Young finishes in three seasons ('10, '11 and '13). While a solid pitcher Carrasco's best season wouldn't come until 7 years after making his debut for Cleveland (2017).

Where it really hurts for fans though, is when examining the postseason numbers. Lee pitched in back-to-back World Series in '09 and '10 with the Phillies and Rangers and his postseason ERA was a miniscule 2.13 over 76 postseason innings in those years. Meanwhile Cleveland had back-to-back 90 loss seasons.

Clearly Lee alone wouldn't have led Cleveland to the promised land, but there is no doubt that trading away both Sabathia and then Lee set the franchise down a dark road for a few years.

Playing the "what if" game might not bring fans any solace but it may give fans a fun trip down memory road to the dominance of Cliff Lee.