I think it's actually 1.5 for 6. Good Peter Lambert (Free Agent) Kai-Wei Teng (Trade) Horrid Ryan Weiss (Free Agent) Tatsuya Imai (Free Agent) Mike Burrows (Trade) Roddery Muñoz (Rule 5)
Pearson, Roa, and Bolton are in the mix too although none of them have had much influence one way or the other. I think Lambert is producing close to what the hope was for Burrows so those kind of cancel each other out. And evaluating Teng and Weiss together is a push in my opinion. The real bust has been Imai, because he cost so much more resources than all the other pitchers they brought in, and because his failures have had such a dramatic impact downstream because it chewed up the bullpen; as bad as Burrows has been, he has at least pitched consistently into the 5th inning so his harm is limited to his own appearances. A guy like Weiss who cost a few million or a Rule 5 pick like Munoz should have very low expectations. But when they traded 2 of their top 5 prospects for Burrows and spend $50M+ on Imai, those two guys HAD to produce.
Burrows was worse IMHO. Dana gave up prospects including a pitcher I liked a lot for a pitcher with the straightest 95 mph FB that I've seen in a long time. This makes me really question his ability when it comes to evaluating MLB level talent. He may be a great scout when it comes to drafting players, but if he cant do better than Burrows/Sanchez etc... when it comes to trading for MLB level talent the Stros org is in a world of trouble regardless of how good of a scout Dana is. Trades is where the previous regime excelled. Now days that's not the case anymore.
TBF, Burrows had 100 innings of MLB experience showing he could play. Some guys get figured out, but he's also dramatically dropped his arm angle. Something is wrong with him. Mentally or physically. Wouldn't shock me to see him bounce back, but I think he'll have to do it with another team.
I'd love to see all the posts by people bemoaning the trade for Burrows when it happened. ...and the signing of Imai
I’ll be the first one to say I liked the Burrows addition. At worst I thought he’d be 3/4 type and had some upside for more. For whatever reason, it hasn’t happened. Misses happen, I understand that. The fact he is still on the roster right now is ridiculous though and makes me think Dana’s ego is the reason. Besides the fact Burrows has no business on the active roster right now, Imai is pitching tonight…could use another fresh body in the pen in case he implodes. Someone should have been on a flight first thing this morning.
Given our recent injury return track record I can't say with much confidence Wesneski and Blanco won't suck. However between those 2 and Pecko it's near impossible that at least one of them isn't a significant upgrade from Burrows. Hell just cobble together some tandems with the option guys shuttling to AAA once a month.
