Here's Lopez's latest response on his blog page... Here's Lopez's reply to all of the banter in response to his blog.... Geesh. All I said is I have an educated hunch. I've been reading the smoke signals emanating from Union Station. It appears a Lidge deal is in the works ... that's what it seems like to me, that is. Don't get ahead of yourselves. Give it time. Posted by: JohnP at December 9, 2005 12:35 PM
So, did y'all realize how much the Cardinals' bullpen has been decimated this offseason? People talk about the Stros being a loser at the Winter Meetings, but, now that Matt Morris says he's moving on, the Cards have lost the following players this offseason: Matt Morris Reggie Sanders Grudz Julian Tavarez (I'm going to miss lighting this guy up and watching him implode) Al Reyes Ray King Yeah, it looks like they're going to sign Ricardo Rincon, but that's a pretty big step down. Of course, any team with Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder in their rotation and Pujols/Rolen/Edmonds in their lineup is tough, but I think the Cards are headed for a big drop-off unless they make some major moves.
hey where's reggie sanders going? If he isn't anywhere yet, he might be a cheap affordable option at left field. He's a solid hitter with some power and I doubt he'll be too expensive.
Not to break up the speculation of who we want to acquire and how but did anyone hear about the World Series DVD and rant over at Chron.com about how the Astros were not represented fairly on the DVD? Apparently, some people are up in arms about the little footage there was on the DVD pertaining to the Astros and their run to the World Series. They apparently show three highlights of the Astros championship run and one of them is the Pujols bomb off Lidge. They didn't show any of the Astros' homeruns by Ausmus or Burke to help get us there nor did they mention the fact that we were the first team since the Titanic sank(or whatever) to come back from 15 games below .500 to advance to a World Series. Anyway, the bottom line is it is all Chicago White Sox and, if your an Astros fan thinking about buying it, then you will be extremely disappointed with the coverage as far as the Astros go. That kind of sucks that we weren't represented well but...oh well.
Well, to the victors go the spoils. I was pretty sure that this would happen. Let's face it, if the Astros had won the Series, they probably wouldn't have released a DVD since no one would have wanted one (a la the Rockets' 2nd championship SI cover).
Think about it -- wouldn't you be annoyed if your 1994 Rockets' championship video featured 15 minutes about the Knicks' season?
Astros now looking at Rondell White... http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASAp...t_id=1281664&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou HOUSTON -- The Astros have stepped up their pursuit of outfielder Rondell White. White, a free agent who was not offered arbitration by Detroit last week, was in Houston on Tuesday along with his wife Zavonia as guests of the Astros. White underwent a physical before leaving town Tuesday night. The Astros have been seeking a veteran hitter to upgrade their offense and White's credentials make him an intriguing target. A career .289 hitter, White was fifth in the American League with a .364 average with runners in scoring position when his season ended on Aug. 14 because of a dislocated shoulder. Though limited to 97 games because of the injury, White still hit .313 with 12 homers and 53 RBIs for the Tigers. White, 35, is one of the better fastball hitters around and would give Houston another right-handed option in left field. A gifted line drive hitter with some power (187 career homers), White's performance has been tempered by nine trips to the disabled list in 13 seasons. Calls to White's agent Seth Levinson were not returned to MLB.com. Astros general manager Tim Purpura does not comment on potential free agent targets. White signed a two-year, $6 million deal before the 2004 season that paid him $3.25 million last season in Detroit. The Minnesota Twins are also interested in White.
Nothing really new here, figured I'd post it here rather than start a new thread ---------------------------------------------------- http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2260678 Clemens won't decide future until January at earliest FORT WORTH, Texas -- Roger Clemens is glad he didn't have to decide about his major league future when he had two small tears in his back and both hamstrings were sore. "They would have gotten the wrong answer, which I was fully ready to give them," Clemens said Thursday night. "That I'd had enough." But those were his thoughts nearly two months ago after pitching hurt for his hometown Houston Astros in their first World Series. His rested body is feeling better, and Clemens is now pondering whether to pitch again -- or retire again. The 43-year-old free agent just isn't in a hurry to make that decision. Speaking publicly for the first time since the Astros declined to offer him salary arbitration last week, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner reiterated that he won't make a call until at least late January or early February, just as his agents have been saying. The Astros' decision not to offer arbitration means Clemens cannot re-sign with the National League champions until May 1. The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers have contacted his representatives about the possibility of Clemens pitching for them next season. While telling the crowd at the Texas Collegiate League dinner that he loves all those places, Clemens quickly added that he isn't even discussing those possibilities right now with his agents. "They're doing their thing ... just leaving all the options for me, so I can take my time and decide if I want to do this," Clemens said. The Rocket retired after pitching in the 2003 World Series for the Yankees, then changed his mind and joined buddy Andy Pettitte in Houston. Clemens is 31-12 with a 2.43 ERA in 65 starts the past two seasons. He won another Cy Young Award in 2004, when the Astros won a playoff series for the first time. He was third in the NL voting this year behind 20-game winners Chris Carpenter and Dontrelle Willis after going 13-8 with a career-best 1.87 ERA. Not wanting to wait for Clemens to make his decision, the Astros decided Dec. 7 not to offer him arbitration. "I was fine with it," Clemens said. "Talking with family, they wanted me to wait for any decision. So once I saw that this was the way to go, I would stick to it somewhat. The old 99.9 percent [in 2003] didn't really work out." Clemens, whose 341 wins in 22 seasons ties him for eighth on the career victory list, wants to be involved with the United States team during the inaugural World Baseball Classic next March. But he hasn't yet committed to pitch. "I have told them that I will play if I feel well enough to play," Clemens said. "That doesn't mean that I would play during the season." Clemens was forced out of Game 1 of the World Series against the White Sox after only two innings when he aggravated his hamstring. Chicago went on to a four-game sweep. If Clemens comes back, the Yankees and Red Sox are two of his former teams. Or he could follow the same finishing path as Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Famer and only pitcher who has more than Clemens' 4,502 career strikeouts. Ryan pitched in Houston, then got the last of his 5,714 strikeouts with the Rangers. Danny Darwin, once Clemens' Red Sox teammate and a former Texas pitcher, jokingly introduced the Rocket to the crowd Thursday night as the "newest Texas Ranger." Before Clemens left the podium, he was given a gift from the master of ceremonies: a Texas Rangers hat. When Clemens was trying to decide two years ago if he would come out of retirement to pitch in Houston, his sons gave him an Astros cap for Christmas. Clemens received the Texas Legends Award, presented to a Texan who has excelled in baseball. Ryan was the previous recipient of the award from the TCL, a wooden-bat summer league for college players.
ASTROS AND TEJADA Miguel Tejada Division We don't think Tejada is going to get traded. And most of the Tejada e-mails we perused consisted either of rumors that are already out there or deals the Orioles would laugh about from now to pitchers-and-catchers day. But how about this idea? From Bilal Iftikhar of Houston -- Astros trade Brad Lidge and Adam Everett to Baltimore for Tejada Would either side consider this trade? Well, the key word there is "consider." Would they consider it? Yep. Make it? Dubious. The Orioles do need a closer. And if they do trade Tejada, according to one team that has window-shopped for him, they want "a marquee name" back. Lidge qualifies, even if he's a ninth-inning marquee name, as opposed to a cleanup-hitter marquee name. But an official of another club said there's only one kind of star Baltimore would take for Tejada -- and that's another big bat, period. They want "the same type of player back." Otherwise, they can't justify it -- no matter how much Lidge might turn their heads. OK, so how about Houston's end? The Astros have actually told teams they would be "open-minded" about dealing Lidge, even if they'd enjoy it as much as they liked making about 200 consecutive outs with men on base in the World Series. But if they do trade Lidge, it would have to be for offense -- and, according to one NL executive, "a bona-fide star" who plays every day. We'd say Tejada fits that definition. Wouldn't you? The Astros, in general, are reluctant to take the defensive hit they would inflict on themselves by moving Everett for just about anybody. But if the new shortstop were named Tejada, that wouldn't involve much suffering. So now that we've gotten you interested, here's the biggest reason this deal will never happen: Ever-frugal Astros owner Drayton McLane would be a good bet to land in intensive care after he peruses Tejada's contract ($48 million owed in salary for the next four years, plus a sizable remaining chunk of a $12-million signing bonus).
Reggie Sanders is going sign with the Kansas City Royals and Rondell White with the Twins. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5189218 http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5188214
Looks like the Astros are striking out again for the 2nd year in the row in the off season. Drayton and his puppet GM are not serious about improving the team.
We just lost my FAVORITE Astro to listen to. I loved that guys voice. This hasn't been that great of an offseason. I don't know why I was so excited about it. Ofcourse it isn't finished yet, they could still pull that rabbit out of a hat.
Let's see, we got to the World Series in his first year. The second year hasn't started yet, so we have yet to see how the team will be assembled. What are you basing this statement on? We will have some financial flexibility soon, would you rather waste that on inflated free agents who are no more likely to be an improvement over who we already have? What's your plan Mr. GM? Give it time.
Purpura has done one thing right this offseason...he didn't offer arbitration to Clemens. That was was the right decision. It freed up room to sign other players (if the right player comes along) and gives us the opportunity to sign him for less if he comes back. He also has resigned key players to our NL Champions squad, like Palmeiro (who we need now that Viz is gone) and Ausmus, and offered arbirtration to Ensberg, Everett, Wheeler and Lidge. Granted, with the exception of Ausmus, this in-house stuff was almost a lock to happen anyways, but it was still important business to complete nonetheless. And I would rather keep our current roster intact, welcoming back a hopefully healthier Jeff Bagwell, and a seasoned Burke, Taveras and Lane, then to overpay for an overrated arm or bat. And as it stands, I'd be more concerned with finding antoher starter than a bat at this point.
