Derrek Lee: Slow Starter, or Past His Prime?

Derrek Lee is an imposing figure on a baseball field. Standing six feet five inches tall and weighing 245 pounds, the one-time North Carolina basketball recruit towers over Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot, in the middle of the Cubs' infield.

The problem this year is that Lee isn't hitting his body weight.

As the month of April draws to a close, the Cubs' first baseman is batting just .217, continuing a trend that has frustrated fans for over a year. The struggle with Lee is determining why the former MVP candidate has struggled so much getting out of the gate the last few years.

In 2003, Lee came to Wrigley Field with the Florida Marlins and played well enough for Cubs' General Manager Jim Hendry to become enamored with his skill set. Hendry was so enticed by Lee that he pulled off a trade that, in retrospect, looks like highway robbery; Hendry sent left-handed hitting prospect Hee Seop Choi to the Marlins for Lee.

The next season Cubs fans fell in love with the lanky first baseman. Lee hit only .278, but clubbed 32 home runs and drove in 98. But the team fell short of their post season goals in 2004, not making the playoffs after the heartbreak of 2003.

Lee's career exploded in 2005, when he was a legitimate top tier player in all of major league baseball. He led the National League with a .335 batting average, hitting 50 doubles, 46 home runs, and knocking in 107 runs. It appeared the Cubs had found a rock for the middle of their batting order for the next decade.

In April of 2006, Lee was rewarded for his enormous 2005 campaign with a five-year, $65 million contract extension. Hendry was sure he had found the foundation for his infield.

Then came the freak wrist injury in 2006. Was the injury brought on due to tendinitis from signing the big contract? Or from carrying his newly padded wallet everywhere? Probably not.

Lee was simply playing his usual gold glove first base, making wild throws from all over the diamond, avoiding the score sheet, when a runner hit his glove hand and hurt his wrist.

He was limited to 50 games in 2006, but had already hit eight home runs and driven in 30 runs.

Since the injury, Lee has never been the same at the plate. His batting average fell .026 from 2007 to 2008, and his power numbers have vanished. Balls that Lee used to elevate out of the park are now resting gently in the gap.

Lee has come to mirror Mark Grace more than Ernie Banks as his career has progressed.

What has Cubs fans asking questions now is Lee's slow start.

In 2004, Lee batted .304 before the All Star Break. In 2005, however, he came out of the gate so strong he may have spoiled himself. He batted .378 with 27 home runs, and 75 runs batted in before the break, compared to just .287-19-35 after the break.

Skipping the injury season of 2006, Lee has struggled with consistency at the plate since the injury. In 2007, he batted .330 before the break, but had just six home runs; he had more home runs in September (seven) than in 309 at-bats before the break.

Last year, as the Cubs made a run at the best record in the National League and their second consecutive division championship, Lee folded down the stretch, batting just .266 after the break with only five home runs and 15 runs batted in.

Rather than the rock Hendry broke the bank to keep, Lee has become sand in an hour glass.

So now the debate begins: are we looking at a player who has simply struggled to elevate inside pitches because of the wrist injury, or is Lee entering the twilight of his career at age 33?

I personally like Lee. Personally, there might not be a better individual in all of professional sports. The work Lee has done in the community and with medical research because of his daughter's medical condition, is something that should not, and will not, be overlooked. In the wake of Kerry Wood leaving Chicago, Lee is the best clubhouse presence on this Cubs team.

But once he leaves that clubhouse and steps between the stripes, it has become frustrating to watch Lee seem to get worse over time. Certainly manager Lou Piniella, continuing to bat him third in the order, doesn't help, as Aramis Ramirez has had his name and number attached to more clutch moments over the last three years than Lee.

I am not approaching this argument because I would rather Micah Hoffpaiur play first, or because Jake Fox has seven home runs in Iowa.

My concern is that the Cubs will pay Lee $26.5 million between now and the end of the 2010 season and, as a fan, I'm not convinced Lee is a player that bats third on a World Series-caliber team any more.

I'm hoping Lee finds his stroke and we see more days like the three to four he put up against Colorado last week. But in a competitive division where the Cardinals and Brewers don't want to go away and the young Reds continue to improve as they grow up, I don't want to watch a player who might have once had significant trade value play out his contract at the expense of a team with a large portion of their veteran contracts coming due in the next two years.