If Mariners become sellers, could Frank McCourt and the Dodgers pay the price for Cliff Lee?

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Could the Dodgers actually pass on Cliff Lee again?

Given the state of their starting pitching, maybe you’re wondering if that’s even a question.

Given that they failed to seriously purse him in the off-season when traded to the Seattle Mariners and their payroll has been in retreat since the McCourts’ divorce became public, maybe you wonder whether there’s even a chance.

This is all dependent upon Lee becoming available, but with the Mariners suffering a disappointing 12-19 start and already trailing the Texas Rangers by 5 games in the American League West, they’re looking like a team that is going to become a seller.

Lee is making $9 million this year and will become a free agent at the end of the season. Before the Philadelphia Phillies traded him to Seattle, he indicated a desire to test the market this winter.

Lee, who went 4-0 for the Phillies in the postseason last year, only recently joined the Seattle rotation. In two starts, he’s 0-1 with a 2.40 earned-run average.

If the Mariners aren’t going to contend this season and aren’t interested in signing the 31-year-old to a long-term deal, he becomes a prime candidate for a midseason trade.

The Dodgers have been understandably reluctant to trade prospects for a ‘rental’ player in the past. When the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay from Toronto as part of their three-team trade that sent Lee to Seattle, they signed him to a three-year extension at $60 million as part of the deal.

That might look good to Lee, but then so might C.C. Sabathia’s seven-year, $161-million deal with the Yankees. Sabathia is Lee’s former Cleveland teammate.

The Dodgers clearly need another starting pitcher, particularly an ace, and Frank McCourt could seriously use a positive public relations move to prove the divorce hasn’t handcuffed the team financially.

Despite the denials, however, all evidence suggests that it has. And Lee, who offered one of the first clues, might offer the last.

-- Steve Dilbeck