Thanks for the links. I'll check them out tomorrow. I imagine there is a recap of Berkman, too. I hope to find that as well.
On top of the pitching questions going into next season (and that's before Valverede gets traded), here is another major question mark: There were 150 players with more than 40 walks in baseball this year. That's five per team. There was one Astro, Lance Berkman (99). There were eight Cubs, meaning the starter at every position was on the list. And that even includes Jim Edmonds who got there in mid-May and didn't play against lefthanded pitching. Also, the Astros were in the bottom half of the league in walks at all nine positions in the batting order. Order BB rank OBP rank Leadoff Last Last 2 spot t-9th 4th 3 spot 13th 13th 4 spot 9th 1st 5 spot 15th 15th 6 spot Last 11th 7 spot t-11th 7th 8 spot 14th 15th 9 spot t-10th 12th • • • Why the Astros didn't finish last: The walks on the other side. Their pitchers walked the third fewest batters in the league, led by figures in the neighborhood of two walks per nine for Roy Oswalt and Brian Moehler. http://blogs.chron.com/unofficialscorer/2008/10/year_in_review_houston_astros.html
I think the Astros definitely need another starter. I wouldn't mind taking a look at Brad Penny. He's still young enough to return to form. Heck, I wouldn't mind the Stros taking a shot at someone like Mark Prior or Carl Pavano...they'd be cheap and could pay dividends. If we don't get another starter we'd have the worst rotation in the NL next year.
mark prior ftw!!! he's going to be a strong candiate for come back player of the year.. so ED Wade, you gotta sign him up
Prior did not throw an inning and had shoulder surgery in 2007. Prior did not throw an inning and had shoulder surgery in 2008.
I wonder if either of them will have to sign minor league contracts. Incentive laced deals with a minimum base seems like too much for these guys. It seems like it would be throwing money away. Prior may be done for good, and may be better off trying to come back as a reliever anyways.
Doesn't matter. He's going to keep getting injured. There's been many studies on his mechanics. What was previously thought to be perfect is the root cause of his problems.
I want results, not excuses. Hire a mechanical engineer and be done with it. Harry Potter has spoken.
I'm a pessimist but this how I see it: We were in the bottom half of the league last season in most offensive and pitching categories and had a negative run differential. Drayton is already talking about cutting payroll (Valverde, Wigginton, Tejada if there is a taker). We don't seem to be in the market for any good starting pitchers meaning our rotation may look something like this: Oswalt Rodriguez Moehler ? ? If we move Valverde and Wigginton, who closes and who plays 3rd? Hawkins and Blum? Hawkins doesn't strike me as closer material given his up and down career. It's hard to see him replicating what he did for us down the stretch last season. Blum isn't an everyday player. He hit for some power last season but he perenially hits for low AVG and doesn't get on base. He is also notorious for going into long slumps. He's also getting old. If we find a taker for Tejada, who plays SS? Is there any reason to believe we will get on base more as a team next season? Is there any reason to believe a guy like Moehler will repeat his success when his career numbers strongly point to last season being a fluke? Even if you heavily weight last season's performance, the guy is very old and completely dependent on locating his pitches. He has to be nearly perfect to be effective. His pitches have no velocity or movement to bail him out. Are the optimists merely hoping the Astros overachieve next season or do they see something that defies all evidence? Does anybody really think we are going to acquire any significant upgrades? All signs point to us going in the other direction and I think that is the right thing to do. The Astros are bottoming out with their league-worst farm system, aging and under-talented major league team and a lot of money tied into a few players. I will still watch the team religiously and hope for them to win every game they play. At the same time, I don't want them to keep sacrificing the future to try to field an average team and act like they are contenders. If Drayton shockingly puts it in reverse and signs a top FA, we would have to sacrifice more picks. Yes, I understand that MLB drafts are nothing like those in other sports but our pipeline is so depleted that we need every lottery ticket we can get. On the other hand, if we offer arbitration to our better arbitration-eligible players and they decline then sign with another team, don't we get picks (1st round for Type A, supplemental for Type B)? That sounds good to me. Does anybody know which Astros are in arbitration years?
When has McLane said this (as opposed to bloggers or Richard Justice writing this)? Both Ricky Bennet and Ed Wade have said many times that they do not plan to cut payroll this year. Ed Wade said it at least 3 times during a chat today. He expects payroll to be higher than last year. That does not mean they won't trade anyone, but until McLane himself says they intend to cut payroll OR they go into the regular season and have cut payroll, there is no reason to keep saying that they will cut payroll. From Ed Wade's chat today: Ed Wade: As previously stated, we are not dropping payroll. Our 2009 number will exceed last year's. At the same time, there are limitations in the real world. I think we are in a position to be a contending club despite the economic realities. http://blogs.chron.com/baseballblog/archives/2008/11/join_astros_gm.html
There is a reason to keep saying they will cut payroll. Lee's contract goes up by like $6.5 million next year. We have a lot of money tied into a handful of players and I believe at least a few of our good players are eligibile for arbitration, meaning their salaries will increase significantly if we resign them (I'm not sure about this and am looking for an exact list of arbitration eligible Astros). Wade could also mean that the salary increases for Lee and other resigned players will increase our payroll even if we don't sign any good FAs. So our payroll will stay the same or increase but not because of any big additions and even despite some significant subtractions. If they don't move some players, i.e., cut paryoll, by the time they resign everybody and field a complete team, the payroll will be well over $100 million. There is no reason to believe Drayton will, or should, break his own record for opening day payroll to field an average, at best, team. It's just common sense to see this and discuss it even if it isn't written in stone or hasn't come out of Drayton's mouth. Beyond that, if what Wade says in that link holds true, not cutting payroll and not adding more talent isn't enough to field a good team. We might as well cut payroll and get younger talent or picks if we are unlikely to be competitive. Sentiment has already changed dramatically in recent weeks. At one point, we were talking about signing top FAs. Now we are hoping they don't get rid of players.
Lumsden, LHP was rated pretty highly by John Sickels a couple of years ago (B grade, 6th best overall prospect on the Royals). He then went on to have 2 disastrous campaigns at AAA where he couldn't throw strikes and posted ERAs above 5 and 7. I personally wouldn't expect too much out of him.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-23-rogers-whispersnov23,0,2640085.story Whispers November 23, 2008 Some people in Houston are beginning to show optimism that the Astros could be the team to pull off a Jake Peavy deal. Roy Oswalt has been telling Peavy that as a 1-2 punch they would make Houston competitive again.
This is either a really good sign, or simply drivel leaked by the Chicago media in order to try to get the Cubs more pro-active in a trade. Either way, with the market not really being set yet with a dearth of free agent moves, a deal is definitely possible.
