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 left-hander will receive a $12.5 million buyout of his contract for 2016.
The roster move was long considered merely a formality, as Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) 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 747 2/3 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.