And the yankees are no exception. If you remember the 2010 FA circus in which Cliff Lee took less money to return to PHI, despite the yankees offering him a much larger Contract.
part of his decision to take less money from PHI, was because his wife hated NY
https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2010/12/14/1875677/cliff-lee-phillies-yankees-wife-kristen
I don’t feel like looking it up but the Phillies offer was just more complex, overall it was almost identical money offered from the two teams.
And the main reason he took Philly was actually his kid needed some specialized medical care which was better in Philly.
Edit: OK, I researched it:
1) Lee wanted to go back to PHI if at all possible.
"Lee talked a lot about his desire to return to the Phillies after he was dealt following the 2009 season. "I never wanted to leave this place in the first place," he said. So when Lee ranked his preferred destinations and handed them to Braunecker, Philly was on top of it."
https://www.nj.com/yankees/2010/12/cliff_lees_agent_theres_nothin.html
2) My memory a bit confused on the deals, looks like NY offered 7/150 in the end and he took essentially 6/132 from PHI. TEX was evidently ahead of NY in this also, two places he had already previously played and felt comfortable. In the end he was great for 3 years, mediocre for 1/2 year, and out of baseball after that.
3) The part about his kid:
"Back before Cliff Lee had any baseball career or fame, all he had was his family. He had his wife, Kristen, and his infant, Jaxon.
Jaxon was diagnosed with leukemia at four months old while Cliff was still in the minor leagues. He had a 30 percent chance of living. Lee could not believe the news and was in complete shock.
Jaxon suffered various setbacks during the process, but he fought through the cancer the whole time. Lee never liked to talk about the illness, even though he spent much of his time in the hospital.
Lee’s son received a bone marrow transplant that saved his life, and Lee’s performance on the field paralleled his son’s improvement in the hospital.
Lee’s son was diagnosed as cancer free in 2006 when he was five years old. But during the Lee family’s quick stop in Philadelphia more than a year ago, they found something that offered them insurance in case anything every happened.
The Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia is ranked as one of the top children’s hospitals in the August 2010 issue of U.S. News and World Report. The Lee family felt really comfortable with this hospital treating their son if anything ever came back up."
View: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/577623-cliff-lee-the-real-reason-he-signed-with-the-philadelphia-phillies