I personally think that paying Carlos Lee 90-100 mill is way too much !! Vernon Wells is a Carlos Beltran like player with better numbers and averages plus he is a 4 time Gold Glove winner including this year. Can you imagine all the money we could save signing Wells and then making some trades and getting some pitching with the extra money we would have ? I mean the guy hit .303 and had 30 plus HRs including 40 doubles.One thing I like about him is that he doesn't hit into DP very much at all. I think the Crawford Boxes would up his HR total to maybe 40 plus !! I like Wells and I have no problem seeing him in a Astros uniform. I have seen him make some Tori Hunter type catches in the outfield....Carlos Lee is slow and his averages are lower than Wells plus he is older. Well what do you guys think ?
It might make more sense but you can't bank on a team trading to you. They can simply say they're keeping their player or taking someone else's deal and by then all the good free agents will be gone. And why add through subracting when you don't have to? Just go ahead and add. Plus, that's just the going rate for a good player now. They didnt just say Carlos Lee should get all the money, the market price for EVERY ball player is just ridiculously high now. Its not even Lee's fault. So they should either go ahead and sign him (my choice) or take their chances playing Oakland A's/Florida Marlins budget ball and hope cheaper players can come around for them.
I agree with your POV, Rox Addict. In comparison of the two, it's a no-brainer, Wells would be a much better solution to our mostly punchless offense at the same time, bolstering our OF defense. However, Wells will not be wrestled away from the Jays for a song. It will definitely cost us young talent (Burke, Willy T, Pence, Patton and/or Hirsh). The Jays know they got a stud in Wells. So, the question of the day is what would it take to make this happen? In the meantime, the Stros must do all they can to improve this ballclub even if the D suffers a bit to bolster an anemic offense. Look at Carlos' numbers for the past 4 years and they are VERY solid, VERY consistent. He is a big-time clutch hitter! With the Cubs making noise with Soriano and Co, the Reds making moves, the Cards still being a pain ... we cant stand pat and hope for the best or else we will finish no better than 3rd in the division at best.
What on earth? He had a fantastic year last year and his OPS was still 80 points below Beltran. Not to mention, his '04 and '05 were almost identical to Biggio's '04 and '05, and I don't think anyone would argue that Biggio was a great player either of those years. Lee is a bit overrated, but at least he's consistent. Wells had 2 mediocre seasons followed by a great one last year. Don't count on him to repeat last year. How are you going to save money? You're going to have to trade some of your top prospects to get him, for starters. And if you want to keep him beyond 1 year (to make giving up the prospects worth it), you're going to have to sign him to a bigger deal than Lee is going to get. How exactly are you saving money?
Wells has an .828 career OPS in 5 full seasons. Willy Taveras has a .669 OPS in 3 full seasons. If Vernon Wells is mediocre what do you think of Taveras?
Oh yeah, forgot how that works. Sort of like how Matt Bullard is the best 3 point shooter in the history of basketball.
Beltran: FRAR 2001 KC_-A CF 36 2002 KC_-A CF 22 2003 KC_-A CF 23 2004 HOU-N CF 13 2004 KC_-A CF 11 2005 NY_-N CF 19 2006 NY_-N CF 31 Wells: FRAR 2002 TOR-A CF 16 2003 TOR-A CF 19 2004 TOR-A CF 18 2005 TOR-A CF 22 2006 TOR-A CF 13 They aren't really in the same league defensively, Beltran is far and away better. The fact that you see him make highlight reel catches means nothing, your memory is self selecting your evaluation criteria. But it doesn't matter, because the Astros can't sign Wells. He isn't a free agent.
That is what I like most about Lee is his consistency. There should be no reason for him to not put up a couple more solid years as he has done it every year. Also, he stole 19 bases out of 21 last season. For all of you people that say he is too fast and slow I don't blame you but at least the guy has some speed. Another thing to note is that he only struck out 60 times last season. That is pretty impressive. He doesn't walk a lot but who cares we don't need him to walk we need him to make contact and drive in runs.
We got a right handed bat who 45% of the time puts the ball in the air...couple that with MMPs Crawford boxes and he will knock out 40 and drive in 100+...in my mind he's worth $100 mil. He's untradeable for 4 years which I like because I believe Los is in his prime right now and it'll last for antoher 4 or 5 years. Awesome signing...hope he can keep the weight off though.
Wells would have made much more since.but we must not forget that he's not a free agent and well hes doesn't fit the stros color scheme
My point is your calling an .828 OPS from a centerfielder with gold glove defense mediocre. I'll come right out and say it. That's stupid.
Actually, if you read what I wrote instead of what you wanted to hear, I called his '04 and '05 seasons mediocre. And they were. Neither would put him in the top 50 players in the league in OPS. Neither were even in the top 5 of centerfielders. If you're going to pay him the money he's going to ask, he better be one of the top 10-15 offensive players in the league. In '04, his OPS ranked behind superstar centerfielders such as Aaron Rowand, Mark Kotsay, and Eric Byrnes. In '05, it was behind stalwarts like David DeJesus, Brady Clark, and Coco Crisp. If you think that's worth $17MM, fine - I certainly don't.
There is no way we go after Wells now. Its all about pitching. I hope we get a commitment for Clemens, although I would want him earlier than when he joined the team last season.
