Carlos Lee has 13 years in the big leagues and has spent the last five with the Astros, but he doesn't have traditional 10-and-5 no-trade protection according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Lee agreed to waive his 10-and-5 rights in exchange for full no-trade protection during the first four years of his contract. He can still block trades to 14 unknown teams this year.
Lee, 35, signed a six-year, $100MM contract with the Astros prior to the 2007 season. He's hit .286/.338/.486 during the life of the contract, though his home run total has declined every year since 2006. The rebuilding Astros have little use for player like Lee, but it's likely they'll have to eat a substantial portion of his $18.5MM salary to facilitate a trade this summer.
If he stays healthy and plays relatively well I could imagine an AL team with a need for a righty bat off the bench or a DH/1B taking a flier on him. He wasn’t bad last year and has been durable the past few seasons.
The Astros are an AL team! LOL Just not officially!
Carlos Lee put up 4.6 WAR last year. Who saw that coming?
My prediction is Carlos hits 25+ HR and 100+ RBIs for the Astros this year. In what was his worst 1st half season ever, he still finished up with 18 HR and 94 RBIs….most of that after he moved from LF to 1B. And he handled himself well at 1B. He’ll be back with the Astros in 2013 as a DH (at a much lower salary), when Jonathan Singleton takes over 1B. He’s got a ranch in Texas, and prefers to stay in Houston and I see him as a perfect fit for the DH role.
How the hell did he manage 94 RBI’s in Houston?
how the heck did he get 94 RBI’s?
Idk thats what Im asking
As bad as the Astros were last year, they were 26th in scoring, so there were 4 teams worse. Main problem in Houston was bullpen which blew 25 saves (led MLB). They only saved 50% of their 50 save opportunities. If for instance they still had Jose Valverde (who saved 49 out of 49 opportunities for the Tigers) they would have potentially won 25 more games……they won 56 — add 25 to that total and they could have won 81 games. They won 76 games the year before with a healthy Brandon Lyon in the bullpen. Not saying they are world beaters, but they are not half as bad as folks think they are. And they are a very young team. 10 out of their 25 man roster this year are players who have made their first opening day.
To say they could potentially have won 25 more games would be to assume that they would have had no blown saves. That’s just plain irrealistic.
Thats really besides the point…if they had a better closer like Valverde of last year they wouldnt blow 25 saves, so they could have won 20+ more games.
Not really unrealistic. The Tigers had Valverde, who blew no saves (49 of them) last year. If Valverde had blown half of those saves, guess where the Tigers would be? Not saying Astros have as good a team as Tigers, but they’re not as bad as the media is portraying. I think it is realistic for the Astros to win 70 games this year.
Flawed logic. You don’t lose every game you have a blown save. Heck some games you can have two blown saves.
Adding the amount of blown saves to a teams wins and saying “well they should have won this many” is off base.
This is neither the LSAT nor is this a Philosophy class. You are reading too much into his comment. He’s basically trying to say that a better bullpen would have led to more wins for the astros. Yes, he’s wrong in saying that an avoided blown save would equal a win, but if you step back and look at what he’s trying to say, you’ll see he’s making a decent point. Maybe the Astros really aren’t as far away from being fixed as we might think.
I understand the definition of a blown save. Let me give you big picture — in 2010 the Astros won 76 games (again, not world beaters). In 2011 they won 56 games (horrible). In 2010, between Matt Lindstrom and Brandon Lyon they saved 43 games and blew 8 opportunities. In 2011 Lindstrom was traded during spring training since Lyon had saved 20 out of 22 opportunities the prior year. And then Lyon got hurt as soon as the season started. Last year their “closers” saved 25 out of 50 opportunities. The runs scored, runs against and defense remained about the same. I’m talking about the difference between mediocre but still competitive and horrible being directly linked to the bullpen. Luhnow understood that right away, and has moved Myers to the bullpen as the closer, and Lyon is back healthy, throwing 92 mph and will be the setup man.
I could also see him on the rangers as a DH
Boy, is Michael Young not gonna like this. In 2013, I’m not sure. I guess if they don’t re-sign Napoli, we could get Lee on a one-year contract, just to stick it to the new division “rivals”.
exactly
I’m a whitesox fan so el cabio has a soft spot in my heart. But honestly what happened to Wallace. Wasn’t he supposed to be the firstbasemen of the future for the stros?
Bret Wallace is going to play 3B (his original position) down in AAA. Chris Johnson beat out Wallace for the 3B job this spring, and Jonathan Singleton is their 1B of the future (one of the top 50 prospects in all of minor league ball). If Wallace makes it back up, it will be only if Johnson falters.
No chance he gets 100 RBIs. Maybe 80. 25 bombs is reasonable.
The Rangers have no interest in this old buffoon. They have enough offensive talent to manage their DH role with Young/Napoli filling it out fine….and eventually the likes of Josh Hamilton/Nelson Cruz.
Hey is this the same Rainman from the Astros board on ESPN? If so this is NRE from that board. I remember you from when I first signed on to the ESPN message board.
Still better than Brandon Freakin’ Snyder
Regardless of how much he likes Houston, they have no use for him in their youth movement
May: . 343 wOBA, 118 wRC+
June: .376 wOBA, 140 wRC+
July: .339 wOBA, 115 wRC+
August: .375 wOBA, 139 wRC+
Sept/Oct: .360 wOBA, 129 wRC+
He obviously isn’t worth the contract, but El Caballo’s stick is still an asset if Houston eats some money.
one letter here makes all the difference… “El Cabello” means “The hair”… haha. it’s El Caballo
Lmao good catch…just giving him a new nickname…that’s all…
I should nickname Derek Holland “El Cabello”. How do you say “mullet” in spanish, anyway?
mulleto?
This is a bit disappointing! I have come to expect more from a fuzzy green monster or fur ball if you will. :p
PS There were some rumblings that the O’s were interested in Lee. We do need a clutch hitter in the line-up, I am unsure if Lee would fulfill that need.
Me no comprendo espanol 😀 The O’s need anyone that can bring a few fans to the stands.
Could see the Jays in on him if Lind continues to suck and they’re in contention this summer, provided Houston eats a good chunk of his salary.
I see him more of another DH type that will be looking for work next year and will mostly find a minor league deal or a $1 mil major league deal.
The Vlad Path to Retirement
Taking on most of Carlos Lee’s contract for a fringe prospect and letting him be a stopgap to Victor Martinez coming back next year would have been less risky for Detroit than giving a long-term contract to Prince. Oh well, Ilitch wants to win now I guess.
Just curious to see the responses – what do you think is the primary reason that a team appears on someone’s “blocked teams” list?
There are generally three reasons a person picks a specific team for the NTC:
1. They want leverage to negotiate a new contact with that team (Yankees, Red Sox, ect.)
2. They don’t want to go to perennial losers (Royals, Pirates, etc.)
3. They want to stay in/away from a particular part of the country.
I get 1 and 3, but isn’t 2 a dangerous assumption on the part of the player? Perennial losers could become dark horses with the right drafting, managerial change, or ownership change. If Carlos Lee negotiated 6 years ago that he didn’t want to ever be part of the awful Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise, he could have written himself away from a playoff-caliber team in the last few seasons, right?
If the Rays are on that list, I could see Lee waiving his NTC to go there. It’s to prevent a trade to a team out of contention.
Yes, that is possible, but the player still retains the right to waive the NTC. So in essence they are protected from the “perennial losers” if they continue losing without boxing themselves out from those same teams if they turn it on and start to win. If you hear the GM is shopping you, drop a hint that you might be willing to waive your NTC to such-and-such.
Also, I think zcoughlin missed another possibility: You can be compensated for waiving the NTC. It’s possible (though equally dangerous) to block teams you WANT to go to and think are likely to want you with the hope you can get them to guarantee an option year or something during the trade. Or heck, maybe the guaranteeing of an option year is what makes them attractive.
I wonder if the Dodgers are on that NTC. I wouldn’t want them to sign him long term, but a mid-season trade to replace a struggling Loney wouldn’t be bad.
Maybe even straight up for Loney, who is from Houston originally and could have some hometown star power there.
That seems like a viable trade.
trade him mid season, bring up wallace to finish the season, singleton’s ready for 13. piece of cake!
was wallace/goze the final ed wade insult?
Maybe. That Matt Holliday trade back in 2009 is starting to look better and better as Wallace hasn’t really blossomed into the kind of hitter everyone was hoping he would be.
Yea I live in PA so Camden Yards and Fenway are about the same distance but at Camden I can see the Red Sox play for sooo much cheaper.