When Cliff Lee headed into this offseason, Lee had two options: get surgery or rest in the hopes his elbow would heal. Lee opted for rest instead, hoping to make a return to the Major Leagues at some point in 2015. It appears that Lee will not make it back to the mound in 2015, or perhaps, ever again.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports wrote in his "Inside Baseball" column yesterday:
Cliff Lee's season is over. While he is said to feel better than at any time in the year, it wouldn't make sense for him to start getting ready now with a small chance to return as a reliever for baseball's worst team. There's an outside chance he could try to throw in the winter in hopes of staging a comeback, but people close to him believe it's also very likely he may just hang 'em up. In 2009, Lee nearly single-handedly kept the Phillies afloat in their World Series loss to the Yankees. He won the AL Cy Young in 2008 while with the Indians …
Indeed. The 2009 run was one of the best pitching performance runs Philadelphia has ever seen.
Lee was traded after the 2009 season for pitchers Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez, along with outfielder Tyson Gillies. After spending 2010 with the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, Lee returned to Philadelphia in 2011 with his sights set on another World Series. The Phillies had just one brief playoff appearance in Lee's Phillies tenure, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series.
