[bigboydan]

I see tonight that Carlos Lee signed with the Astros for over 100 million dollars. Carlos is a good player, but he's not even close to a 100 million dollars type good.

What in the hell were the Astros thinking

[onlooker]

Well Im sure his homerun and rbi numbers will increase playing in Houston. Still, I dont think he is worth that much either. But its baseball, they like to throw away money.

[Willie Bee]

If frickin' Juan Pierre is worth $9 mill a year, it's hard to whine about Carlos Lee being overpaid. The Cubs' Jim Hendry set the bar this year. Everyone else has to pony up or shut up.

[bigboydan]

Willie, Your Astros should have been spending on pitching. Now that Andy and Roger are gone, what in the hell are the stros gonna do now to replace'um ?

[onlooker]

If frickin' Juan Pierre is worth $9 mill a year, it's hard to whine about Carlos Lee being overpaid. The Cubs' Jim Hendry set the bar this year. Everyone else has to pony up or shut up.

How true. Peirre just robbed the Dodgers this off season. He is getting older and will start lossing his speed which makes his game.

[Mudcat]

Your thread title caught my eye and the first thing I thought of, naturally enough, was the local signing of Frank Thomas for 2 years, $18 million.

The Carlos Lee deal fits the bill too.

Not a lot of bargoons at free agent time, are there?

[Illusion]

The Cubs' Jim Hendry set the bar this year. Everyone else has to pony up or shut up.

No doubt. I'm sure J.D. Drew is down on his hands and knees thanking god Hendry set the bar so high.

[Willie Bee]

Every offseason there's one contract that serves to basically set the rates for the rest of the free agents behind them. It's a lousy system, and it's rife throughout the sports and entertainment industry. But the addicts, er, fans out there apparently see no problem with it as stadiums and theatres remain filled to the brim, and everyone keeps buying the DVDs or pay-per-view/cable packages to watch even more.

Is Carlos Lee worth about $16 million a year to waddle his fat butt around the Astros outfield? No, absolutely not. But neither is that $7.50 cup of beer and $5 bucket of popcorn you're eating at the stadium or theatre, not to mention the $27.50 you spent for an outfield seat and the $15 you paid the guy to park your car 20 blocks from the event. Bitching won't do a thing about it as long as there are so many who are perfectly willing to reach in their wallet time and time again.

[Stumpage]

I found it (The $$$ amount) surprising, but I hope it works out for you WBee...Seeing that the RedSox ponied up the GNP of a small nation just to talk to Matsuzaka, it would be hard pressed to fault the Astros for this...Hey, if he helps bring a World Series parade to downtown Houston, it would have been worth every penny.

[EBone]

What about Gary Matthews Jr.? I thought I saw that he got 5 yrs at 50 million. 10 million a year for Gary Matthews Jr? There was a time (not so long ago I might add) that Gary Matthews Jr. had a hard time staying on any 25 man roster. 10 million a year for a CF that has had one good season. Wow!!!!!!


E

[Mudcat]

That's the problem right there. A few GM's (like many sports bettors come to think of it) over-react to the most recent thing they saw instead of taking a calm look at the big picture. Because a few are genuinely short-sighted, the smart ones (assuming they are out there) have no choice but to be sucked in. There is pressure to please their fans and they get sucked into these insane bidding wars.

There was a reason Frank Thomas only earned $500,000 last year - that's what his career was meriting at that point - but one big year and suddenly he's worth a 1800% raise.

I know I'm harping on Frank Thomas and his is probably the least crazy deal of all the ones mentioned in this thread.

Crappy system though. That's all I'm saying.

[Illusion]

What about Gary Matthews Jr.? I thought I saw that he got 5 yrs at 50 million. 10 million a year for Gary Matthews Jr? There was a time (not so long ago I might add) that Gary Matthews Jr. had a hard time staying on any 25 man roster. 10 million a year for a CF that has had one good season. Wow!!!!!!


E

Look at the money Beltran got just for one good postseason. It still amazes me.

[Willie Bee]

I found it (The $$$ amount) surprising, but I hope it works out for you WBee...Seeing that the RedSox ponied up the GNP of a small nation just to talk to Matsuzaka, it would be hard pressed to fault the Astros for this...Hey, if he helps bring a World Series parade to downtown Houston, it would have been worth every penny.

If it breaks Drayton McLane and his family has to go on food stamps, I won't care if it means even another NL Pennant or two much less a WS title.

Very few of these longterm deals ever prove to be 'worth it.' Look at Jeff Bagwell, for example. A far better player in his prime than Carlos Lee, was paid less than Lee and Houston still didn't get their money's worth.

The flip side is that since he started to 'over-spend' for players, the Astros have enjoyed their greatest success under the ownership of McLane. There was a pretty good bio on FSN about McLane a while back after the team went to the '05 Series. The most interesting part to me was Drayton explaining how he had to acclimate to the way salaries are structured in MLB compared to the way salaries are structured in the real world, i.e., McLane's experiences in building his grocery biz.