SEATTLE (AP) -Cliff Lee's first spring training with the Seattle Mariners is off to a slow start already.
Lee is recovering from minor foot surgery and will be limited when pitchers and catchers report to Seattle's camp in Arizona this month.
``We decided Lee should have the surgery as soon as possible, rather than try to pitch with the discomfort during the year,'' general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a release Monday. ``To get it out of the way and have it behind us is important.''
Seattle's biggest acquisition during its splashy winter had surgery Friday in his native Arkansas to remove a bone spur that broke loose and was floating in his left foot.
Lee's foot is not in a cast, and he is continuing his upper-body exercise program. The Mariners said the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner will ``gradually return to all normal baseball activities'' over the next two to three weeks.
Zduriencik acquired Lee from Philadelphia in a complicated four-team deal that gave Seattle one of baseball's best pair of aces, along with 2009 AL Cy Young Award runner-up Felix Hernandez.
Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA for the Phillies after he was acquired from Cleveland on July 29. He was even better in the playoffs, going 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts and earning both of Philadelphia's wins in the World Series against the Yankees.
The 31-year-old left-hander has one year and $9 million remaining on his contract.
Seattle's first workout for pitchers and catchers is Feb. 18 in Peoria, Ariz.
