Man, oh man. What a kick in the teeth. Carlos had the potential to be so very good, too. What a shame.
He's not dead. Just the 'stros season. Oh, that was with or without Hernandez. The Yankees' payroll is just 100 million buckaroos more than the 'stros for '03, oh my.
An injury like this that keeps cropping up over and over again has a tendency to be a chronic thing. I would be very surprised if Carlos was worth a damn as a pitcher ever again. I suppose it is possible...but with his build, and the strains that pitching puts on the body, an injury like this is a tough one to get over.
If he has his head togather Finley would be a great replacement for a year. He pitched really well the second half last year and still has some left in the tank.
What's worse is that he blew his shoulder hustling to second base, not even pitching. I remember I was driving to Austin listening to the game on the radio when that happened, and immediately thinking this might be a career threatening injury.
*Sighs* I can only imagine what this team would look like if we had an extra 100 million bucks to spend. The difference is so huge it's mind boggling
So, Carlos or no. Bigg or no. Kent or no. Bags' shoulder or no. No -- to any team having a legitimate and consistant chance to beat the Yankees (or Bosox, who need to learn how to spend their money better). Baseball is great. MLB s***s!
The Astros are an extremely efficient organization. Some baseball teams have to spend upwards of $100 million to consistently fail in the playoffs...The Astros do it in the $50-60 million range...
Don't the Angels have the same salary as the Astros?? I agree Xiki that the playing field is not level (not when the difference between the #1 paying team and the #2 paying team is the entire A's salary) but you still have to play the game. Give the Yankees credit for always putting out a competitive team but I think you have to say the same thing for the Astros. The point is to get into the playoffs and the Astros have a great chance of doing that.