If Tejada stays at SS I can now see a lineup of : Bourne Pence Tejada Berkman Lee Wiggie Matsuie Towles Pitcher I like
I understand the reason behind this...no quality free agent pitchers out there and most teams are holding their good pitchers and pitching prospects close to their chest. So you might as well upgrade the team in other ways. And what I like abou this is that you get Tejada without giving up Everett's defense. Ty is above average at best so if you can move Tejada over there then you have excellent hitters at all four corner positions and you keep your defense and speed up the middle. That's a balanced team. The only problem is we gave up pitching. Albers was probably desitned for the bullpen anyways. Patton might hurt but only time will tell. I think the move makes sense. Patton was never going to be a number 2, which is what this team needs. You still got Oswalt, Backe, Wandy, Woody, Sampson...if they can find a number 2 via trade yo got Oswalt, a 2, Backey, Wandy and Woody/Sampson...that's not any worse than last year.
Here is to hoping that the Home Run Derby a couple of years ago was a sign of whats to come from Tejada. He jacked a ton of home runs during that derby.
I think that the success of this deal may hinge on whether Tejada can still play an adequate SS. If so, he represents a substantial upgrade over everett. If he has to play 3rd base i'm not sure he's give the astros that much more than Wiggington would. Scott's a very good player, but he's almost 30 and with Lee and Pence he obviously wasn't in the plans for the Astros. Baltimore should give him a shot to play everyday. Losing Patton hurts. The astros farm system is terrible, but patton is legitimately a good prospect. There is concern over how his peripheral's have regressed the last few years. It certainly makes a thin farm system even thinner. The rest of the guy are fairly mediocre prospects. I personally like albers alot, but he hasn't exactly had much mlb success in his short time here.
Patton's dad is a co-worker of mine. Troy just bought a condo downtown. They are extremely quiet right now.
Oh well. I'm not personally invested emotionally in the Astros, but they frustrate me when they make moves like this. At least the games will be more entertaining when I'm there with clients or co-workers and at least Tejada won't be batting against the Yankees as many times this year.
we hardly have any young talent at all and we give it all up for one player. i really liked luke scott.
I like the deal..albers and patton werent going to be that much better then what they were last year and before...i like it..now we just need to get another starter
Basically we gave up a fair amount of potential, some that could help us this year (Scott, Sarfate, Patton) and some that could help down the line (a more seasoned Albers, Costanzo) for immediate help ... sounds like a Drayton win-now move. But really, how can you complain about an owner that wants to field a playoff team every year. Maybe the Astros are banking on the fact that a 1-6 lineup of: Bourne / Matsui / Berkman / Lee / Tejada / Pence will be so productive that Everett can still be the main SS. A rotation of Oswalt, Wandy, Backe, Woody, and Sampson is not going to get it done. But then again, there were no #2 type of pitchers on the market anyway that the Astros could afford, so why not get another bat.
I like the deal, but we have to get some pitching.... I guess they're hoping for Backe to have a strong year? Roy O, Backe, Wandy, Sampson.....Woody... who else do we have??
I agree with your last sentence. I think Wade has thought this through and has already made offers for Everett or Wigginton in case this deal went through. Let's hope he has a plan to trade one of these guys with some other players to get solid pitching. I don't know how he is going to do it but if he does it will make this trade make a lot more sense. I am not down on the trade but the contingent trade should be interesting to see who we can get for our now existing spare parts. Thoughts?
Actually, Tejada, Matsui, Bourne, and Pence are all studs defensively.....agreed about the rotation and bullpen though
Assuming Tejada is moving to 3rd and we kept Everett, I'm extremely happy about this trade. Tejada is a very good hitter who might actually hit 6th in this lineup. Bourne CF Matsui 2B Pence RF Berkman 1B Lee LF Tejada 3B Towels C Everett SS Tejada hasn't lost as much as you might think, range wise, which might make him one of the better 3B in the league. The infield defense is much stronger as is the OF defense with Bourne. If the pitching can just be decent, we might be looking at a much much improved team in 08. Well done, Mr. Wade.
