11:11pm: GM Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed to Zolecki that Lee is done for the year and added that the team’s hope is for Lee to begin a throwing program in October or November. Surgery won’t be required for Lee, who is on his way from New York (where he had an appointment with Dr. David Altchek) to Philadelphia, where he will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection. Lee will travel home to Arkansas for two weeks before rejoining the team next month.
AUG. 6, 8:26pm: Lee’s locker in the Phillies’ clubhouse has been completely cleaned out, and he is heading home to rest his injured elbow, according to Todd Zolecki and Austin Laymance of MLB.com. While there’s been no official announcement from the team, all signs point to his season being over.
AUG. 1: Lee has already been placed on the DL and says he “probably” will miss the rest of the year, as Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. He said that, as indicated last night, he likely suffered a recurrence of his previous injury.
JULY 31: Cliff Lee walked off the mound during his start against the Nationals today, indicating that he was dealing with elbow discomfort. The veteran has experienced the same injury that just cost him two months — a flexor pronator strain — according to a tweet from MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.
It seems likely that Lee is headed for another DL stint, and at this point it would not be surprising to learn that he will miss the rest of the season. Needless to say, barring a fortunate turn, it seems that Lee will not be an August trade target.
The bigger question for the Phillies, of course, is whether he can return to form for 2015. Lee is owed $25MM next year and his deal includes a $27.5MM club option for 2016 (with a substantial $12.5MM buyout).
I wonder if Amaro is pleased with the job he’s doing. Probably.
At least he didn’t make any bad trades
I’ll finish that sentence for you, this year.
Yet……
Brian Cashman was right about not wanting Cliff Lee
Chris Capuano + Esmil Rogers > Another injured SP
Sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make.
Like extending C.C.
And signing Beltran and McCann for over 100 million dollars.
There goes the Yankees August trade for Lee.
Lol the Curse of the Rubino strikes again.
ha, never heard that one before. i like it.
Can we have a poll for the team that did the worst for this trade deadline? Phillies beats out the Rays for me. They LITERALLY DID NOTHING. AGAIN. Obviously Howard can’t be moved. But they could have moved Lee, Hamels, Byrd, Utley, Burnett, and maybe Papelbon. They could have fleeced someone with Lee. Instead they kept him and get nothing and he’s hurt again now.
Amaro is worse than Towers and O’Dowd combined.
No need to move Hamels or Utley. Lee I understand somewhat to build some value. But keeping Papelbon, Byrd, and Burnett are real head scratchers.
Takes two to trade. Obviously teams weren’t interested.
They were interested, RAJ just made outrageous demands. He was asking for a top 5 prospect for Marlon Byrd.
Incorrect. Byrd+$$$ was allegedly being shopped for “two good prospects.” That’s not the same thing at all.
Actually the time to move Lee was at the last trade deadline. he was pitching well and would have netted a nice return without the Phillies having to eat much of his salary. This year i don’t imagine the offers would have been too great, and RAJ’s reluctance to eat any salary sunk any deals that may have been possible. And there’s the part where he was clearly still injured, because he clearly wasn’t pitching well. Papelbon also sunk any hope of trading him when he refused to waive his no trade to do anything but close. Byrd’s resistance to waive his no trade if the acquiring team didn’t pick up his option year hurt his value too. There is a serious problem with that team, and they should have had a fire sale long before now. What they have left isn’t going to get them much, unless you include Hamels who they seem to want an incredible haul for.
Ownership is the problem vis-a-vis eating salary. They’ve been reluctant ever since Thome was traded. I imagine it’s only the new TV deal (signed this past off-season, if I’m remembering right?) is the only reason they’re willing to eat salary even now.
Also, define “long before now?” I agree a fire sale last year would have been a better plan, but 2011 obviously wasn’t the time. 2012? They had a mini fire sale that year already – and if they hadn’t, they’d look a lot better right now, actually (Pence, at least, would have still been around, and an outfield of Revere/Brown, Pence and Byrd would look pretty good, honestly).
I heard Byrd to the Yankees was almost a done deal but they wanted Luis Serevino and Aaron Judge
Then is wasn’t almost a done deal. If the Yankees were going to move those two players, Marlon Byrd is not the player returning.
say whhhaaaaaaaat?
The rumor was just Judge, actually.
they’re gonna be bottom-feeders in the NL East for the rest of the decade. it’s already too late to cash out assets. the other 4 teams have so much more talent at or near the MLB level it’s crazy.
Explain to me which team was going to give one, just one, top prospect for Lee this year after two shakey starts and a DL stint? If anyone offered one top 50 prospect, he’d be there already .
I think he means Lee could have been traded long before the injury.
Hey now, don’t you cut Mr. Towers short. I bet if he had a huge budget like the Phillies he could acquire his fair share of albatross-like contracts and sit on them, too.
Alot of Phillies fans thought he would come back fine and he would or could be traded for to prospects. RAJ should have learned the like with Halladay, one you get that old and get an injury, even a small one. It can be the beginning of the end. But hopefully Lee will come back next year. Philly needs to stop holding onto the past and let some of these guys go. I could be wrong tho maybe C. Lee was rushed back to showcase for a trade and got re-injured but regardless I think teams stayed away because of RAJ demands. It’s sad the Phillies made no trades or moves at all.
Maybe Ruben thought he could get many of his players through waivers and make moves in August? It’s a good theory until one of your trade chips gets hurt. We’ll never know how much teams were asking the Phillies to eat of these contracts. If he was asked to eat half of some of these contracts he probably believes it was better to hold onto them. He has no problem with running Marlon Byrd back out to right field next year rather than pay most of his salary and have him play somewhere else. If any GM’s are mad at him it’s a shame. It’s like going to a yard sale and being mad at the homeowner for not accepting less when you offer it. Ruben took his players and put them right back in the garage for his next yard sale. If you really wanted them give him what he’s asking, if not look in the paper for the next sale or go to the next house (team).
So basically it will cost some team $37.5 MM for one year of Lee next year, assuming they buy out the option? Yikes.
nope. Philly is gonna be stuck with a good-sized chunk of that money in any trade.
Lee’s contract was insane when he signed it, and now it’s even more! When are these teams going yo get it? The standard needs to be reset! 25 million s year? That’s crazy. I get it, at one point Lee was unstoppable, just like Kershaw now. But all it takes is an injury and they may never return to form. Then the team is stuck with a 25 million payout for a guy pitching to a 12-8 record with a 4.25 ERA
even if he has to get TJ and miss 2015, I’m not sure singing the dirges for Lee’s career is appropriate. he is the type of pitcher who could lose velocity and even some command yet re-emerge as a viable innings muncher/”gritty veteran” in his late 30s.
that’s if he has the desire to push through a protracted rehab. he was talking retirement even before the elbow gave out, so he may well not.
So because he is out for the year, he gets to clean his locker out, and go home while the rest of the team suffers through a horrible season, all while collecting a fatty check? Unreal.
Even if his season is over that’s not right that he’s cleared out his locker with 7+ weeks left in the season.
Could mean he was traded, who knows /joke
Money aside, I feel pretty bad for Cliff – dude is a legit gamer, stuck on this terrible team.
He wanted to be on that team so bad though right?
Worked out pretty well in 2011, no?
I don’t know, did he win a ring?
Yankees and Rangers have certainly won a lot of rings since then.
He had a better chance of winning on those2 teams. Had e played for the Yankees he would have made the difference.
Hey, Phillies–Mitch Moreland for Cliff Lee.
Jays will up that offer and offer Rob Rasmussen and Munenori Kawasaki. A fan in Toronto believes that this is good enough to get Dustin Pedroia, so why not go after Cliff Lee?
All that money when all he wanted for a long-term contract before they traded him was 15-18m a year. How about the return on that trade… eh… eh? good stuff RUBEn, good stuff!
fitting that Lee’s locker is cleaned out as he’s pitched his last game for the team.
are they trading him for CC Sabathia in the off-season?
nah, Amaro is smarter than that. not only will he get Sabathia but he’ll give a contract extension to induce ARod to waive his no-trade and have the Yankees include him as well.
isn’t that injection for tears? a strain is short of a sprain which is a lot lees than a tear.
Get healthy, duder. I can’t wait to have you back and dealing.