ARLINGTON, Texas — Carlos Lee is focused on helping the Texas Rangers now. The All-Star slugger isn't thinking about what might happen after this season when he can become a free agent.
"That's one thing I don't really worry about," Lee said Saturday, a day after being traded from Milwaukee in a six-player deal. "I've got to go out and do my best, do anything I can to help the team win games. I just play."
The Brewers traded their best player after it became apparent he wasn't planning to stay past this season. An NL All-Star in both of his seasons in Milwaukee, Lee turned down a four-year extension reportedly worth $48 million on Thursday.
"A lot of things happened in the process that couldn't work out . . . a lot of stuff that happened that didn't really work out the way I wanted," Lee said, without elaborating.
Trying for their first playoff appearance since 1999, the Rangers added an impact bat in the first major deal completed in the days leading up to Monday's non-waiver trade deadline.
But general manager Jon Daniels made it clear after completing the deal that his desire is to have Lee for longer than just the remainder of this season.
"He's potentially at the peak of his career. It seems like he's gotten better each year . . . . . . A lot of things are aligned for this guy to be how he is for a while," manager Buck Showalter said. "We'd love to have him around, but right now we're focused on the last eight to 10 weeks of the season."
The 30-year-old Lee hit .286 with 28 home runs and 81 RBIs in 102 games for Milwaukee, already his fifth straight season with at least 25 homers. He is a .284 career hitter over eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox (1999-04) and Milwaukee (2005-06).