Phillies Notes: Exploring the Joe Jordan-Cliff Lee connection

CLEARWATER, Fla. - When someone new joins the Phillies, it's always interesting to see whether there is any link to the people already in the organization.

Joe Jordan, the Phillies' first-year director of player development, has a truly interesting connection. It turns out Jordan was the area scout who signed Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee after the Montreal Expos selected him in the fourth round of the 2000 draft.

"It was my last year as an area scout," Jordan said.

He was promoted to Midwest supervisor the following year. Jordan, 49, doesn't take too much credit for discovering Lee and he remembers a far less polished pitcher at the University of Arkansas than the guy you see pitching for the Phillies these days.

"If you go back and look at his numbers his junior year, they weren't very impressive," Jordan said. "Look at his walks. He did not have a cutter then. He threw a curveball. But the one thing you could see even then was the way he competed."

Lee pitched only one season at Arkansas and was 4-3 with a 4.45 ERA. He walked 52 batters and struck out 77 in 642/3 innings.

"That's why he was a fourth-round pick rather than a first-rounder," Jordan said.

Given all that Lee has accomplished at the big-league level, it was obviously a sensational pick even though Lee never pitched for the Expos.

In 2002, Lee was traded to Cleveland in the kind of six-player deal you rarely see any more. The Indians received Lee, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, and Lee Stevens for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.

The Phillies actually drafted one of Lee's Arkansas teammates - righthanded pitcher Matt Riethmaier - one round after the Expos selected Lee. Riethmaier never pitched above single-A Lakewood and was out of professional baseball by 2002.

Jose Contreras plopped into his chair and lifted both of his arms in the air. His right arm was wrapped heavily in ice, but the 40-year-old Cuban was proud to announce another step in his recovery from elbow surgery.

Contreras said he will throw off a mound Tuesday. He threw in front of the mound Monday without any problems, so he'll proceed to the next step.

The Phillies have no idea what to expect from Contreras, but they are paying him $2.5 million in 2012 with the hopes of using him in the eighth inning. There is cautious optimism that Contreras can be ready by opening day and the fact that he'll go off a mound this early appears to reinforce that faith.

But the team and Contreras won't know what sort of workload he can handle until he actually tests the arm in strenuous situations, like pitching on back-to-back days. That is why the team signed Chad Qualls, another veteran, to reinforce the bullpen. Qualls has yet to report to camp due to a personal issue.

Ryan Howard continued his rehab program with running drills, taking grounders at first, and some light swinging in the cage. It's just the early steps in what will still be a lengthy recovery from a torn left Achilles tendon. Howard noticeably lacked much muscle on his left knee. . . . Joe Blanton (elbow) threw off a mound Monday and pitching coach Rich Dubee reported no issues. . . . Jimmy Rollins arrived to camp early and started work alone in the batting cages.