Lee: Philadelphia is where I wanted to be

PHILADELPHIA - This was where Cliff Lee wanted to be all along.

Nothing more, nothing less.

And so it was inevitable that if the team he really wanted got seriously involved, Lee would go there, rather than chase the top dollar.

Lee repeated that several times Wednesday during a news conference introducing - or, more accurately, reintroducing him - as a member of the Phillies.

Lee agreed to a five-year, $120-million deal with the Phillies just before midnight Monday, forgoing bigger offers made by the Rangers and Yankees.

"I know I really enjoyed it here," Lee said.

Lee spent the last half of the 2009 season in Philadelphia after a midseason trade from Cleveland.

That offseason Lee was sent to Seattle as part of the deal that brought Roy Halladay to the Phillies. But Lee said he had in mind, even then, if there was a way he could get back to Philadelphia, he would.

"There's nothing the Yankees could have done differently," Lee's agent, Darek Braunecker, said. "Nobody outworks Brian Cashman . . . He just saw this as a better option for him and his family."

Lee said he had no concerns about playing in the Bronx.

"I wasn't scared to play there," Lee said. "It wasn't any of that. Once the Phillies were there, [if] it was relatively close to everything, it was a no-brainer for me."

He said the negative experiences his wife, Kristen, had during the ALCS at the Stadium, which she discussed in a USA Today story during the World Series, had no impact.

"That was way overblown," Lee said. "No one came up to my wife and spit on her. That story was way overblown, it was false, and had zero to do with anything. Hopefully we can put that behind us because it was a nonissue."

Afterward Kristen said she was quoted accurately but that she was describing generally how those wearing Rangers gear were treated, not her being specifically targeted.

In any case, Braunecker said the Phillies got seriously involved only this past Friday, after the winter meetings.

"It was really Kristen and Cliff and Darek coming back to us and saying, 'Listen, this is the place we want to be,' " Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "They really, truly expressed to us this is the place they wanted to be."

On taking less money, Lee said: "When you hit a certain point, enough is enough. It's a matter of where you're comfortable, where you're happy, where your family is most comfortable, what team gives you the best chance to win. At this point it's about trying to win championships."

Lee wasn't taking a shot at the Yankees or Rangers, instead meaning it as an endorsement of the rotation he's joining, which on paper shapes up as the best the sport has seen in years.

"When you sit back and evaluate your options, you get a chance to pitch in this rotation, with Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels, I mean, that's all I needed to see right there," Lee said. "That was the main thing, getting a chance to be part of that rotation with this team and what they've kind of established in the NL East, being the leader there. With this team, it was kind of a no-brainer for me."

Notes & quotes:The Yankees confirmed the signing of Mark Prior to a minor-league contract. They also announced they had signed six others to minor-league deals: RHP Brian Anderson, INF Doug Bernier, RHP Buddy Carlyle, LHP Neal Cotts, C Gustavo Molina and LHP Andy Sisco . . . The Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society (PBATS) named Gene Monahan and Steve Donohue of the Yankees as the "Best Athletic Trainers in Major League Baseball" for 2010.