Carlos Lee Makes Sense (still) and is Available (again)

To all my loyal reader (singular on purpose), I want to warn you that this will be similar to a previous post.

The Indians have stated that their current offensive needs for next season are a fourth outfield option, first base, and a right handed hitter with some pop that can bat in the middle of the order.  All of these can be addressed by one player.  Carlos Lee is a perfect fit for Cleveland.  First and foremost, he’s a right handed hitter that’s capable of 100 RBIs.  He hit .275 and had an OBP of .342 with Matt LaPorta’s left handed clone hitting behind him which provided Lee absolutely no protection.  Because of this, his numbers could remain steady or improve with someone like Hafner or Santana hitting behind him despite his age and the fact that he’d be shifting into a harder league.   Offensively, he helps.

Shifting the focus to El Caballo’s defense, it seems like it's a perfect fit.  Last year Carlos Lee played in 79 games at First Base and 80 in Left Field with a 2.1 defensive WAR (http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2011.shtml).  He can replace LaPorta at first base and shift to left field when Santana needs a break from catching or when one of our outfielders inevitably gets hurt- Yes, you Grady Sizemore.  Further, Lee has managed to stay healthy, playing in at least 155 games each of the last three years.

The obstacle is obviously acquiring him.  He is owed $18.5 million next year which is much more than the Tribe has stated they’re willing to spend; however, we did just convince Atlanta into eating ten of Derek Lowe’s 15 million owed next year.  If we can get Houston to do the same, he would be within the projected spending room the Tribe have.  Houston is in the very beginning of a massive rebuilding project which means they don’t need necessarily need major league ready prospects, which bodes well for the Tribe since they don’t have any left.  The Astros need a plethora of younger guys and some stopgaps that can be serviceable in the meantime.  We have plenty of that caliber player on the Clippers and should have enough good players in the lower level minors to pry Carlos Lee away from the rebuilding Houston Astros.