Guest Blogging for MASN.com: Derrek Lee

A little late with this link but a quick link to a post I did on MASNSports.com about Derrek Lee's batted ball peripherals and such. Over the last two nights, we've started to see some of his hits drop in for him.

Derrek Lee Returns to Action...or Does He?

Not getting off on the right foot...

Derrek Lee made his Oriole debut on Saturday. Woo-hoo!

Lee said the plan all along called for him to get two at-bats. He'll get three tomorrow in Port Charlotte and take off Monday.


Lee sounds encouraged and figures to get enough at-bats to be ready for the April 1 opener.


"It feels great. I was happy. It wasn't an issue. I didn't feel it swinging. I kind of landed on it going for a ball and didn't feel it. I was happy with it," Lee said.


"It was two at-bats all the way, and three tomorrow...

All right. Lee's out there, swinging the bat, fantastic.

Wait. What?

First baseman Derrek Lee, who made his Orioles' debut yesterday and was supposed to play again today, is no longer in the lineup because of a sore left foot. Lee fouled a ball off his left foot during his first at-bat...

What the hell.

"Derrek goes home last night and [head athletic trainer Richie Bancells] called me and said, ‘We got a problem,’" (Buck) Showalter said, this morning. "He said that [Lee] was fine when he left here but he was sitting in a chair or whatever and he said, ‘Richie, this thing is killing me. [It] is throbbing, I don’t know what’s going on here. I’ve never had anything like this.’ I’m [saying], ‘perfect.’ Anyway, it was a long night. He went to get an X-ray and the X-ray had said everything looked OK with the exception of one spot the guy was concerned with. He had an MRI this morning at 8 o’clock, and we just got the results back and that’s clean. So we dodged a bullet there, it looks like."

Lee is scheduled to come back on Tuesday if the foot feels better. That will give him just about a week of Spring Training before the team heads north.

There is absolutely no reason to rush Lee. Luke Scott can slide in to play first, Nolan Reimold (who has had a great spring by the way) can play left and they can delay a decision on Felix Pie. Get him totally healthy and leave him in extended Spring Training.

Derrek Lee Joins the Orioles

Derrek Lee has joined the Orioles, agreeing to a 1-year deal worth $8 million and could reach $10 mil with incentives.

Once the Orioles lost out on Adam Dunn, signing Lee or Adam LaRoche to a one year deal were the two best outcomes I could hope for. Paul Konerko would have been a expensive mistake and outbidding the Tigers for Victor Martinez would have been a bad overpay.

Lee and LaRoche were attractive for different reasons; Lee has a better upside, LaRoche was a more predictable, steady commodity. Now, I didn't like LaRoche much on a two year deal and even less at the rumored three year $21 million offer. LaRoche is OK...not worth making a commitment to.

So now the Orioles have Lee for 2011 who does not arrive without his own set of concerns and risks. He is coming off the worst full season of his career, will be 35 next season and was hampered by hand injuries all last season. There is a real chance he doesn't rebound from his 2010 levels.

But if he's healthy (and perhaps playing some games at DH will help him stay that way), Lee adds another intriguing right handed power bat to the Oriole lineup. Camden Yards rewards right handed power as the home run factor for RHB at the park is 129 for 2006-2009 (second highest in the majors over that span) according to the Bill James Handbook. They did build OPACY with Cal Ripken in mind, after all. Wrigley allows home runs to right handed batter at about the league average. There is also evidence that Lee was swinging the bat a bit better than his final numbers indicate, that while his power was diminished, he was also pretty unlucky with his line drives.

The more interesting thing is that the addition of Lee and Mark Reynolds give the Orioles one of the best groups of right handed power hitters that they have had in the last 20 years. Reynolds, Lee and Jones could all slug more than .450 (and ISO .175) becoming the only the second trio to do so since Camden Yards was built. (Javy Lopez, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada did it in 2004.) Add to that the outside shot of Nolan Reimold and J.J. Hardy doing the same...let's just say if you get seats in the left field bleachers, bring your glove. A lot of balls are going over that fence.

There is no first base prospect in AAA knocking on the door to Baltimore. Lee isn't blocking anybody in 2011 and even if he hits like he did in 2010, it's still a big upgrade. Oriole first baseman combined to OPS .625 last season, the lowest offensive output from any position on a team that was not exactly filled with offensive stars. He's a good stopgap and should help the Oriole offense approach something resembling respectability in 2011. Reynolds, Jones, Lee and Scott at the heart of your lineup with Roberts and Markakis setting the table? It could be fun.