Phillies sign Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee was an essential element to the Phillies 2009 World Series run and brought stability to a pitching rotation that needed a hero.  Fans had called for the Phillies to sign Roy Halladay but the Fightin's were unwilling to part with the likes of Domonic Brown in order to obtain the perenial All-Star at the time.  Instead they picked up Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians for little more than chump change.  It was a steal that paid immediate dividends and earned the Phils a 2nd straight World Series run.  2009 ended badly for the Phils as the Yankees beat them in the Series but the Phillies only fought harder in 2010 and signed both Roy Halladay AND Roy Oswalt which gave them 3 viable number 1 starters (Cole Hamels is the missing top flight starter as Lee was traded to Seattle) and one of the best starting rotations in baseball. 

After being bounced from the playoffs by the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS, the Phillies lost Jayson Werth to the Washington Nationals and decided that the next best thing was to snatch up another top flight pitcher.  They offered Cliff Lee $30 million less than the New York Yankees and Lee jumped on the chance to return to Philly.  The Phillies now have the most dominant rotation in baseball today and possess 4 of the 10 best starters in baseball.  Having 4 starters who in all likihood will keep the opponents under 3 runs allows the Phillies to lose the potential offensive weapon in Jayson Werth and negates the need to seek another power hitting outfielder.  It also sets up a playoff rotation (I'm calling it now, the Phillies will win the division going away) that looks like this:

Roy Halladay
Roy Oswalt
Cliff Lee
Cole Hamels

The Phillies have basically built an All-Star teams rotation that solidifies a playoff berth and likely puts them in the Series.  The folks here in the Philly area have dubbed them: The Fearsome Foursome, The 4 Aces and of course they have modified H20 and created H2C2.  The only question now is, who gets to 20 games first?