Focus Friday: Carlos Lee

Every Friday throughout Spring Training, we run non-baseball questions for a feature we call #FocusFriday, where fans tweet their questions and we relay them to the selected player of the week.

Most of the questions for Carlos Lee revolved around ranching and raising cattle — a side business that takes up the majority of the left fielder’s time during his offseasons in Panama.

You can watch the video here, while reading along with this transcript…

@CarlaFendley: Do you raise cattle to sell or is this just a hobby?

Carlos Lee: It’s part of my business. I raise cattle for mainly slaughterhouses. It’s mainly for reproduction.

@irishndude4 How many cattle do you have?

CL: It all depends. In Panama I’ve got a lot more. In Houston, it’s probably around 600. I mainly check them out, brand them, dehorn them, make sure everything is OK, take care of the babies.

@AppyAstros: What do you miss the most about Panama during the baseball season (aside from family/friends)?

CL: I’m pretty used to being in the United States. It’s my job and I’m kind of used to it. I know my time here is (until) October and hopefully it’ll be November this year. I know when my time is up, then I can start thinking about Panama again.

@allphilla Since you are a rancher, have you ever considered opening a steak house a la Roy Oswalt in Houston?

CL: (laughs) That’s a totally different business and I don’t think I’m ready for that. But I would be happy to sell my beef to Roy.

@MrBlaineTrain: Carlos, what is your favorite place to eat at in Houston during the season?

CL: I like Vic and Anthony’s. It’s a really nice steak house and it’s really convenient for me after the games. So I just go there a lot.