Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that Carlos Lee has agreed to a six-year deal with the Astros. The last dollar amount I saw for this deal was $73M, and that was a five-year deal. I figure we must be up to at least $85M now. Back in July, it seemed ridiculous that Lee would reject a four-year, $48M deal out of hand. Back then, I was glad the Brewers didn’t spend that much on him! But after the Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. signings, this deal doesn’t look that crazy.
Now the market for bats is a much slimmer one. Among free-agents, Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd are among the only guys who could legitimately bat in the middle of the order, and all of them come with major question marks. The A’s, who probably can’t afford Bonds, are reported to be talking about Piazza and Floyd, while several people have emailed me about reports that Floyd is about to sign with the Cubs.
In other words, if you want an impact bat, you should consider trading for one. Sean McAdam has a piece about who might be available, including familiar trade-bait names such as Manny Ramirez, Carl Crawford, and Pat Burrell. And one bizarre name who doesn’t belong.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the TV station reporting the Lee deal; Carlos is on the front page, at least for now.
By Jeff Sackmann
