First, there is no salary cap in baseball. Second, Lee has never been as good a player as Bagwell was in his career and he never will be. Third, giving $100 million to a fatty in his thirties who's never had an OPS over 900 is a bad idea. There are 36 players in baseball right now that have a higher OPS than Carlos Lee. He's might be leading the league in RBI but his contract is horrible.
I don't think *anyone* has a problem with his performance this year or even his contract this year ($11MM, as it escalates over time). The question is whether the contract is worth it over the full six years. The reality is a lot depends on the baseball payroll structure / financial situation and Lee's ability to stay healthy and stay in left field. The concerns, as I see it, are: 1. He's paid like a top 5 caliber position player but isn't even amongst the top 20 or 30 hitters (though he is a very intelligent hitter) - and that doesn't even consider defensive ability. He only got paid that much because he was the best hitter in a weak year of free agency. 2. Many GMs feel he's destined to be a DH due to his lingering weight issues. If this happens, he's might be tradable if he stays healthy and payrolls keep escalating. But if his health goes downhill or last year was an aberration year (as happened in the early 2000's), there's a lot of risk there that we're stuck with a contract and a player we can't really play except at 1B where we'd like Berkman to be (and we have no idea how good a 1B he would be - not sure what his reaction time is like). 3. It wouldn't be as big a deal if not combined with the Jennings trade. Assuming we re-sign Jennings for about $12MM/yr, then starting next year, we're going to have about $60MM in payroll tied up in *4* players - Oswalt, Berkman, Jennings, and Lee. For a team with a $90-$100MM payroll, that's a dangerous situation to be in - it leaves about $1.5MM to $2MM per player for the remaining 21 players. This team will have to have a fantastic farm system to maintain it's success going forward. That's where losing Hirsh really hurts if he develops into a pretty good middle-of-the-rotation starter that would have been cheap for several years. It also means that we shouldn't count on any major long-term free agent signings going forward - the payroll can't really support it. It was a great signing if the goal was simply to compete in the short-term, but I think it poses a lot of long-term risks for the team in how they can build and stay competitive on a year-to-year basis going foward.
I know that; I didn't mean to include the word cap. I meant salary room, relative to Drayton's budget, which is somewhat similar to a cap... and that's what I get for posting at 2 a.m. Ugh. Bottom line: I understand he's overpaid, but it was necessary to acquire him. It was either overpay him by about $4 million a season, or lose him to the Giants. Given the limited resources you can acquire with an extra $4 million these days, I think it was a risk worth taking, especially given the status of the team rght now.
carlos lee is not worth 100 mil, but i guess thats what you gotta pay to get a good player these days. you cant blame the astros for trying...
Alright. We've got to be incredibly mature about discussing this offseason signing. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Carlos Lee is fat. Purpura is fat. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL There we go
It was absolutely essential that the Astros acquire a quality bat before the offseason. What other contending team out there so desperately needed hitting in their lineup than the Astros? I wonder what the complaints would be like if Carlos Lee wasn't signed and they're seeing him over with the Giants leading the league in RBI? Giants offered Carlos Lee more money also. Though I wouldnt consider his current contract a "discount" in any way, he might could have worked a few more dollars into it.
