colorado is gonna flip him? do you see him as a setup guy for the 'stros. pairing him and valverde might be really good.
If the Cubs end up with this rotation in 2009: Peavy Zambrano Harden Dempster Lilly ...we might as well forget about next season. Trades would be useless and it wouldn't be worth sacrificing any draft picks by signing top FAs. It's time for the Astros to ask Berkman, Oswalt and Lee to waive their no trades so we can replenish our farm and start looking to be a good team in about 3 or 4 years.
So you trade them now with the hope that you can develop another Berkman-Oswalt-Lee type productive players in 3-4 years? The best thing to do would be to have some homegrown talent that JOINS your present stars, not replaces them. You really don't go anywhere with the latter. The Astros did a decent job of getting Berkman/Oswalt developed in time to share the last remaining years of Bagwell/Biggio... and alas, they only had one bad seasons (2000) in between contending ones. Its all cyclical. If you have stars in their primes (like the above 3), you do as much as you can NOW to add to the team to complement these guys. Sure, if you see a surplus of hitting or pitching, you can trade one for more needs... however, the Astros currently have neither a surplus of pitching OR hitting. And for the long-term, the Astros would do better to simply continue to draft well and SIGN your draft picks, than have some fire sale now for potential MLB ready prospects that also may or may not pan out. Most of the contending teams now didn't need some epic fire sales to get going... just continue to stress player development and draft well (which didn't happen in 2005-2007... as we missed on a lot of picks).
It doesn't always work out that way. Injuries...and sometimes it just doesn't work out. Kevin Brown goes nuts on you in a 5 game series, and it all fades away. They'd certainly be the favorite.... everything i'm reading suggests the cubs can't match what the braves are offering, though.
so that you can *hope* to develop... rebuilding is always a fun thing to talk about; it's very appealing in that regard. but in reality, it offers no guarantees and is never easy. i've always admired mclane's insistence that he's going to field the best team he possibly can. as long as it doesn't get in the way of rebuilding the farm system, i'm all for it.
That series against the Padres has become as tough to talk about as the Oilers/Bu.... I can't even type it out without getting nauseated.
cbssportsline reporting that peavy is going to atlanta. whew. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081113&content_id=3677434&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp The Padres are on the verge of trading All-Star right-hander Jake Peavy to the Braves, CBS Sportsline.com reported late Wednesday night. The deal, which has been in the works for more than a month, would reportedly net the Padres shortstop Yunel Escobar, Class A outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, one of two starting pitchers -- Charlie Morton or Jo-Jo Reyes -- and either reliever Blaine Boyer or one of two Minor League left-handers. Peavy has a no-trade clause in his contract and could be asked to waive it on Thursday. His agent, Barry Axelrod, told the Web site that he had yet to speak to Padres general manager Kevin Towers about the pending deal. Peavy is currently in Puerto Rico and is expected to be traveling back to the United States on Thursday. Peavy gave the Padres seven clubs they could talk to, but the talks have generally centered on the Braves, who are intent on bolstering their pitching, what with the futures of aging stars Tom Glavine and John Smoltz very much up in the air. Both underwent surgery this past season -- Smoltz on his right shoulder and Glavine on his left elbow. Last month, the Padres gave the Braves a period of exclusivity to put the deal together. When that elapsed, the two sides continued to negotiate terms of the agreement. Peavy, 27, is from Mobile, Ala., and would be moving closer to home. He is a seven-year veteran who came up in the Padres system and was their 15th-round pick in the 1999 First-Year Player Draft.
That would be a nice haul.. Escobar should be pretty sweet, and Morton/Reyes have both some really nice flashes. I guess the Pads are giving up on Khalil Greene? Anyway, at least when it's done I can stop dreaming.. and the Astros can hopefully focus on something else
Did you seriously just ask that? I hope they were *already* focusing on other things (as well as least looking into Peavy).
I didn't understand the "whew" either. Still don't. Him signing with the Braves isn't great for us either. Cubs, Phils, Mets, Braves, Dodgers, and Brewers would all be damaging to our cause, since our best hope in most any year is the wild card.
It's great because we were already out of the picture, so it was most likely going to be between the Braves and the Cubs. So obviously keeping him out of our division is a relief.
The wild card is the most unpredictable and out of your own control achievement for any baseball team. Most of the time, its a byproduct of playing in a strong division (where most of the time, your finish would net you a division title... if you were in any other division). You play the majority of games within your own division... thus, your intra-divisional peers actions and off-season moves are of utmost importance. For the NL Central next year, the Brewers will likely fall back to earth after losing all their pitching, and the Cardinals don't look to be any better (or worse) than last year. Thus, the Cubs are still the team to beat... and if the Astros can add some key pieces (while preventing the Cubs from adding key pieces), they can close the gap significantly.
this is why i breathed the sigh of relief. because i'm more concerned about winning within our division. and i don't know how good peavy ultimately makes atlanta on his own. didn't matter much for the padres. but with the cubs....i don't wanna think about that. not to mention...it's the cubs!
There is a significant talent gap between the Cubs and the Stros. If the Cubs add a guy like Peavy to their team that's a big upgrade for them. Not to mention a full (lol yeah right) year of Rich Harden. I do expect the Brewers to be non-factors again next season though.
