It appears we've seen the last of Cliff Lee in the major leagues.
The left-hander hasn't thrown a pitch in a regular-season game since July 2014, and his agent, Darek Braunecker, told Fox Sports, “We don’t anticipate him playing at this point.”
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Lee, 37, tore the flexor tendon in his left elbow in 2014 but opted for rehab instead of surgery. He felt discomfort in the elbow during spring training last year and an MRI showed the tendon remained torn. He again decided not to go under the knife, and said at the time he was satisfied with what he had accomplished in his career.
"I don't have any regrets," Lee said, via the News-Journal. "So that's the main thing. Just as long as I can look back and comfortably say, 'I didn't cheat this or cheat that. I wish I would have done this or would have done that.' As long as I don't do that, I can live with anything."
While it has been a while since the four-time All-Star has taken the mound, he was as good as any pitcher in the game for a six-year stretch. From 2008, when he went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA with the Indians and won the AL Cy Young award, through 2013, only Clayton Kershaw (2.60) had a better ERA than Lee's 2.89 among starting pitchers. But Lee logged 153 2/3 more innings than Kershaw in that span and had 25 complete games to the Dodgers ace's 11.
Effective as he was, that kind of durability became Lee's calling card and had him in demand among playoff contenders every year. He logged at least 200 innings in seven out of eight seasons beginning in 2005, even as he bounced from team to team. Between July 2009 and July 2010 he played for the Indians, Phillies, Mariners and Rangers and helped Philadelphia and Texas to the World Series in consecutive seasons.
Lee has collected $37.5 million from the Phillies since the start of 2015. That includes the $12.5 million the team paid in November to buy out the final year of the pitcher's contract.
He will finish his career with a 143-91 record and 3.52 ERA in 328 regular-season appearances, plus an impressive 7-3 record and 2.52 in 11 postseason starts.
