i think this is my favorite part: skyrocket, i say - skyrocket!! the astros have virtually no choice but to let this season play out with (most of) the current roster. these guys have little trade value (except the ones you'd actually like to keep) and the farm system is paticularly barren. i suppose they could bring in lou brown and grab a bunch of guys from the mexican league, california penal system and the cast of "wildcats," but that's probably better left for the offseason. so better get used to biggio. ausmus, lane, scott, ensberg and/or everett getting ample playing time this year and hope berkman can turn it around, pence stays hot and jennings gets healthy.
contender for worst thread in the forum. I agree that a change needs to be made with our roster (I like the idea of trading Ensberg and one other player for someone decent), but trading away everyone else? Please
If we're not gonna make moves to make this roster better, than we might as well have a fire sale. We made the team worse in the off season as well as not helping the farm system at least get a couple top draft picks netting us at least something in return. Carlos Lee could never solve the fact that most our lineup can't hit or get a walk. What's the point of watching a sub .500 team for years to come? I just don't get this board's love devotion to these players only an Astros fan could name and only an idiot would put on a fantasy team. Plus we have no more than 3 position players that could start on most teams. People don't fear our pitching staff anymore. So either we need to finally choose to rebuild or somehow get some talent. You can root for the "good guys", but don't forget they're not good or even average at their jobs! Face it. The owner and staff just want us to believe we're contenders in order to keep ticket revenues and TV ratings up. Another year of this and i bet they'll be alot more threads about finally rebuilding. What makes people think we can have a contending team for a decade without spending money like the Sox, Yankees, or even Mets?
WS Winners and Their Team Payrolls 2006: #11 St. Louis Cardinals - $88,891,371 (#9 Houston Astros - $92,551,503) 2005: #13 Chicago White Sox - $75,178,000 (#12 Houston Astros - $76,779,000) 2004: #2 Boston Red Sox - $127,298,500 (#12 Houston Astros - $75,397,000) 2003: #25 Florida Marlins - $48,750,000 (#14 Houston Astros - $71,040,000) 2002: #15 Los Angeles Angels - $61,721,667 (#14 Houston Astros - $63,448,417) 2001: #8 Arizona Diamondbacks - $85,247,999 (#17 Houston Astros - $60,387,667) 2000: #1 New York Yankees - $92,938,260 (#18 Houston Astros - $52,081,667) The salient points: 1) Since 2000 (the last 7 years), only 2 teams in the top 10 for payroll (28.5%) have won a championship. We're talking top 10, not top 3. Four of the last five champs have followed this trend, too. 2) In 4 of the 7 years (57%), the Astros' team payroll was HIGHER than the eventual champions' team payroll.
I'm not saying we couldn't have won a world series before. We had plenty of chances which is exactly why our time is up. We we're the favorite to make it there a couple of times when the Braves knocked us out of the 1 round. We've had our shot at the WS and could have been on that list if we won. What I'm saying is you can't keep a team good forever w/o buying a free agent or two every year, unless you have on helluva farm system that no team does. Think of all the stars we've lost since the late 90's and who they have been replaced by. Now we have a bad pro team with nobody to even bring up from the farm system to help or even gain experience because it's horrible as well, yet the farm system has no excuse since we haven't been using much of it. Like i mentioned before, it took us 8 years to bring up another good hitter since Lance.
Lets just wait a little before declaring Pence a future perennial MVP candidate. Hell, Ensberg was 4th in MVP voting just 2 years ago.
OH MY GOSH! WE'RE HAVING A FIRE... sale... OH, THE BURNING! IT BURNS ME! EVACUATE ALL THE SCHOOL CHILDREN! Amazing Grace... Let's rebuild now... THIS ISN'T A FEVER! I CAN'T EVEN SEE WHERE THE KNOB IS. And SCENE.
Call up Eric Bruntlett, Tim Raines Jr., Chris Burke, and Stephen Randolph and DFA Jason Lane, Humeberto Quintero, Brian Moehler and Orlando Palmerio.
Hey he is on fire in Round Rock. Don't know how long it will last but he couldn't be worse the Lane or Palmerio.
Agreed. So now it could be at least a decade before we bring up another great bat! Thanks for the great job managing and drafting talent in the farm system Tim. I still don't see why he was promoted to replace one of the best GM's in professional baseball. I think i understand now that he has a master plan to turn the Astros into another minor league team. Then we can totally dominate Round Rock or another little City! I say Round Rock because it's close to Austin and there could be some AAA teams that might compete with us.
That 2006 number doesn't include Roger Clemen's pro rated $22 million. And the point was that u can't have sustained winning unless u spend lots of money. The Diamondbacks and Marlins haven't been making the playoffs and the White Sox and Angels both have payrolls in excess of $100 million this year.
I'm with you on your point, but the Braves seem to have that helluva farm system. Sure they've been supplementing veteran players in too, but they rebuilt very quickly. They have the best GM in baseball though. They were a team that didn't spend a lot when their run started, then they started spending a lot of money starting in 1999, and now they have a payroll that is 15th in baseball. They had the 3rd highest in 2003. That's pretty impressive consindering they have a team that could compete for a while again.
Why not just trade Berkman, Lee, and Oswalt? We can get 2 to 3 great prospects for EACH, so with those 3 we can field an entire above average at worst lineup by just trading those 3. Are you crazy? You ask. NOOOOO, this team is not a good one. They will not be good for 3-5 years. In 3-5 years all of these 3 guys mentions will be in their mid 30s and have no more value. TRADE THEM NOW when their ceiling is at the highest.
youre not the sharpest tool in the shed. trade three proven very-good players/superstars for a handful of unproven commodities?
*If* you were to have a firesale, that's the way you'd do it. When the Marlins had a firesale, they traded Sheffield, Alou, Kevin Brown, etc. The idea being that you get a bunch of top-flight prospects so in a few years, you bring up top flight cheap players. The Astros don't need a firesale, but if you were to do it, the Berkmans are the ones you'd have to trade. Trading Lidge or Ensberg or whatnot isn't a firesale.
Exactly... and then everybody would scream about how we have no MLB-ready talent, and how we don't deserve a team (like Miami people were/are doing for the Marlins). You can't have it both ways... you want to spend money on free agents, or retain your own guys, you can't cry about everything when those guys aren't living up to their deals.
I'm not saying I wouldn't trade any of those guys, but I would have to get blown away with young major league ready prospects or talent. In all likely hood they would only get dealt if they demanded a trade. Lidge, Wheeler, and Loretta are the most likely guys to go in my opinion. Everett, Ensberg, Burke, and a couple others could be packaged with those guys.
