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.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
