CJ is doomed unless Feliz gets hurt/traded. He would have to wait until September again. BB will be in AAA to get ABs. The team should call up Reggie Abercrombie to be a backup OF, put Manzella in at SS, and you'd have your 25.
I see two spots that are open...utlilty infielder and 5th outfielder Pitchers - Oswalt Rodriguez Norris Paulino Moles Lyons Lindstrom Fulchino Gervacio Arias Sampson Wright Brydak/Majeski(however you spell his name lol) Infield - Berkman Matsui Manzella Feliz Blum Keppinger Maysonet??? Outfield - Lee Bourn Pence Michaels(They resign him) Abercrombie???
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blo...spn/blog/index?entryID=4730746&name=law_keith can somebody please post this? looks like the entire baseball world knows what a joke our front office is.
You are missing the catchers. Towles and Quintero. They don't have room for a 5th OF because the Astros appear set to go with 13 pitchers.
I am curious.... Where is Geoff Geary. I know he was injured last year, and he was getting shelled in the minors, but before his injury he was great. What is he up to?
Ed Wade's inexplicable affinity for relievers, and his seeming inability to value them properly, strikes again in the form of a 3 year/$15 million contract, as he gives Brandon Lyon an outrageous deal that seems even more outrageous when you consider how much we hear about the financial constraints under which the Astros operate. Lyon is a capable middle reliever who throws a ton of strikes but has never been able to miss many bats, leaving him subject to the same vagaries of luck and defense that affect all pitchers who give up a lot of balls in play. A new cutter in 2009 helped him improve his groundball rate, but not so much that it made him a new pitcher. His biggest selling point seemed to be that he could come at a small discount to teams that were willing to shy away from his inability to strike hitters out. Any shot at getting Lyon at a value price ended when the Astros' bull GM came staggering into the reliever china shop. When your payroll doesn't offer much flexibility and you have major offensive issues to address, getting a nice seventh-inning guy for too many years and too much money isn't just a bad idea, it's hobbling. The Astros will, by the end of the offseason, have made themselves worse for their twin mistakes of valuing relievers improperly and allocating their resources to the wrong problems.
He is currently a FA. I liked him a lot, especially after he accepted his minor league assignment, when most players, especially ones that have had his success choose to become FAs. He will probably end up being a non-roster invitee to someone's ST.
I like what we've done this offseason. Got younger in the backend of our bullpen while trimming salary. I really like Feliz (not a big Blum fan). I'm still a big advocate of this franchise looking towards the future but I would not be opposed to signing ONE starting pitcher (Brett Myers, Ben Sheets) to a ONE year contract even if its marginally costly (I haven't really thought about this till now but, I would only want this if we didn't have to give up a pick). Doing this could actually give us a shot at competing.
Nothing is set in stone, but it is unlikely they don't go with who they have. 4th OF is the only spot I think they are considering right now. Its always possible that they non-tender Chris Sampson, but it is doubtful.
Who's playing short next year? One UNLIKELY scenario I would like for us to pursue is Dan Uggla being on the trade market. He is VERY available but no clue what the Marlins asking price is. Here's what Kieth Law has to say about him: Keith Law Uggla could be a great get "Now is actually a great time to try to trade for Uggla as he's coming off a slightly down year in batting average that is masking a significant spike in walk rate. He's always had power, and his approach at the plate has improved for several years. If he maintains those secondary skills and posts a BABIP over .300 -- something he did twice in three years before 2009 -- oddly, he's a potential MVP candidate." Where would he play? Second, slide Matsui to short. Haha wouldn't that be a great up the middle combo...but his bat would be nasty in our lineup. Again this is very unlikely, but hey it's the offseason
Tommy Manzella. He's 26 so its his time to sink or swim. The Astros haven't been mentioned as looking for a SS even.
With our the little money we have left over I would love for the Stros to go after a guy like Kevin Correia, who is about to be non-tenderd, kind of worried about the Petco factor but guy has nice stuff. W-L ERA K BB Whip So 12-11 3.91 142 64 1.30 142
I hope they give Maysonett a shot, he realy surprised last year then was buried back into the minors for some reason
He has a horrible career OBP of .293 and doesn't hit for much power for his position despite a few 20 HR seasons. His career SLG% is only .422. Last season, his OPS was .694. Blum's was .681. Both of those numbers are well below average for third basemen. He's a marginal offensive upgrade at the very best. His defense is supposed to be good.
Ummmm, so how is this an upgrade over what we have right now?? Is a one-year rental at 3B really going to fix the problems this team has? I just don't understand what Drayton is throwing his money at now.....it's almost like he has no clue how to run the team, so he's just going out and getting marginal players to make it seem like he's doing something.
I don't see how shedding $10MM in reliever salary is a twin mistake. Maybe overpaid for Lyon, but it's better than overpaying for Valverde. The wildcard is Lindstrom...he's already cheap, and if he grows as a pitcher, than Lyon + Lindstrom is better than Hawk and Valverde for much, much less money. Val and Hawk will likely produce better stats, but the Astros can't afford to pay that kind of money for better stats. They need to go cheap and pray for better stats. I also don't see how signing relievers when you've had relievers leave is allocating resources to the wrong problems. We certainly couldn't just throw minor leaguers out there to work the 8th and 9th.
