Well, Feliz, Pence, Manzella and Lyon did all they could to destroy Roy's incredible performance but we squeaked it out.
Hurry up and get back, Lance...I'm already tired of Feliz at 1st base. Nice win tho...needed that one bad!
Did anybody read or hear Wade's explanation for why he thought that Lyon was worth $15 mil over 3 seasons? Every last thing I read talked about it being a horrible deal. Every last statistic pointed to him not being close to worth that kind of money. When Morey signs or trades for a player, he always has some kind of sound reasoning behind the move and can back it up with numbers. He even explains to the fans a lot of his reasoning and it usually makes good sense. I haven't come across one thing that makes sense about the Lyon deal. All the advanced stats suggest that Wade not just overpaid for him but ridiculously overpaid for him.
Ed Wade is one of the few remaining 'old school' GM's in baseball that go more by their gut than by sabermetrics. I haven't heard much about the Astros hiring any sort of statisticians or other 'numbers' guys. Any reasoning Ed Wade gives is probably generic/stupid stuff like "he makes our ballclub better." It's really difficult to watch his transactions because the basis is usually completely counter to what advanced stats show. Its even more brutal having a GM like Daryl Morey show us what proper 'numbers' GM's can do.
If I recall correctly, lots of people here were defending it as a good deal too. I never understood that logic, but I remember arguing with lots of people about it.
The logic was always along the lines of "we have to field a somewhat competitive team out there, so we HAVE to sign SOMEBODY." Not really addressing why we had to sign THIS particular guy.
I will be one who thought Lyons would be a decent move. I only trusted Oswalt as a reliable starter and thought Lyons would be a good set up guy. Astros lost their best set up guy last year in Hawkins and he has a 27.00 era I know because he was on my fantasy team for holds. I don't know what other set up guys were available but thought Lyons was one of them. It is still less than 2 weeks in this season. I don't expect him to be this bad, nor Pence and Lee to hit below 200 least I certainly hope not.
The Astros certainly wasted a lot of money this off-season, but that one really pisses me off since its for 3 years. It feels great to finally get something out of the catcher position.
The thing that irritates me the most about Ed Wade is that he just throws away money overpaying marginal players. The Lyon deal just exemplifies incompetence. There was no reason to give the length or the dollars to a totally mediocre middle reliever. Additionally, overpaying Myers, giving Moehler three million, and the absolutely indefensible Pedro Feliz signings is what kills this team. Instead of wasting millions of dollars overpaying these guys, I do not understand why they could not have resigned Hawkins, and made a bid on Chapman. Feliz and Lyon are quickly moving up on my list of most despised Astros. It is just really frustrating as a fan and season ticket holder that we have no hope. Sometimes, I sit and wonder why I renewed my tickets.
Ed Wade has a long history of overpaying for mediocre relievers. It could have been worse. He was going to spend too much on someone. At least he didn't do it on one of the big $$$ closers, which was what I feared. For a while I thought he was going to trade the little bit of talent that we have on the farm for Rafael Soriano, and then sign him to a blockbuster "Carlos Lee" contract that would weigh down the club for the next decade. In any case, obsession with and overpaying for relievers is a trait that was well defined and described early on when Wade was in Philly. It isn't some new development.
Yep, for some reason I assumed Soriano had put up better numbers in his stay with the Cubs but looking at his numbers...ewwwwww. Also didn't know his contract was even worse then Lee's in term of years. I stand corrected... :grin:
RT @keithlaw: Top Astro prospect Jordan Lyles, 19, faces 19 batters for Corpus Christi and gives up two singles and no BB with 5 K. Also Koby Clemens is now hitting .294 with 4 hrs 9 rbis and a 1.011 OPS in 34 ABs.