CLEARWATER, Fla. — The likelihood that Cliff Lee will need season-ending surgery rose significantly Tuesday when the Phillies announced that he still has a tear in his left elbow.
Nearly eight months of rest and rehabilitation did not repair the injury to Lee’s flexor tendon, as the pitcher, the Phillies and doctors had hoped. The next step could be surgery that would end Lee’s season and possibly his career (see story).
Lee threw lightly at Phillies camp on Tuesday. He will do some more throwing in the coming days. If his condition does not improve, surgery would be the next option.
Lee was first diagnosed in May, when he made his first of two trips to the disabled list. It’s difficult to fathom his condition suddenly improving when he has had the problem for so long. In fact, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. acknowledged that the tear could worsen if Lee decides to continue to pitch through the discomfort.
“We’re not terribly optimistic, but there’s still a possibility he can come back and throw with a minimal amount of discomfort,” Amaro said. “But we’ve tried to do this, rehab him non-surgically twice now, and the next order of progression, I guess, would be to have a surgery if it doesn’t pan out. Or at least that would be the suggestion from the doctors. Again, we’re not to that point yet. We’ll have to see how he does with his throwing progression moving forward.”
How much longer will Lee continue to throw before a decision is made?
“It may not even take a couple of weeks,” Amaro said. “It may take a couple of days. A lot of it will depend on how he does when he continues his throwing progression.”
Lee, who had not pitched competitively since July 31, pitched two innings against Houston on Thursday and felt discomfort in his elbow the next day. He had an MRI on Saturday. Phillies team physician Michael Ciccotti saw on the MRI that the tear had not healed. The MRI results were sent to orthopedist James Andrews for more study and he returned his word to the Phillies on Tuesday.
“He still has this tear of the common flexor tendon; it looks exactly the way it did last year,” said Scott Sheridan, the team’s head athletic trainer. “Right now, everyone is in agreement — we’d like Cliff to continue to toss a little bit and see where we go with it.
"Ultimately, if this fails, then medically we have to decide from there. That’s where we’re at right now.”
Lee was not immediately available for comment. The pitcher was downcast when he discussed his condition and the possibility of surgery on Monday (see story).