Sadly, it appears Cliff Lee's career could be over
With the news of Cliff Lee's torn flexor tendon and his statements earlier in the week, it appears his career is over.
An MRI has revealed a torn flexor tendon in Cliff Lee's left arm and though there's a chance he could come back and throw with only rehab, the Phillies have said they are "not terribly optimistic." If Lee has to undergo surgery -- which, again, seems likely -- that's six to eight months of rehab.
Remember, earlier this week Lee said that he would probably retire if surgery is the route. So if this isn't a "case closed" situation, it's at least closing.
Keep in mind, Lee is only signed through this year with a vesting option for next year. No pitching this season, no vesting option. He would be due a $12.5 million buyout, which means he'll have made more than $115 million in his playing career. He'll turn 37 this coming August. He has a family.
The entire equation adds up to retirement.
If this is the end of the road, it's sad to have happened this way. No, not nearly as sad as many things Mr. Average Joe deals with and definitely not the most sad thing Lee has or will encounter in his life. But the definition of the term "sad" isn't limited in scope. We can still be, you know, kind of sad when a great player goes out like this.
While Lee is certainly not a Hall of Famer, he's still a great player worthy of praise for an admirable career. The four-time All-Star won the 2008 Cy Young and has received consideration for the award four other seasons.
The numbers? Lee is (still present tense!) 143-91 with a 3.52 ERA (118 ERA+), 1.20 WHIP and 1824 strikeouts in 2156 2/3 innings. Among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched, he ranks sixth all-time in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.93, behind Tommy Bond, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera and Dan Haren. A workhorse when healthy, he racked up over 200 innings pitched in eight different seasons.
At different points in his career, Lee led his league in wins, winning percentage (twice), ERA, complete games, shutouts (twice), ERA+, FIP (twice), WHIP, walk rate (four times) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (three times). His 2010 K/BB ratio of 10.28 is the third-best single-season mark ever after Phil Hughes (2014) and Bret Saberhagan (1994).
There are also myriad quirky stats we could find, like this:
If Cliff Lee is done in PHI, he will finish as the only Phillies pitcher to make 100+ starts and have a 130 or better ERA+ since 1947
— Paul Boyé (@paul_boye) March 10, 2015
Save for a bad outing in the 2010 World Series and another in the 2011 NLDS, he has a sparkling postseason track record, too. Even including those two bad ones, in his 11 postseason starts Lee is 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 89 strikeouts against 10 walks in 82 innings.
As with any great pitcher, though, it's not totally about the stats. Lee was filthy when he was on, mixing four-seamers, two-seamers and cutters with his change and then the occasional nasty hook (per PitchFX data, he only threw the curve 8.5 percent of the time from 2007-14) that was downright unfair, even to his veteran catcher.
(GIF via SBNation, per Google archives)
OK, that looks like a cross-up, but that's still a good illustration of how much break Lee could get on that curve. That's nightmarish for lefties and righties alike.
How about this gem in Yankee Stadium against the defending World Series champs to put his Rangers up 2-1 in the 2010 ALCS?
Again, it's no certainty that we've seen the last of Mr. Lee on the bump, but it sounds pretty likely. If that's the case, Godspeed, Cliff Lee. The pleasure has been ours.
