Carlos Lee, OF, Houston Astros

December 4, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By Steve Ungrey
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Ever since the Houston Astros hit the baseball landscape in the early 1960s, they have built a solid fan following through judicious trades, inexpensive free-agent signings and a decent farm system.

The success on these three fronts prompted general managers such as Tal Smith and Gerry Hunsicker and owner Drayton McLane to keep a lid on the purse strings at times, at the risk of being called skinflints by the Astros faithful.

Meet the man that changed everything in Texas: Carlos Lee.

Prior to Lee's signing last month, fans thought there would be no way the Astros would sign anyone to an expensive free-agent contract, especially a six-year, $100 million deal like the one Lee signed to take himself off the free-agent market.

The reality is with a World Series appearance in 2005 and the fans clamoring for more, the Astros have had to change their business model slightly and start bidding for higher-priced free agents. Higher-priced players have been rare in Houston, but they have played there (Jeff Bagwell's five-year, $85 million deal comes to mind).

So what prompted McLane and company to break the bank for Lee? Let's take a look at his history.

Chicago White Sox

Signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox in 1994, it took five years for Lee to reach the South Side of Chicago as an outfielder. His impact was immediate, as he hit .293 with 16 homers and 84 RBI. His plate patience left a bit to be desired (13 walks, 72 strikeouts), but that would improve in later years.

His stats only got better from there. The following year he hit .301-24-92 and had the first of four 100-run seasons as the White Sox reached the 2000 American League Division Series before falling to Seattle. After a couple of slightly weaker seasons, Lee responded by having monster years in 2003 (.291-31-113) and 2004 (.305-31-99).

Lee's six years in Chicago were fruitful, but the team felt something was missing.

Milwaukee Brewers

Citing a need to sacrifice some of the team's excess power in exchange for speed, the White Sox made what looks like a doubtful trade right now in sending Lee to Milwaukee for outfielder Scott Podsednik. Still, the deal did what it was supposed to at the time; it freed up some salary and enabled the White Sox to fill in the holes it needed to bring a World Series title to the South Side. Suddenly, Chicago was a White Sox town, much to the chagrin of Cubs fans.

Meanwhile, about an hour's drive north on I-94, Lee got acquainted with National League baseball and hit .265-32-114 in his first season with the Brewers. The following year Lee jumped off to a roaring start in 102 games with Milwaukee, hitting .286-28-81. On the verge of a possible 40-homer, 100-RBI season, Lee's free-agent value skyrocketed. The Brewers thought long and hard about vying for the slugger on the market, but in the end Milwaukee realized it could not hang on to Lee without anteing up a huge sum of money. That precipitated a trade to Texas.

Texas Rangers

In 59 games in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Lee hit .322-9-35 with 76 hits total and only burnished his growing free-agent credentials. Even though the Rangers had slightly more in the way of resources, Texas wanted to address its pitching problems in the offseason and felt it had enough power hitting to fill The Ballpark in Arlington (Ameriquest Field). It decided not to make a bid on Lee in free agency, leaving other teams to vie for the slugger.

It turned out Lee's ultimate destination was just a few hours southeast on Interstate 45.

How will Lee's signing affect the Astros? Sure, it will drive up the budget a bit, but forget the money angle. In the words of Lee, “All I can say is I won't disappoint you… let's go for the championship.”

What Lee's signing does is solidify an already strong lineup. Speculation among Houston media is Lee will help outfielder Lance Berkman in his quest to regain lost average and power, providing a more intimidating middle of the order and more power as needed. The Houston Chronicle's beat reporters, Jose De Jesus Ortiz and Brian McTaggart, even speculated Lee's signing could bring missing free agent pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens back home. But that's another story.

Lee bats right-handed. The distance down the right-field line from home plate is a cozy 326 feet at Minute Maid Park. Should Lee connect down the opposite line, it's only 315 feet. Don't you love those dimensions? Any ball hit to center will get lost out on Tal's Hill, but don't expect that to happen too much. The odds are Lee will hit to either left or right and clear a full table by bringing runners home via average and power.

This isn't a disastrous fantasy move by any means. Rather, it's the opposite. Houston fans finally got the power hitter they coveted for a longer stint than Carlos Beltran's half-season in Texas, and the next six years should be enjoyable ones at Minute Maid. Expect Lee to go high on most outfield draft boards, much higher than he normally would have thanks to the numbers he puts up and the value of that contract.

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Steve Ungrey

Steve Ungrey has been playing fantasy baseball since 1994. An avid baseball nut, he may be one of the only people who starts the spring training countdown immediately after the final out of the World Series. If there's a fantasy baseball or baseball preview magazine for 2003, chances are he has it. A sportswriter at The Grand Rapids Press, Steve has written for KFFL since 2001, concentrating on improving the site's baseball coverage but also helping the site with its unparalleled football coverage.

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