Carlos Lee isn't going anywhere....

The New York Post, attempting to aid a Mets' team desperate for a slugging outfielder, investigates whether Carlos Lee is available.  Ed Wade put the kabosh on that idea:

“He is going to be our left fielder. He has a complete no-trade clause and he has made it very, very clear that he does not want to go anywhere.”

That makes it sound like the Astros asked Lee if he could be traded, and he "made it very, very clear" that the answer is "no."

The reporter was further disheartened when a Mets' official told him a great big surprise: Carlos Lee isn't a good defensive player.  As the article states:

As if this option needed to be shot down any more, I ran it by a Mets official who said Lee has become such an atrocious left fielder that he would be too much of a nightmare defensively even with his power.

I don't suppose there is anything that I didn't know or surmise here.  But I have to admit that with every article I had read which said that the Mets will acquire a power hitter, come hell or high water, a seed of hope arose in the deep recesses of my mind that maybe, just maybe, Carlos Lee might agree to go to the Big Apple.   It's not that I dislike Carlos Lee.  He seems like an affable fellow.  And he is a consistently good hitter.  But if his payroll were to disappear from left field, it would create great flexibility to improve the team's pitching and defense.