'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 19

*Justin Verlander is progressing, he told reporters this afternoon, but he's not 100%. Verlander:
In general, everything's been moving in the right direction and it's started, these last couple of weeks, to feel very strong, particularly in throwing. That was probably the toughest thing on the groin, which I think points to why I needed this surgery in the first place, because throwing was putting a big strain on it. But I would say particularly this week, I've made a big stride forward and am very optimistic about how it's feeling and looking.

*Check the new Astros Radio podcast, with Ryan Pressly.

*Get the new Houston Together shirt, all proceeds benefit the Astros Foundation.

Carlos Lee being Carlos Lee for your viewing pleasure #ElCaballo 🐴💪 pic.twitter.com/dMFvmh25R1

— Apollo Media (@ApolloHOU) April 30, 2020

*From Boob Nightengale: Should there be a season in 2020, MLB would like to use home ballparks instead of the Arizona/Florida plan.



*Ken Rosenthal: Trouble may be brewing between MLB and their terrible umpires.

*FanGraphs: Get to know the KBO, Pt. 1



*More FanGraphs: Build your own Team Hall of Fame.

*SI: The Lost-and-Found Story of Michael Neustifter.

*The Athletic: What if Jeremy Giambi had slid in 2001?

*Tim Kurkjian: How Bob Feller made Ted Williams start preparing three days earlier.

*The Baseball Hall of Fame postponed the inductions of Larry Walker, Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons, and some other guy until July 2021.



*Effa Manley - the only woman to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame - and her hidden life.

*Outside: The man who runs 365 marathons a year.

Each day is better than the next.

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Note: Things might slow down a little as I've been working on a big ol' Hurricane Harvey/Astros retrospective, similar to the one I did for Hurricane Ike. It's currently about 4000 words and I haven't gotten to the part where (spoiler alert!) Verlander gets traded to Houston.

*Jon Heyman reports that the Astros are looking at the possibility of adding The (M)AAA-rlins' J.T. Realmuto or Jonathan Lucroy (ewww) as part of a long-term solution at catcher. Heyman:
Of course, it is well known the Astros don't like to give up prospects, and Realmuto would cost a ton of prospects.

Man I forgot that the Astros got Justin Verlander for the price of a handful of magic beans and Luhnow's willingness to co-sign on a Toyota Camry lease, and not two Top 100 prospects and a good catcher.

*This is actually from a couple of days ago, but the Astros winning the World Series caused an $11.4m loss in November - the largest baseball loss month in Vegas history. ESPN:
The Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7 on Nov. 1, sending bettors to the cashier. In addition to any winning wagers on Game 7, futures bets on the Astros to win the World Series that were placed throughout the year and cashed in November added up to the record monthly baseball loss.

I love gambling culture. I don't gamble, because I know my faults and personality, but this story from November about Bettor X and Mattress Mack is well worth your time.

*The Astros winning the World Series is Hardball Talk's top story of 2017.

*Joe Posnanski writes about Carlos Lee's career and draws an...Orlando Cepeda comp?

*The allegations against Minnesota's Miguel Sano are damning. How will MLB respond?

*Willie McCovey comes out in favor of Barry Bonds' Hall of Fame case.

This burn is so sick Levon Helm just came back from the dead in order to finally reconcile with Robbie Robertson. pic.twitter.com/kmoyure6JU

— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) December 30, 2017

The Worst Seasons in Astros History

INTRO PARAGRAPH. SOMETHING ABOUT IT BEING FUN TO CELEBRATE AWFULNESS, LIKE 2010-2013.

First, some disclaimers:
1) I know some of the names of which you are thinking. But those guys probably didn't get enough ABs to qualify for the batting title, or innings pitched to qualify as a pitcher. I'm looking for worst start-to-finish, honest-to-God everyday player in Astros history. So you're not going to see Carlos Gomez, Jon Singleton, Brett Wallace, Jordan Schafer, etc. They didn't play enough in a given season to qualify.
2) I'm using FanGraphs' version of WAR because it's easier to sort. I like easy.

So let's take this in order from (tied for) 5th-worst, to the worst overall season in Astros history.

Three-way tie for 5th-worst:

Ryan Bowen, 1992: -1.2 fWAR

Ryan Bowen was the Astros 1st pick of the 1986 draft (#13 overall), after players like Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Matt Williams, and Greg Swindell had been selected. After the 6th pick of the 1st Round of the 1986 draft, only two players enjoyed a career fWAR over 9.0 (Roberto Hernandez and Luis Alicea). He made his professional debut at Age 19 in Single-A Asheville, going 12-5 with 126 strikeouts in 160.1IP, a 4.04 ERA/1.38 WHIP. He walked 78 batters in foreshadowing of what would be an ongoing issue - Bowen walked 116 batters (but struck out 136) in 139.2IP for Double-A Columbus in 1989.

He made his Houston debut in 1991, allowing 73H/41ER, 49K:36BB in 71.2IP for the Astros. Bowen had a no-hitter going through the 5th of his first Major-League start against St. Louis on July 22...and then allowed four runs in the 6th inning. Bowen did mix in four Quality Starts for the 1991 Astros, and four disaster starts, the low point being a 1.2IP, 8H/8ER, 2K:1BB, 1HBP. But his last three starts saw him throw 18IP, 10H/5ER, 14K:10BB, holding opponents to a .159/.270/.175 slash line.

1992 opened with Bowen starting G4 of the season. The 1992 Astros finished 81-81 but the pitcher with the most wins was closer Doug Jones, with 11. One other pitcher - Jimmy Jones - had double-digit wins. Bowen's season debut didn't exactly pick up where he left off in 1991: 5IP, 8H/8ER, 2K:4BB, 3HR against Cincinnati on April 10. A scoreless inning of relief on April 14 was followed by another start on April 21 against the Giants: 4IP, 6H/6ER, 1K:3BB, 1HR. It didn't really get better. Bowen pitched into the 6th inning once in his nine starts. He didn't make it out of the 2nd inning in three of them. After the season the Astros left him unprotected in the expansion draft, and he was selected by the Florida Marlins.

1992 season line: 33.2IP, 48H/41ER, 22K:30BB, 8HR, 2HBP. 10.96 ERA/2.32 WHIP.

Travis Blackley, 2013: -1.2 fWAR

Blackley was the other Australian pitcher not named Ryan Rowland-Smith, an interesting case in that he was drafted in 2000, made his MLB debut (10.04 ERA/2.19 WHIP) 26IP for Seattle in 2004, didn't pitch in the Majors again until 2007 (7.27 ERA/1.73 WHIP) in 8.2IP for San Francisco. Didn't pitch again in the Majors until 2012, when the A's plucked him off waivers from San Francisco after he allowed 7H/5ER in 5IP for the Giants. With the A's, though, he threw 102.2IP, 91H/44ER, 69(nice)K:30BB. So this led to a trade to the Astros, who were Very Bad in 2013, for Jake Goebbert (whom I really liked).

An underrated part of the 2010-2013 Astros were that they were basically a non-profit organization - helping the poor, the needy, the under-privileged. Did you know that if you appear in one Major-League Baseball game, your health insurance is covered for the rest of your life? So the Astros played a whole bunch of dudes who had no business being on a Major-League roster with the explicit intent of letting them get free health insurance (this is how I'm partially justifying the hell of 2010-2013).

ANYWAY. The 2013 were bad enough to trade a young player for a 30-year old reliever with a career 5.37 ERA and a 5.8 K/9. The Astros ran Blackley out for 42 appearances in that 111-loss campaign. In his Astros debut he allowed 3H/3ER, 0K:2BB, 1HR against Cleveland in a 19-6 loss. Foreshadowing. Three days later he allowed a homer in 2IP against Seattle (though was credit with a hold. He had periods of showing that he could get hitters out followed by a complete inability to miss a bat. He faced 152 batters as an Astro, 47 of them breached base.

After he allowed a hit and a walk against Boston on August 7, Blackley was traded to the Ramgers for a PTBNL and cash, though I have no idea which player was actually named later. Maybe the PTBNL was a Ramgers fan jumping ship to Houston, and the Astros just took the fan and the $30 he spent at Lids buying a new hat as the cash and the PTBNL. He did not have nice things to say about his time with the Astros. I wrecked him.

2013 season line: 35IP, 30H/19ER, 29K:20BB, 10HR, 4WP. 4.89 ERA/1.43 WHIP, 6.91 FIP. You know how hard it is to post a -1.2 fWAR in 35IP?

John Hudek, 1997: -1.2 fWAR

John Hudek was drafted by the White Sox in the 10th Round of the 1988 draft, taken by the Tigers in the 1992 Rule 5 draft, and selected off waivers eight months later by the Astros. He threw 39.1IP for the 1994 Astros, earning an All-Star nod by allowing 24H/13ER, 39K:18BB, a 2.97 ERA/1.07 WHIP belied by a 4.25 FIP (but nobody knew anything about FIP in 1994, just amphetamines). 1995 went worse. In just 20IP, he allowed 12ER for a 5.40 ERA/1.20 WHIP...but with a 2.90 FIP. So his first two years cancelled each other out. 1996 was a return to his Even Year Form, even with a small sample size: 16IP, 12H/5ER, 14K:5BB - a 2.81 ERA/1.06 WHIP.

Then 1997 happened. He threw 40.2IP for the Astros and while there wasn't ever any game where you'd look and think "Holy crap that guy gotta go," there were prolonged periods of inactivity for a team that won the division yet under-performed their Pythagorean Wins by nine games. After the season the Astros traded Hudek to the Mets for (somehow) Carl Everett.

Perhaps you've seen that John Hudek's daughter, Sarah, was perhaps the first female to get a college scholarship to play baseball. He runs the John Hudek All-Star Baseball Academy in Sugar Land.

1997 Final Line: 40.2IP, 38H/27ER, 36K:3BB, 8HR, 3HBP, 4WP. 5.98 ERA/1.75 WHIP, 6.55 FIP.

Let's call it 3rd-worst:

Al Osuna, 1992: -1.4 fWAR

This cat is weird. Selected in the 5th Round of the 1985 draft by Baltimore AND by the Padres in the 2nd Round of the Secondary Phase (where you could stock your farm systems. It's strange, maybe I don't get it. Read about it here.), Osuna apparently didn't sign with either team, and was selected by the Astros in the 16th Round of the 1987 draft out of Stanford.

Osuna made his major-league debut on September 2, 1990 against Pittsburgh, striking out two but allowing 2H/2ER in the 7th inning. Two days later he started a four-game run where he threw 6IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:2BB including his first ML win. He would give up one run in four of his last seven games of the season. Whatever. He threw 81.2IP for Houston in 1991, allowing a respectable 3.42 ERA/1.29 WHIP, but with 68K:46BB. For what would be his Age-26 Season in 1992, it was a decent jump.

Yeah no. But it was fun at first! In his first 11 games (11IP) Osuna allowed 6H/0ER...but with 7K:9BB. He allowed four earned runs at Pittsburgh, blowing his first save of the season. Two weeks later he got his second loss at St. Louis. He had a pattern, a few outings of decent relief followed by a couple of runs. His nadir came on September 20 at Atlanta when he allowed 5H/6ER, 0K:2BB, 3HR in a 16-1 loss. Before the 1994 season Osuna was traded to the Dodgers for pitcher Jimmy Daspit, who never played in Houston.

1992 Final Line: 61.2IP, 52H/29ER, 37K:38BB, 8HR, 4.23 ERA/1.46 WHIP. 270 batters faced, 85 reached base.

2nd-Worst:

Carlos Lee, 2010: -1.7 fWAR

I think we all knew how this was gonna go when the 6yr/$100m contract was signed. The first few years were gonna be pretty fine, but the back end was gonna be awful. The Astros were counting on that, with Uncle Drayton hoping the Astros could make another Series run before the contract became an albatross, which it did. Over the first three seasons (2007-2009) Lee hit .305/.354/.524 with 86 homers and 321 RBI (and 105 doubles) for a 128 OPS+. I mean, yeah, he hit into 56 GIDPs, which is a lot, but 86 homerz!

2010 was the worst year of his career - a 123-point OPS drop. After eight seasons of an OPS over .800, Lee cratered. He hit .238/.281/.409 against right-handed pitchers a year after hitting .293/.332/.482 against the same pitchers who happened to throw with their right hand. And in 2009 he had a .915 OPS but somehow that turned into a .766 OPS at Minute Maid. I would rather have given him $80m for 3yrs than $100m/6yrs but that's hindsight.

But Purpura and Drayton gonna Purpura and Drayton and the Astros still owed Carlos Lee $55m to post a combined 1.8 fWAR over the last three years of his deal, which included a trade to the Yankees no wait Marlins.

Lee rebounded slightly from 2010 to 2011, a season in which he posted a .275/.342/.446 line for a 2.9 fWAR. But it didn't eliminate 2010, or the Astros unwillingness as a franchise to see that major changes needed to be made - and not in the form of Carlos Lee or Woody Williams - to save the team as a whole.

2010 Final Line: .246/.291/.417, 24 HR, 89 RBI, 59K:37BB in 649 PAs. He made contact, none of it well.

The Worst Season in Astros History:

In 2017 Matt Dominguez will be in his Age 28 season, the point at which (reasonably speaking) a Major-League player should be peaking. But we knew what we were getting with Matt Dominguez: good-glove, no-hit 3B. He's as if Henry Skrimshander got moved to third to make way for Carlos Correa, but only to see if he could hang on to his job. If the Astros could make his bat work, it would be a steal.

The Marlins' 1st Round pick (12th overall) in the 2007 draft (the same round in which the Astros basically sunk the future to sign Lee and Woody Williams, didn't draft until the 3rd Round and didn't sign Derek Dietrich and Brett Eibner, making their first signed pick the 171st overall pick Collin DeLome), Dominguez was traded - in a really sweet piece of symmetry - to the Astros on July 4, 2012...for Carlos Lee.

In 31 games for the Astros in 2012 Dominguez fared well, hitting .284/.310/.477 with nine extra-base hits in 113 PAs. He got his first real shot for the 2013 Astros after the departure of Chris Johnson the season prior. In 152 games, Johnson hit .241/.286/.403 with 25 doubles, 21 homers, 96K:30BB. It was as good as it would get for Full-Time Matt Dominguez...

...because in 2014 Dominguez posted the worst season in Astros history.Because there basically wasn't anyone else who could play 3B at a "major-league level;" meaning the Astros couldn't find someone to not post the worst season ever in franchise history to play third base. Dominguez hit .215/.256/.330 with 125K:29BB. A 65 OPS+. He somehow hit 16 homers, though, with 23 GIDPs. Out of 7,364 Major-League players who had enough PAs, Dominguez's 2014 ranked tied for 7,348th.

2014 Final Line: 607 PAs, .215/.256/.330, 125K:29BB

Have a drink.

Today, in News You Thought Happened Six Months Ago

Carlos Lee retired.

After 14 years in the Majors, playing in 140+ games in twelve of those seasons, Lee hung up his cleats with a career .285/.339/.483 slash line, 358 homers, 1363 RBI, and 47 stolen bases. From 1999-2008, Lee hit .290/.344/.505 with 281 homers. His career peaked in 2008 when he was hitting .314/.368/.569 after 115 games with 28 homers and 100 RBIs, and then Bronson Arroyo broke his finger with a pitch in August. He would put up an .831 OPS in 2009, but between 2010-12 Lee hit .261/.321/.410, averaging 17 HRs a year.

Lee ranks 10th all-time on the Astros' franchise leaderboard with a .286 batting average in 3419 plate appearances, 6th in slugging percentage (.479), and 8th in OPS (.817). His 133 home runs in an Astros uniform are 10th in franchise history. His 190 hits in 2007 are 7th in Astros history for a single season, and his 331 total bases in 2007 are 10th all-time in a season.

Back in 2012, we took a look at the Astros' decision to sign Carlos Lee, and what a big deal it was when he came to Houston.

Brian McTaggart goes on vacation, gives us a heart attack

Brian McTaggart went on vacation yesterday. But before he left, he gave us this sweet little Twitter treat.  

Here's the story on the#Astros signing of Carlos Lee, with video of the press conference houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.j
 
Well, of course the Astros signed Carlos Pena, and not Carlos Lee. And of course it was a typo, brought on by six years of psychological pain of seeing El Caballo in an Astros jersey. And isn't it telling that, for however brief a moment, we thought it was actually possible that the Astros brought back Lee?

Fact-check!

I'm as sick of kicking a dead Caballo than anybody else, but yesterday morning Brian McTaggart tweeted something that caught my eye:

Carlos Lee was never the same after he broke his finger. It changed the way he gripped the bat.

Lee broke his finger in the 3rd inning of the August 9, 2008 game against the Reds, with Bronson Arroyo pitching. To that plate appearance, Lee was having a great year - .314/.368/.569, for a .937 OPS, all of which just happened to be career-highs. He had 28 homers to go with 27 doubles, for a 40.1% XBH/H rate. Lance Berkman hit a team-high 29 homers in 2008, one ahead of Lee, despite 174 more plate appearances.

So it's safe to say that Bronson Arroyo and his dumb garage band derailed Lee's season, for sure. But was Lee "never the same" after the broken finger? LET'S LOOK.

Let's just ignore Lee's 1999 season, where he played in 127 games after making his MLB debut on May 9, 1999. His career stats, 2000-2008 are as follows:

.290/.347/.508. 119 OPS+. A homer in every 21.5 plate appearances. An extra-base hit in every 9.8 plate appearances.

After that? .276/.327/.446. 109 OPS+. A homer in every 30.8 plate appearances. An extra-base hit in every 11.3 plate appearances. So the numbers seem to bear out.

BUT WAIT.

Lee played 160 games in 2009, having recovered from the broken finger. How did he perform?

.300/.343/.489. 119 OPS+. Homer in every 25.5 plate appearances. Extra-base hit in every 10.7 plate appearances.

So yeah, there was a drop-off in production from 2008 to 2009 - but it's not as though he "wasn't the same" after that. His 2009 OPS (.831) was just 24 points off his OPS from 2000-2008, 16 points off his OPS from 2000-2007 - while his OPS+ was exactly the same in 2009 as it was from 2000-2008.

Where Carlos Lee was "never the same" was 2010-2012. In those two and a half seasons, Lee hit .266/.320/.428. 104 OPS+. Homer every 33.7 plate appearances, extra-base hit every 11.6 plate appearances. He was also 34-36 years old.

Perhaps Lee's grip on the bat changed - that's something McTaggart would know better than I. However, he seemed to be okay in 2009. It looks as though "Old" could have been more to blame for Carlos Lee's drop-off than an errant Arroyo throw.

Carlos and Ozzie didn't exactly part on peaceful terms

Chances are, you play for Ozzie Guillen, and he's going to hate you at some point. That's sort of what happened with Carlos Lee and the White Sox in 2004, as FanGraphs' Chris Cwik reminds us...

Guillen was critical of Lee’s non-aggressive playing style when he was Lee’s manager with the Chicago White Sox. In a game against the Minnesota Twins, Torii Hunter collided with White Sox catcher Jamie Burke, who had to leave the game with a concussion. Lee had an opportunity to take out the Twins second baseman on a slide late in the game, and did not. After Lee was traded to Milwaukee the following off-season, Guillen cited that moment as one of the reasons for the deal.

Carlos Lee links

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives...

Marlins GM Michael Hill first made contact with Jeff Luhnow in May:
"We watched the club play and offense was a concern. We started to research different possibilities, different bats that might be available. … We felt like it was a good time to infuse a veteran, professional, experienced bat into the lineup."

Jeff Luhnow:
"Carlos Lee will help the Marlins. The Marlins are very invested in trying to win quickly and Lee can fit into that equation, and I think that's why they were interested in him. We have a different outlook. We're looking towards the future and we were able to get two players we believe will be a part of our future, and that was too good to pass up."
(Click the McTaggart link to read more about why the L.A. trade didn't happen.)

Jerome Solomon:
Take my word for it, rookie owner Jim Crane was more upset at having to take on Lee’s contract when he bought the team than he was about being bullied by Major League Baseball to move to the American League. At least MLB paid him $50 million to take the abuse. Lee was an $18.5 million albatross on the books.

Kevin Goldstein takes a quick look at Dominguez/Rasmussen at Baseball Prospectus.

Keith Law tweeted (in response to a question) that Dominguez and Rasmussen were a "defensive replacement and reliever."

Just in case you had wondered what the trade means for the Cubs (?)...

Ok great, but traded for WHO?

Right about the time word got out that "Carlos Lee has been tra..." the twittersphere erupted with excitement, glad that the embodiment of all that's gone wrong in Houston is finally gone.  That's great and all, and Im'a let you finish, but let's look at who the Astros are getting in return.

Matt Dominguez - AAA Third Baseman

Dominguez was the Marlins' 1st round pick in 2007, drafted as a shortstop out of Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, CA. His move to third wasn't so much related to his fielding, as he profiles as a plus defender, as it was the presence of Hanley Ramirez. His first full season in the minors he put up good numbers, especially for an 18 year old, including 18 home runs and an .853 OPS for Greensboro in the Sally League.  Since then, his performance has been consistent, with an OPS in the mid to low .700s and double digit home runs, while continuing to be at least a year younger than his competition. This year he's hitting .234/.291/.357 for AAA New Orleans, though he may still be recovering from a bout with mono last season. He has consistently displayed average to slightly-above-average walk rates while improving his strikeout rates as he's moved up. Dominguez came into the season ranked 74th on MLB.com's top 100 prospect list, 2nd on the Marlins' prospect ranking, and 8th on their top ten third base prospect list. The only named comp I've seen for him is Pedro Feliz, but with a better walk rate. Before that scares too many Astros fans, remember that Feliz was an above average third baseman for several years with the Giants and Phillies.

I've never seen him play, so that's about what I can glean from his numbers. What do those who have seen him and are smarter than me say?

Wherever he plays, though, Dominguez is a quality bat, though not a great one, and he has the potential to be a solid MLB contributor and premium defender. - ScoutingBook.com

"He's a complete player, other than not running. He's a baseball player who's very far along. He's been in the baseball eye for a long time. There's no question his bat was underrated. He does everything well and he's just a real smart player. He understands the game well." -- Jim Fleming, Marlins VP of Player Development and Scouting (2009)

Upside potential: All-Star-caliber third baseman who is a run-producer and Gold Glover; a Scott Rolen type. - MLB Top 50 from 2009

His glove is ready for the big leagues now, but it remains to be seen if he's ready to hit Major League pitching full time. - MLB 2012 Prospect Watch

 Rob Rasmussen - High A Starting Pitcher

Rasmussen was the Marlins' 2nd round pick in 2010 out of UCLA. His first full season was at A+ Jupiter in the Florida State League, where he put up a 3.64 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. This season he's putting up similar numbers at the same level, though he has reduced his walk rate some. He doesn't show a big platoon split, so the usual fallback as a lefty specialist doesn't really make sense here. The biggest key for Rasmussen is his control. MLB named Rasmussen the Marlins' #9 prospect coming into 2012.

What do the smart people say?

He has a good combination of stuff and pitchability, with perhaps command being the only thing standing in his way from consistent success. - MLB 2012 Prospect Watch

Rasmussen is undersized at 5-9, 160, but he has good arm strength and works in the low-90s, mixing in a curve, slider, and changeup. - Minor League Ball

Extremely competitive and intelligent pitcher, up-tempo bulldog. Has the intangibles to pitch above his physical grades at the major league level. - Baseball Prospect Report

He will probably be given at least an opportunity at longer work in pro ball first, but he's an obvious lights-out reliever in the making already. - ScoutingBook.com

CARLOS LEE TRADED TO MIAMI

This could make me ignore the burn ban and set off fireworks tonight...

4:59pm - Rosenthal: Source: #Marlins were not on Lee's limited no-trade list. In other words, his approval was NOT needed for the trade.

4:55pm - Rodriguez: Astros will pay remainder of Lee's salary, minus pro-rated league minimum.

4:52pm - Rodriguez: Now Matt Dominguez scratched from New Orleans lineup, but still not told of trade. Zephyrs playing #Astros Triple-A OKC affiliate today.

4:43pm - Rodriguez: Rasmussen has been scratched from Double-A start, but still not informed of trade

4:35pm - Juan Rodriguez (Sun-Sentinel Marlins Beat Writer) : Rasmussen slated to make Double-A debut tonight. As of 5 minutes ago, hadn't been scratched.

4:18pm - Levine: Lowrie was removed from the game for baseball reasons, not as part of a trade.

Matt Dominguez is a 22-year old, 6'1" 215lb righty 3B, the 1st Round pick of the Marlins (12th overall) in 2007. He had been hitting .234/.291/.357 in 78 games for Triple-A New Orleans.

Rasmussen is a 23-year old 5'9" 165lb LHP. He was the 2nd Round pick in the 2010 draft by the Marlins. In High-A Jupiter this season, he is 4-7 with a 3.90 ERA / 1.36 WHIP, with 75K:36BB in 87.2IP.

4:13pm - Olney: Sources: The Marlins are trading Matt Dominguez and P Rob Rasmussen for Carlos Lee.

4:12pm - Lee's locker has been cleaned out and he is gone

4:11pm - Levine: Carlos Lee's locker is empty

4:05pm - Levine: Astros clubhouse has been closed for 20 minutes following today's loss to the Pirates.

4:01pm - ESPN: The Astros and Marlins are "deep" into talks in a trade that would send Carlos Lee to Miami, a team to which he has indicated a willingness to accept a trade.

3:53pm - Olney: Am told that the Lee deal is not completely done, but there has been a whole lot of progress. As much as HOU wants to move Lee,seems likely.

3:08pm - Levine: Lee and Lowrie have been pulled from the game.

Rosenthal talks Astros

Ken Rosenthal had a few Astros notes this morning:

While the Cardinals ponder their next move after they now know Chris Carpenter needs season-ending surgery, Rosenthal thinks perhaps Wandy or Myers make logical trade partners.

The Astros were willing to include "significant cash" to get Lee to LA and get Garrett Gould in return, but Carlos Lee balked at California's state income tax rate, and that was a reason he didn't love the idea of going to the Dodgers. Had Lee at least acted like he wanted to play in LA, the Dodgers apparently would have helped bridge the gap.

California's state income tax, for people who make over $1m, is 10.3% - and that's in addition to the 35% that the federal government would take. So Lee didn't want to go for what would be about $910,000.

Jed Lowrie, Rosenthal also notes, is essentially unavailable.

Monday Morning Link Dump

Here's your Monday Morning Link Dump - most of which don't deal with how much we hate Carlos Lee.

John Royal: Carlos Lee did the thing he's best at. He did absolutely nothing.

Garrett Gould was flattered by the Astros' interest.

Modesto's manager wasn't real happy with Nick Tropeano's strike zone last night. And the travel was tough.

Ron Washington defends the fact that he will manage seven (potentially eight) Rangers next Tuesday night in Kansas City.
-

Old links, newly relevant:

Greg Lucas (April 2012): Lee is in actuality a happy go lucky guy who plays the percentages. He knows how fast he has to run to get to a ball and make a play. He knows when false hustle is just to make him look good, but really not productive. The problem is that when he measures his running effort it appears to be lack of hustle.

Sean Pendergast (July 2010): At this point, I don't know what Astros fans are more angry about, Carlos -- the fact that you're just a big, fat punch line, or the fact that you don't even really seem to care. I get the whole "waking up happy to be alive every day" thing, but for $19 million per year, the fans would like a bat broken over a knee just once. Maybe some cursing or a chokeslam of Ed Wade. Something. Anything. Hell, Shawn Chacon was only in Houston for about twelve minutes, and he at least gave us that!

Around the Dodgers blogs

To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.
-Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion

As we all (or, at least most of us) despaired over Carlos Lee's decision to finish what he started - which we tweeted, "The slow and steady murder of Astros fans' will to live" - it's worth checking the Dodgers blogs to see what they had to say about it.

Chad Moriyama:
You know how to tell that this trade is an iffy upgrade? When it’s even arguable as to whether a potential acquisition is an improvement over James Loney and Juan Rivera.

Lasorda's Lair:
As the days lingered on while everyone waited for Lee to discuss his options with his family, it became apparent that his reluctance signaled his desire to stay put. Although Lee has every right to veto the trade as stated in his contract, the prolonged wait on his decision was a bit bothersome for Houston and Dodger fans alike.

L.A. Dodger Talk:
P.S. If Carlos Lee is too stupid to want to go to a contender, screw him!

Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness:
There’s also the case of Carlos Lee to consider, should he decide to accept a trade which most of us won’t like. (And we’ll like it even less if reports of the Dodgers eating most of the money and sending a decent prospect in Garrett Gould are true; that would be absurd.)

Takeaways from the last 48 hours

And so, Carlos Lee has ultimately rejected a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers (or he took so long that the Dodgers called it off), one of the most storied franchises in the history of the game, who are currently sitting one game out of the NL West lead, but who - thanks to the new playoff scenarios - would currently make the playoffs. His reasons are his own, but here are some things we can take away from it:

1. Carlos Lee had every right to decline this trade. It was within the boundary of the contract he signed before the 2007 season. Might this be the first time that we rip a player for staying with the Astros? Because...

2. Lee's desire to compete can now officially be called into question. He did not want to join a pennant race for all of three months. As we pointed out on Twitter, Carlos Lee has made over $111m in his career, and has what is apparently a successful cattle ranch in south Texas. To Carlos Lee, that is enough. He has his money, his family is financially secure, and one final chance at October doesn't blow up his skirt.

Lee has 8,433 career plate appearances, and 12 post-season plate appearances (in 2000, he went 1x11 with a double and a sac fly for the White Sox in the ALDS), and he isn't interested in seeing if he can get a ring. I say "one final chance at October" because...

3. If I was any GM, anywhere, I would now think twice about trading for Carlos Lee, much less giving him a contract for the 2013 season. If Lee didn't want to play for a competing team, I wouldn't want him anywhere near my clubhouse.

4. Still, Jeff Luhnow won. He got a team willing to part with something warm for Carlos Lee. It doesn't matter (for me, anyway) if Lee goes anywhere for the rest of 2012 - we only have to watch him jog out grounders or infield pop-ups for another 80 games, or so. But with the news coming out that there was at least a deal in place, he made us further believers in the new regime. And if news of the deal was leaked by Luhnow, that's a genius move right there.

See, Ed Wade may have been trying his little pants off to move Lee, but was so tight-lipped about it that we never got to see or hear anything about the behind-the-scenes moves. And perhaps that's the best way to go about it. But what the fanbase needs right now is to know that the front office is at least trying to make moves to send the team forward. It didn't actually happen this weekend, but it's further evidence that Luhnow is the right man for the job.

Carlos Lee Sunday Timeline

Keep refreshing this page, because it's a fluid situation. Click here for Friday's and Saturday's Lee Rumor Thread.

Sunday

7:13pm - Rosenthal: Source: #Dodgers pulled out of Lee talks earlier today. Deal off.

7:13pm - Olney: And, as Lee was telling the Astros he wasn't interested, the Dodgers also pulled out of the trade talks.

7:10pm - Levine: Not all that surprising that this one is dead. Lee left Chicago with the Astros. Will be awkward but interesting month.

7:08pm - Tim Brown: The Dodgers have withdrawn their offer for Carlos Lee. They'll look elsewhere for a bat...

7:06pm - Heyman: Dodgers pulled plug on Lee trade.

5:33pm - Olney: As of now, sources say Carlos Lee hadn't changed his mind from Sat. and won't agree to deal. Source: "It's probably not going to work out."

2:03pm - McTaggart: Carlos Lee said Sunday morning he still hadn’t made a decision on whether to accept a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, though several of his teammates believe the slugger wants to stay with the Astros.

10:17am - Levine: Lee says he hasn't made a decision yet, is in the lineup today.

Carlos Lee Saturday Timeline

Here's the Saturday thread of news and rumors related to Carlos Lee.

Saturday

7:18pm - Mark Berman: Carlos Lee says he will discuss with his wife whether to accept trade to Dodgers. Says it's "tough to concentrate" and play w/ this.

7:06pm - McTaggart: “That’s why I’ll probably decide by tomorrow. Either I’m going or not,” he said. “I’m going to sit down and talk to my wife tonight.”

12:36pm - Olney: Source: As of early afternoon today, Carlos Lee continues to tell the Astros he won't waive his no-trade clause.

12:30pm - A lot of good observations about Lee's next contract at risk with him accepting this trade. Morosi: If Carlos Lee wants to maximize his free agent value, he will accept this trade to #Dodgers. And ESPN 97.5 (and AC's favorite comedian) John Wessling: If Carlos Lee shoots down trade, it basically means he'll retire and end of year, because what GM wants a guy who didn't want to contend?

11:58am - McTaggart: Carlos Lee: “L.A. has made an offer. I just told Jeff I want to see my options. I just want to wait and see what my options are.”

11:56am - Levine: Lee has not been given a deadline to accept deal.

11:46am - McTaggart: The Astros and Dodgers have a deal in place, and Lee is considering whether to accept it.

11:34am - Zachary Levine: Carlos Lee is in today's lineup.

10:24am - Jon "Ugh" Heyman: "The Astros 'will do cartwheels' if Carlos Lee accepts a trade to the Dodgers, one person familiar with their thinking said."

9:56am - Olney: The Astros do have some leverage: They could tell Lee they intend to go with their young players, and that he won't have a lot of opportunities for at-bats the rest of the summer -- as he prepares for free agency in the fall.

Rosenthal breaks down Carlos Lee's no-trade clause

Carlos Lee Friday Timeline

The Friday links related to Carlos Lee

Friday

11:23pm - Morosi: Fact that Garrett Gould was scratched from tonight’s start indicates seriousness of Carlos Lee talks between Astros and Dodgers.

11:07pm - Zachary Levine: Garrett Gould was scratched an hour before his scheduled start against (gasp) the JetHawks for unknown reasons.

11:05pm - Scott Miller: The Dodgers, if Lee can be induced to waive his no-trade clause, would absorb most of the remaining $9 million on his contract, according to sources with knowledge of the talks, and send a low-level minor-leaguer to Houston.

11:01pm - Danny Knobler: Lee makes "perfect sense" for the Dodgers, if he'll agree to go.

10:38pm - Rosenthal: The Dodgers, under new ownership, prefer to take on expensive contracts in trades rather than part with top prospects, sources say. The Astros, in exchange for financial relief, would accept lesser players in such a deal.

Garrett Gould, potential return for the Astros in this maybe/maybe-not trade, is 20 years old, the Dodgers' 2nd Round pick in the 2009 draft. At Class-A Great Lakes in 2011, Gould threw 123.2IP, 102H/33ER, 104K:37BB, with a 2.40 ERA / 1.12 WHIP. In High-A Rancho Cucamonga, he's 1-6 with a 5.12 ERA / 1.44 WHIP, with 72K:24BB in 72IP. Panic about the ERA, but remember, California League...

10:13pm - Jon Morosi: Carlos Lee's no-trade clause includes the Dodgers.

10:09pm - Olney: Dodgers asked about Lowrie, but he's not currently in the discussion. Gives it "50/50" that Carlos Lee would accept trade to L.A.

10:06pm - Fox Sports: Players normally require a financial inducement to waive no-trade protection. But for Lee, playing in a pennant race might amount to the same thing, enabling him to raise his value on the open market.

9:59pm - Tim Brown: Pitcher Zach Lee (Dodgers' 2010 1st Round pick) is not part of the discussion.

9:53pm - Tim Brown: Trade talks are "in earnest"

9:46pm - Ken Rosenthal: Dodgers and Astros are discussing a trade involving Carlos Lee.

9:01pm - Olney: Other teams could be involved.

8:57pm - Buster Olney: Dodgers are talking about a Jed Lowrie for Zach Lee & Garrett Gould trade.

8:17pm - Ken Gurnick: When the Dodgers finally lock in on a hitter to acquire, the most likely prospect they will move in return is former first-round pick Zach Lee...

Here's hoping that the Astros make adjustments quicker in 2013

Moisekapenda Bower's piece on last night's "performance" against Luke Hochevar highlighted the largely inexperienced Astros' lineup, and how they weren't really able to make the adjustments needed to put together some offense.

Carlos Lee:
"It's tough. Because even when you've got the scouting report, you haven't faced a guy. You don't know what kind of movement he's got, how hard he throws. It's a lot of things that come into play when you haven't faced a guy."

Let's all hope that the Astros don't run into this in 2013, when they will not have faced the majority of the pitchers who will be taking the inferior American League mound...

Meat Wagon update

Bud Norris is unlikely to start on Sunday due to the sprained knee he suffered against the Giants on Tuesday.

Mills:
"He said he was still a little tentative with it to where he wasn't sure if he was actually going to feel it when he landed."

Wilton Lopez is headed to the DL with a sprained right elbow. Fernando Abad has been activated. Lopez has appeared in 32 games - 4th-most in baseball (and two games behind Wesley Wright, the 2nd-most-used reliever in baseball).

And it looks like Carlos Lee will be back tomorrow (Sunday). Measure your celebrations accordingly.

Early Sunday afternoon update

Carlos Lee has been placed on the 15-Day DL with a hamstring sprain, and thus Brett Wallace has been recalled from OKC. This is the second time that Lee has been placed on the DL, with the first time coming in 2008 - after Bronson Arroyo hit him on the finger with a pitch on August 9, 2008.

In 50 games for OKC, Brett Wallace was hitting .265/.327/.476, with 49K:12BB in 202 PAs. In his last ten games, Wallace has hit .267/.450/.633, with 11K:8BB, and has hit 3HR in his last four games.

Also, Brad Mills says the current plan is for Jordan Lyles to stay in the rotation...for good. Perhaps this was a way of getting Lyles to settle down in advance of today's start against the Reds.