Kristen Lee Needs To Look On The Bright Side

Cliff Lee, of course, has been a playoff superstar for the Rangers, allowing two runs in three starts with 34 strikeouts. But Cliff Lee is also an impending free agent, and New York has long been assumed to be his future destination. Yet one must now wonder whether that plan would get the seal of approval from Cliff Lee's wife.

Perhaps the Rangers' greatest sales pitch simply was having [Lee's wife] Kristen sit in the visiting family section at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs. She says there were ugly taunts. Obscenities. Cups of beer thrown. Even fans spitting from the section above.

"The fans did not do good things in my heart," Kristen says.

"When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it's hard not to take it personal."

Kristen had a very negative experience in Yankee Stadium - and, perhaps, not an altogether unusual one - and it isn't difficult to imagine how that might come up in future conversation as Cliff mulls over his free agent options. Kristen may associate New York with negativity, while she will associate Texas with being close to the family home in Arkansas. And it would be naive to assume the wife has zero influence when it comes to a player's free agency.

However, there's one key point that Kristen Lee, and many fans, seem to be missing. And that point can be expressed most succinctly by the following equation:

The amount of love fans show to their home team players and families - represented above by 'Fan love[H]' - is inversely related to the amount of hate fans show to the away team players and families - represented above by 'Fan hate[A]'. Fans who display weakly negative or indifferent behavior regarding visiting players and families will display weakly positive or indifferent behavior regarding their own players and families. Fans who display strongly negative behavior regarding visiting players and families will treat their own team's players and families like nobility.

The taunts, the beer, the spit - that all stems from a fierce loyalty on the fans' part to their own beloved Yankees. And were Cliff Lee to sign with them in the offseason, he and Kristen would stand to benefit from that loyalty, as they'd never again have to pay for a meal, or wait in line, or stop behind an unloading school bus.

If Cliff Lee re-signs with the Rangers, Kristen will continue to be subjected to the abuse she's gone on record as having experienced during future visits to New York. Signing with the Yankees is the only way to ensure that abuse never happens again.