Cy Young Profile: Cliff Lee, 2008

Pitcher, Cleveland Indians

Age:  30 (Aug. 30)

6^th season with Indians

Bats – Left, Throws – Left

Height: 6’3”    Weight: 205

Prior to 2008:

A native of Benton, Arkansas, Lee played American Legion baseball as a teenager as well as for his high school team. An outstanding pitcher, he was known for his cockiness as well as skill. Chosen by the Florida Marlins in the 1997 amateur draft, he chose to go to college instead at Meridian Community College in Mississippi which had a strong baseball program. Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1998, he again passed on turning professional at that point to continue instead at the Univ. of Arkansas Following a fair college season in 1999 Lee was drafted by the Montreal Expos. He signed this time and was first assigned to Cape Fear of the Class A South Atlantic League. He was a mediocre 1-4 with a 5.24 ERA in 11 starts but still moved up to Jupiter of the advanced Class A Florida State League in 2001 where he was 6-7 with a 2.79 ERA over 109.2 innings. He also struck out 129 batters. Lee advanced to the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League in 2002 where he was 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA by late June when he was traded to the Indians as part of the deal that sent RHP Bartolo Colon to Montreal. Initially reassigned by his new team to Akron, also in the Eastern League, he quickly was promoted to the Buffalo Bisons of the Class AAA International League where he was 3-2 with a 3.77 ERA over the course of eight starts. Earning a late-season call-up to the Indians, Lee started two games and went 0-1 with a 1.74 ERA. Back with Buffalo in 2003, he produced a very solid 6-1 record and a 3.27 ERA and returned to Cleveland to stay in August. Lee became a member of the rotation in 2004 and got off to a fast 5-0 start before fading in the season’s second half to finish at 14-8 with a 5.43 ERA and 161 strikeouts while pitching 179 innings. The Indians narrowly missed the postseason in 2005 and Lee was 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA and 143 strikeouts. He demonstrated excellent command of his fastball and off-speed pitches and placed fourth in AL Cy Young voting. He followed up in 2006 with a 14-11 record and mediocre 4.40 ERA with 129 strikeouts over 200.2 innings. An abdominal strain suffered during spring training had Lee on the disabled list to start the season and he pitched poorly after he was activated, leading to his demotion to Buffalo for five weeks where he went 1-3 with a 3.51 ERA prior to being recalled to Cleveland in September. He was 5-8 overall with the Indians with a 6.29 ERA. There was little reason to anticipate a big performance in 2008.

2008 Season Summary

Appeared in 31 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 31

Games Started – 31 [20, tied with Felix Hernandez, Edwin Jackson & Joe Saunders]

Complete Games – 4 [2]

Wins – 22 [1]

Losses – 3

PCT - .880 [1]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 2 [1, tied with seven others]

Innings Pitched – 223.1 [2]

Hits – 214 [9, tied with Javier Vazquez & Mike Mussina]

Runs – 68

Earned Runs – 63

Home Runs – 12

Bases on Balls – 34

Strikeouts – 170 [9]

ERA – 2.54 [1]

Hit Batters – 5

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 4

League-leading wins were +2 ahead of runners-up Roy Halladay & Mike Mussina

League-leading won-lost percentage was +.023 ahead of runner-up Daisuke Matsuzaka

League-leading ERA was -0.24 lower than runner-up Roy Halladay

Midseason Snapshot: 12-2, ERA - 2.31, SO - 106 in 124.2 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 11 (in 8 IP) vs. San Francisco 6/26

10+ strikeout games – 2

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 8 IP) vs. Oakland 4/13, (in 8 IP) at Minnesota 4/18

Batting

PA – 5, AB – 5, R – 0, H – 0, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 0, BB – 0, SO – 4, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .000, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF – 0

Fielding

Chances – 31

Put Outs – 16

Assists – 14

Errors – 1

DP – 2

Pct. - .968

Awards & Honors:

AL Cy Young Award: BBWAA

AL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

AL Comeback Player of the Year: MLB

All-Star (Starting P for AL)

12^th in AL MVP voting (24 points, 6% share)

AL Cy Young voting (Top 5):

Cliff Lee, Clev.: 132 pts. – 24 of 28 first place votes, 94% share

Roy Halladay, Tor.: 71 pts. – 4 first place votes, 51% share

Francisco Rodriguez, LAA.: 32 pts. – 23% share

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos.: 10 pts. – 7% share

Mariano Rivera, NYY: 3 pts. – 2% share

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Indians went 81-81 to finish third in the AL Central Division, 7.5 games behind the division-winning Chicago White Sox.

Aftermath of ‘08:

Lee continued to be an effective pitcher for an ineffective Cleveland team in 2009 and had a 7-9 record and 3.14 ERA by late July when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies along with a reserve outfielder for prospects. He went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA the rest of the way for the pennant-winning Phillies to finish with a combined tally of 14-13 and a 3.22 ERA with 181 strikeouts. In his first taste of postseason action he was 2-0 combined in the NLDS and NLCS and 2-0 in the World Series loss to the Yankees. In the offseason the Phillies dealt Lee to the Seattle Mariners for three players. He was 8-3 with a 2.34 ERA for the struggling Mariners and was an All-Star selection prior to being traded once again in July, this time to the Texas Rangers, a playoff-bound club. Lee was 4-6 the rest of the way to finish with a 12-9 overall record and 3.18 ERA with 185 strikeouts. Texas topped the AL West and in the ALDS win against Tampa Bay, Lee won two games and recorded a total of 21 strikeouts. He won another game while striking out 13 batters over 8 innings in the ALCS triumph over the Yankees. He lost his two World Series starts against the Giants, including the decisive fifth game. A free agent in the offseason, he returned to the Phillies for five years and $120 million. In 2011 he became part of a highly-regarded starting rotation along with RHPs Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Vance Worley, and with LHP Cole Hamels and produced a 17-8 record with a 2.40 ERA and 238 strikeouts. Philadelphia won the NL East but was eliminated by St. Louis in the NLDS. Lee lost his only postseason start. He was hindered by an oblique injury that put him on the disabled list in 2012 and ended up at 6-9 with a 3.16 ERA. Lee rebounded with an All-Star season in 2013 in which he went 14-8 with a 2.87 ERA and 222 strikeouts in as many innings. A sore elbow hindered his performance in 2014 and he ended up at 4-5 in 13 starts with a 3.65 ERA. After missing all of 2015 due to injury, Lee became a free agent and his career came to an end. Overall he compiled a 143-91 major league record with a 3.52 ERA and 1824 strikeouts over 2156.2 innings. With the Indians he was 83-48 with a 4.01 ERA and 826 strikeouts over 1117 innings pitched. He had a total of 29 complete games that included 12 shutouts. In 11 postseason starts Lee had a 7-3 record and a 2.52 ERA with 89 strikeouts over 82 innings.

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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major league. He was a four-time All-Star.