Phillies exercise $12.5 million buyout on Cliff Lee
The Cliff Lee era of Phillies baseball came to a quiet end Tuesday with the team confirming that it declined the pitcher's $27.5 million option for next season. The 37-year-old lefthander will receive a $12.5 million buyout of his contract for 2016.
The Cliff Lee era of Phillies baseball came to a quiet end Tuesday with the team confirming that it declined the pitcher's $27.5 million option for next season. The 37-year-old lefthander will receive a $12.5 million buyout of his contract for 2016.
The roster move was long considered merely a formality, as Lee has not started a major-league game since July 2014. A torn elbow tendon soured the final two seasons of Lee's tenure with the Phillies. The former Cy Young Award winner did not make it out of spring training this season and was limited to only 13 starts in 2014.
Twice Lee attempted to rehabilitate his elbow without surgery. When he was shut down in March it spelled the informal end of his tenure with the team and perhaps the end of his playing career.
Lee made 106 regular-season starts over the course of his five-year, $120 million contract, posting a 2.89 ERA over 7472/3 innings. After his much-celebrated return to the Phillies in December 2010, he pitched on only one team, the 102-win club in 2011, that made the postseason. His Phillies tenure overall goes in the books with a 2.94 ERA over 118 regular-season starts and a 2.33 ERA over six postseason outings.
Phils add Otero
In the first official roster move of the Matt Klentak era, the Phillies claimed relief pitcher Dan Otero off waivers from the Oakland Athletics.
Otero, a 30-year-old righthander, recorded a 6.75 ERA in 462/3 innings last season after experiencing success in each of the two previous seasons. Over 105 appearances spanning 1252/3 innings in 2013-14, he posted a 2.01 ERA.
By virtue of finishing with the worst record in baseball this season, the Phillies own top priority on the waiver wire this winter.
Spring training
The Phillies will hold their first spring training workout for pitchers and catchers on Feb. 18 and their first full-squad workout on Feb. 23, the team announced. This spring will mark the team's 70th in Clearwater, Fla.
Bright House Field will hosts its first spring training game on Feb. 28, a Phillies exhibition game against the University of Tampa. The team's Grapefruit League slate begins March 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays in Clearwater.
The Phillies added a new wrinkle to the end of next year's spring training schedule. In what the team is billing as the "Phillies Future Series," the major-league club will play alongside a team of minor-leaguers in two intrasquad games. The first, on March 31, will be played at Reading's FirstEnergy Stadium, and the second, on April 2, at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies will also play an exhibition against the Baltimore Orioles on April 1 at Citizens Bank Park before opening the regular season on April 4 in Cincinnati.
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