While it's true I have a man-crush on Buster Olney, I find fault with his assessment of the Astros' developing situation in 2009. Here's the Astros' position of interest:
Third base
As Carlos Lee's salary climbs, the Astros have been forced to cut in other spots. So they dumped Ty Wigginton and signed Aaron Boone, and hope to find a solution in Boone or Geoff Blum or some surprise on their roster.
While it's true Carlos Lee got a $6.5 million raise from '08 to '09, I'm not sure it's solely his contract preventing the Astros from resolving their issues. $6.5 million would have resigned Ty Wigginton or Randy Wolf, and to think that the Astros will pay Tejada and Lee $31.5 million is stomach-churning...
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
