The Padres and Astros were unable to come to an agreement on a deal for Luke Scott, FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports. The Astros must have been holding out for Chase Headley. It's good that the Astros are aiming high. They'd still likely be better off with Scott in right and Hunter Pence in center. Source: FOXSports.com
The Chronicle and Denver Post have reported the Rockies have offered SS Clint Barmes for 2B Chris Burke.
Willis may indeed get crushed...but with a lineup that includes Pudge, Polanco, Renteria, Cabrera, Maglio, Granderson , JAcque jones and Guillen he will have room....not to mention that Willis will be their #4 or 5 starter. Oh, and they still have Brandon Inge on the bench....this team is stacked!
I wouldn't call Willis a declining pitcher. He is human so it's natural for a human to have a bad season. When you pitch for a loser with no fan support, it's hard and it takes its toll on a team. Willis will be fine in Detroit and he won't be crushed in the AL Central. I expect a dominat D-Train with Tigers playoff bound.
Barmes had a really good rookie year. A really not so good sophomore year. And then lost his job to Tulowitzki, who is just fantastic. But I'd say there's more upside to Barmes than Burke.
Yeah the guys on ESPN made a good point last night. Willis is such an innings eater that he could easily win 16-18 games with a 5 ERA on such a stacked team. (i.e. he gets a bunch of 7-5 wins next year) Man, we need an innings eater. I'd sign Livan at this point.
I hope the Stros don't trade Burke or Scott unless the deal is really sweet in our favor and it looks like Wade is holding out for a good deal. We may have some injuries and these would be good options to fall back on. Other teams may have some injuries and out of desperation to make the playoffs might give us more than they are worth before the trade deadline. To me it looks like baseball is becoming more like basketball in the sense that the American League has teams that are loaded and as a league overall is stronger than the National League. Look at recent baseball All Star games. In basketball the West is clearly stronger with them winning the NBA finals 7 out of the last 9 years..
Not a whole lot of info out there about him, but it looks like a hard throwing lefty reliever. If you look at his year by year stats, he seems to do well, get promoted then struggle. Once he gets comfortable with the promotion he does well. He's averaged over 10 K/9 IP so far, but looks like control could be an issue (Stephen Randolph anyone?). Not a bad pick and one they can afford to gamble on. If he sticks, great. If not, he's only 22 and I'd make a minor trade to keep him around (a la Willy Taveras).
The Astros did lose nobody in the major-league phase of Rule 5, but I was premature to say they lost no one at all. AAA phase: P Levi Romero, P Victor Garate, P Santo Luis and 3b/1b Neil Sellers taken from the Astros. Houston selects Giuseppe "Joey" Norrito, AA pitcher, and like Wright taken from the Dodgers.
From Baseball America blogs: [rquoter] Lefthander Wesley Wright was the odd man out of the Dodgers 40-man roster crunch, and it was no surprise that he was drafted in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. The Astros selected him with the eighth pick of the first round. Wright ranked among the Dodgers’ top 30 prospects in the 2007 Prospect Handbook, and was poised to climb near their top 20 this year after another solid season in 2007. Wright, who turns 23 next month, split 2007 between Double-A and Triple-A and finished his season with 16 consecutive scoreless innings out of Double-A Jacksonville’s bullpen. He pitches off an 88-91 mph fastball that he has deft command of. His solid-average spike-curveball is his best secondary pitch, but his best attributes are his good feel for pitching and consistency, two things that major league managers covet. As a middle reliever or situational man, his ceiling is modest, but the Astros can use him right away. It was probably more than a coincidence that the same scout that signed Wright out of Goshen (Ala.) High in 2003, Clarence Johns, is now a crosschecker with Houston and was in Nashville to offer assistance in the Rule 5 Draft. —Alan Matthews [/rquoter]
