Astros Sign Two Free Agents
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by user ASwaff
In one of the biggest, and least surprising, free agent deals of the off-season, the Houston Astros announced yesterday that they have signed outfielder and Houston resident Carlos Lee to a six-year, $100 million deal.
Lee has been an extremely productive hitter recently, hitting 30 or more homeruns each of the last five seasons, and managing over 110 RBI in four of the last five seasons (he had 99 in 2004).
His consistency is suspect, though. After batting .297 in 2003 and 2004 for the Chicago White Sox, Lee hit just .273 in a season and a half with the Milwaukee Brewers. He rebounded with the Texas Rangers last year, batting .322 in 59 games. Although he hit for a much better average, however, his power numbers took a serious hit. If he had stayed on the homerun pace he had with the Brewers, he would have had 16 homeruns with the Rangers. But, despite moving to such a homerun-friendly park, he had just 9. He had a .549 slugging percentage with the Brewers, but a .525 with the Rangers (although it's still well above his career .495 slugging percentage).
Lee runs surprisingly well for a big man. He's had double-digit steals five of the last six years, including 19 steals last year while being caught just twice. I also really like his low strikeout rate. The most strikeouts he's accumulated for a season is 94 (in his second season in 2000), and he had just 65 last year. For his career, he averages about 82 per year.
Some say that his low strikeout totals lead to more double plays, but that's not necessarily something the Astros need to be worried about. Lee had a career-high 22 double plays last year in 161 games. That makes him a significant upgrade over Preston Wilson, who had 18 GDPs for the Astros in just 102 games without anywhere near the kind of production Lee will bring.
I also like Lee's durability. He has played 150 games or more in six out of his 8 major league seasons. ESPN blogger Keith Law makes a good point, though, when he says that Lee, whom the Astros have signed through the age of 36, does not have the makeup of a player that will productive into his mid-30s.
In a much smaller, but potentially more significant deal, the Astros signed starting pitcher and Houston native Woody Williams to a two-year, $12.5 million deal. There is also a club option for a third year worth $6.5 million. This is the man that very well may have to shouler the load of replacing both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Yikes.
Williams, who turned 40 in August, is the latest successor in the Astros' legacy of fixation with elderly pitchers. He is a career 124-101 pitcher with a 4.09 ERA, and is far removed from his glory days with the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. Last year he was 12-5 with a 3.65 ERA. But, that was in PetCo, not Minute Maid Park, and it was likely an aberration, given his more recent performances. It was the first time he'd had an ERA under 4.00 since 2003. The number of starts he's managed to have of late should also be troubling for the Astros. He has fewer than 30 starts in three of the last five seasons, including a 17-start season with the Cardinals in 2002.
Is he worth $6.5 million a year? I don't think so.
But, at any rate, it's nice to see the Astros making a splash in the free agent pool again. After last year's debacle where they desperately needed a bat and managed to make their biggest deal the signing of Preston Wilson, I think I'd rather see the Astros make bad deals than no deals at all.
