Every team in the league will report to Spring Training at some point over the next six days, and though there never seemed to be a lack of interested teams in Cliff Lee, the former Philadelphia Phillies ace is yet to find a home to make his comeback attempt.
That said, at least two teams still seem to have some level of interest in Lee.
Joe Frisaro of MLB.com echoed what has been said virtually all off-season by saying that the Miami Marlins, at least to some extent, still have interest in the 37-year old.
Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee are two other possibilities. The Marlins plan to attend their workouts. Miami could be open to signing either to an MLB deal, but it would likely have to be a low base salary, plus incentives.
Most indications this off-season haven't had Lee looking for a situation where he would only be guaranteed a 'low base salary', and Frisaro also suggested that the Marlins are 'basically at their payroll limit'. Lee coming back to play for a team that only won 71 games a season ago seemed unlikely from the get-go, but the Marlins' signing of Wei-Yin Chen to a lucrative deal seems to have made the already unlikely idea fiscally impossible.
Roch Kubatko of MASN says that the Baltimore Orioles hypothetically have some interest in Lee but don't seem to be making him a priority because they don't think he wants to pitch in 2016.
The Orioles are pretty much open to any bounceback candidate coming off an injury. They'd be doing the same with Cliff Lee if they sensed that he wanted to pitch in 2016.
Orioles' general manager Dan Duquette said earlier this off-season that he 'didn't get the sense' that Lee was ready to come back. To be halfway through February and still be in that position makes you wonder if Lee will end up pitching in 2016.
Lee's agent did start out this off-season by suggesting that his client would need a 'perfect fit' to pitch in 2016 and perhaps Lee is in the process of realizing that situation isn't going to present itself. Lee could wait until someone gets injured in Spring Training or even wait until this summer to sign with a team, but the longer that he doesn't sign with a team, the more room is left for speculation that he's going to take the $12.5 million buy-out the Phillies are paying him this season and retire.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
