The Astros have three 2011 options to consider after the season:
- Lance Berkman has a $15MM club option with a $2MM buyout. Berkman has indicated he might move on if the option is declined; MLBTR's Luke Adams discussed the situation recently. Berkman had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on March 13th and recently had it drained for a fifth time.
- Brett Myers has an $8MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout. As MLBTR's Mike Axisa noted a month ago, mutual options are baseball's new fad and typically don't serve as actual options. It's highly likely that one of the sides will want to decline.
- Geoff Blum also has a mutual option; at $1.65MM it's more plausible the two sides work something out.
The Astros also have Kaz Matsui, Pedro Feliz, Brian Moehler, and Jason Michaels up for free agency after the season. The four are earning $13.3MM in 2010.
Felipe Paulino is projected to enter his first arbitration year. Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Matt Lindstrom, Jeff Keppinger, and Chris Sampson will face arbitration for the second time. Wandy Rodriguez and Humberto Quintero will go for the third time, Tim Byrdak a fourth. A few of these players might be non-tendered, though. On the other hand, the Astros could consider locking up Pence, Bourn, or Rodriguez with big '10 seasons.
Raises to under-contract players are insignificant, with Roy Oswalt and Brandon Lyon each getting a $1MM bump in 2011.
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
It seems as though Berkman will be out for quite a while. I don’t think I would pick up the option. 15 mil is a ton of money and it’s easy to see that Berkman is declining and won’t age well. Plus I think it would be good for the Astros if they start building for the future. Myers and Blum are also probably done with the Astros after ’10. Same goes for Feliz, Mohler, and Michaels. It would be good to see them try to lock up Pence and Bourn also. I’m still not sold on Rodriguez yet, but we’ll see how he does this season.
Isn’t it funny how we dismiss a million bucks as if it’s nothing? I know what you mean and you’re absolutely right, of course – one million is nothing these days in baseball. Still, it occasionally strikes me re: the lunacy of it all…
Man I know right. I think about it quite a bit. Whenever a player is talking about a 70, 80, or 100 million dollar contract I think about how nuts it is. People talk about it all like it’s not a huge deal, but that’s millions of dollars being thrown around. It really is crazy when you think about it. But in the end it’s a part of the game.
After this year, Carlos Lee’s no trade clause expires as well, though I doubt they’ll be able to move him.
I traded for this noob in OOTPB. I was desperate for offense and had a lot of payroll room. Dumbest. Move. Ever.
I highly doubt a real team will trade for him.
Carlos Lee has pretty damn good offense (20-30 dingers, 95-110 RBI’s), not dumb move just over-payed a little, just like in real life.
Fantasy baseball is not real life. Carlos Lee is a decent offensive player (not a great one; only .831 OPS last season), but his defense is awful (-8.4 UZR/150 last season).
Lee is maybe a $10m player in today’s market. To move him the Astros will need to eat about half his contract before they can even begin to discuss prospects coming back to them.
His defense kills him.
correct, It’s not real life, I was just saying if he wanted offense, not a bad selection but rather hefty price tag. I think it could be argued that Lee is still above average offensively for sure, thus making him better then decent?
Yeah, I would agree with above average offensively, although I am concerned about his next few years as he enters the decline phase of his career being as out of shape as he is.
I don’t know if you can find somebody who will pay $10M for him. Maybe a GM out there is dumb enough. Johnny Damon only got $8M/1 year and his WAR values have been similar to Lee the last few years. He’s a little older, true, but he’s also in much better shape.
The Astro’s are just stuck in this purgatory, too good to be terrible… not good enough to actually compete.
They should have made an attempt at trading all their expensive veterans this off season and truly rebuilding the team from the ground up…. but shit everyone on here knows that… everyone who’s interested in baseball knows that… everyone except for the Astro’s FO knows that.
Roy Oswalt & Lance Berkamn & Wandy Rodriquez would have definitely brought in some good prospects and I think they could have moved Carlos Lee without eating anything if they’d have taken less than good prospects in return. Use a bit of that saved money to sign Bourn & Pence long term, and don’t sign Lyon to that ridiculous contract don’t sign Myers either. At least then Houston would have had a plan rather than just meandering in this limbo.
Ah well Astro’s fans, at least you have nice uniforms and a beautiful stadium.
Nobody is trading Wandy…. And Lee, we would have had to have eaten some salary salad regardless of who the prospects would be. Nobody is going to take on that contract. I agree with you on everything else though, well, except maybe Myers, too early to tell if that pans out or not. Limbo sucks, compete already
i Will Like to Wait On Somebody is Doing Really Really Good that i am Listning to is the Round Rock Express i Know the Houston Astros Will Want to if Jason Castro is that Man that He is Going For Pro Very Very Soon but But He is the Biggest target but As a #1 Prospect But He Will Be the Next Brad Ausmus if Jason Castro Will Get His Batting Average Up but He Will Be Ready for the Houton Astros Ball Club but He Will Be Playing Soon if Kevin Cash Will Go Back to the Minor’s Very Soon Let See If Ed Wade Will Loike that Move.