That's a damn good point. In the WEAK NL, having a just a couple good starters is enough to get you to the big dance. Then it's just a series. We will get Pettite back.
You forget? Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Jason Marquis, Jeff Weaver, and Jeff Suppan. Then there was Ponson and Anthony Reyes. You might not see Rocket or Big Unit, but that's pretty good in terms of 1-5. *All* of those guys have some measure of success in the bigs, and CC is a bona fide Cy Young winner. Hell, if Marquis, Weaver, and Suppan are my 3-5 guys, I'm buying playoff tickets in April.
Well I agree Lee is not the best fit but he was a free agent unlike Wells so we did not have to give up anything. As far as Zito, I like him but Boras is about to ass rape Tom Hicks again. Lee can work out well next year but we need to fill holes quick to make a run. Bullpen=ok Starting Rotation Now=not OK Starting Rotation w/Andy-Roger=OK Current Lineup=not OK Lineup with help at third/ss/or C=OK We will see what happens there is still time. Other than Andy and Roger do not expect the Astros to go after any other top free agents this offseason.
Huh. Didn't expect AP/Clemens, but Springer/Huff is a bit surprising. They better have some good Venezuelan & Dominican kids in the academy pipeline, because this draft class will be a weak one.
So Purp wants to go to battle with Ensberg. Not a bad decision. I think he'll bounce back, not that he really did that badly last year anyway.
I'm pretty sure Pupura said we're still going to go after Springer and Huff, so Ensberg at 3B is definately not given. The new CBA allows teams to re-sign players at anytime even if you don't offer them arbitration. I have no clue what to expect from Ensberg, so picking up Huff would definately give us some insurance. After that I say we just focus on picking up another solid starter in case Andy doesn't come back. If we can get another veteran starter I think we can throw some the young guys into the rotation, and hopefully two of them are consistent enough to make us competitive.
If they can find a trade partner for Ensberg, they'll sign Huff... its risky (considering you could trade Morgan, and lose Huff anyways), but that's what makes a GM a good GM.
Not to start another war, but he did great if he's a 2-hitter. As the cleanup/5 hitter in the lineup, that performance he turned in absolutely SUCKED, so bad that the Astros traded for another 3b.
i never thought about him in the 2 hole...i figured you he'd move down to the 5 spot with the addition of lee. but the 2 hole isn't a bad idea.
Yeah, even in the 5-spot, if he "hits" like he did last year that's a miserable failure. Because guys lower in the lineup are there for a reason (they can't hit). If there is a runner in scoring position and you draw a walk, the percentage of time a the run actually *scores* (which, if we'll all recall, is half of the work of actually winning a game) goes WAY down from if he gets a basehit or (assuming runner is on 3rd) drives the ball. Hence, for a guy hitting 4th or 5th, RBIs are as important as a measure, or even more so, than OBP. Perhaps the rotocrowd can come up with a better measure, since RBIs are so dependent on your teammate--mebbe an RBI% (percentage of time you drive a run in when a runner is on 3rd or in scoring position). That'd be better than BAw/RISP, as a fly ball with a man on 3rd can be more valuable than a bloop single with a man on 2nd.
