NL East Notes: Saunders, Phillies, Braves, Nats

Michael Saunders will don a Phillies jersey for the first time this coming season after signing a one-year deal, but as the outfielder tells Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com, he was nearly a long-term piece for the Phillies back in 2009. Saunders was originally reported to be part of the return the Phillies would receive in trading Cliff Lee to the Mariners, and he was indeed on the verge of being included in that deal, he now says. “They said I was on the Sportscenter tracker in the trade where we were getting Cliff Lee in that three-way deal,” Saunders says. “So I called my agent and he had to do a little bit of digging, he made some calls, called me back and he said, ‘You know what, it’s time to to start packing your bags.” The outfielder goes on to explain that he was, however, a “last-minute subtraction” from the trade that ultimately proved to net a disappointing haul for the Phils. (Tyson Gillies, Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez went to Philadelphia in the deal, none of whom provided any real value to the team.)

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