Love how active we have been in the offseason. Its a drastic change from the past few years. This was a great pickup.
First thing I got to say is GOOD JOB ED WADE! I was very skeptical of him being our GM 3 months ago. The man has come in here and did exactly what he said he was going to do in “were shaking up the club this off season.” This is exactly what we need! I love the Astros and most of the players we have the last 2 seasons, but bottom line is they didn’t win. Baseball is a lot harder to get to the playoffs then basketball. I’m mean only 1 them besides the division leaders get in, we would be doing the same thing this year as the last 2, just not good enough. Good move on the Lidge trade – if Bourn can get on first he will be stealing 2nd & 3rd a lot. Good move on the Tajada trade – it was all scrubs or “potential” players. Good move on the Valverde trade – besides Qualls it was a scrub and another “potential” player. Good signing of FA also. Now IMO take chance on Prior and even Jennings for a CHEAP price. I’d say that’s a pretty good off-season. GOOD JOB WADE! Can you get rid of the stupid slogan now “Return of the good guys!” I don’t care about the good guys we need guys that will win and play with some passion I say the slogan should be, “ The right attitude!” Sounds like what the Rockets need also more passion!
At this point in time I'd love you see us throw some money at either Livan Hernandez or Carlos Silva. Neither will be cheap, but this team needs starting pitching and both are proven inning eaters. I think I'd prefer Livan just because Silva will be looking for close to a 5 year deal. After that I'd take a chance on Jennings, give him a one year, incentive-laden deal and hope he's healthy and pitches like he has throughout his career, sans last season.
December 15, 2007 Does Ed Wade need to cut down on the caffeine? Does Astros general manager Ed Wade ever sleep? Wade pulled off another blockbuster on Friday, sending pitchers Chad Qualls and Juan Gutierrez and second baseman Chris Burke to the Diamondbacks for All-Star reliever Jose Valverde. Valverde is an imposing 28-year-old right-hander with electric stuff. He led the major leagues with 47 saves last season, striking out 78 batters in 64 1/3 innings. When healthy, Valverde has been effective (3.29 career earned run average). The rub is, Valverde hasn't always been healthy enough to take the ball. Valverde has worked fewer than 50 innings in two of the past four seasons. He can be a little erratic with his control (111 walks in 260 innings), but his good outings far outweigh the bad. In multi-player deals, the team that gets the best player in the bunch usually wins. If Valverde stays healthy, it's a good deal for the Astros. Keeping with Wade's theme of the off-season, he loaded the deal with players who weren't really a part of the 2008 plans. The only player in this deal who had a tangible role for next season was Qualls, who probably could have done a solid job as a closer (3.05 ERA last year, 3.39 for his career). Qualls has been worked awfully hard in his time with the Astros, though, and Wade may be ahead of the curve here. In the past three seasons, Qualls ranks second among big-league relievers in appearances and seventh in innings. Most relievers will experience a dropoff (See: Scott Linebrink) when pushed that hard. Maybe Qualls, 29, will prove not to be most relievers. But that's not necessarily the way to bet. Gutierrez, 24, would have been one of the many competing for a spot in the rotation or a long reliever. The Astros have plenty of pitchers in that boat. As for Burke, well, I still would have preferred for the Astros to give him a chance to play second base and pass on signing free agent Kaz Matsui for $16.5 million over three years. Right or wrong, though, Burke had no real role on the 2008 Astros. In one three-day swoop, Wade parted with eight players — nine, actually, if you count cutting loose shortstop Adam Everett — in return for two. Out with Luke Scott, Troy Patton, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, Michael Costanzo, Qualls, Burke, Gutierrez and Everett. In with Valverde and shortstop Miguel Tejeda. What does that say about Wade, besides the fact he wasn't enamored with the complementary parts surrounding Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence? It says that he's willing to deal in bulk to upgrade with a specific player he wants. It says — and I think he's right — that there is more replacement-level talent available than many people think. Like all of his moves or not, and I'm not in love with each and every one, he has populated the roster with more star quality. He is banking the 2008 season on players with incomplete track records contributing enough not to drag down the stars. Those lamenting all the young players the Astros have shipped out of town might want to keep this in mind: The players in question are products of perhaps the worst minor-league system in the game. Under the circumstances, there's no reason — besides paranoia — to think the Astros have traded away the up-and-comers who were going to lead them to prosperity. http://blogs.chron.com/stevecampbell/2007/12/does_ed_wade_need_to_cut_down_1.html
Valverde has shown he can get it done in those situations. He has also shown that he can blow up in the exact same situation. I'm not sure why 2007 should hold so much more precedence than 2006, other than a single year of proximity.
i remember i picked him on my fantasy team in 2006 because he had like 14 saves through the first 2-3 weeks of the season, then he started getting pwned and lost the closers role early on. but that doesnt really matter cuz he showed what he could do last year and he is definetly an upgrade over qualls. good trade
sums up my feelings perfectly.... especially the bolded part. this team needed a major shakeup, because the ol' "lets hold on to them as long as possible" strategy has driven us straight into mediocrity. now let's get that #2 starter!
That would definitely cap off Wade's offseason as a great one. If he signs either Hernandez or Silva, then brings in Jennings...I'd be pretty happy with the other moves. I also want him to take a shot at Prior with the right deal. You can never have too many arms, and I think if he signs Hernandez/Silva, Jennings, and Prior...our pitching would go from border line bad to pretty decent.
i am pretty sad to see qualls go, but valverde seems to be a bulldog. i have only seen him in a couple of opportunities, but have been impressed. chris burke turned out to be a big disappointment. i always hoped he would bring his batting up, and perhaps could down the line. best of luck to him, and thanks for that home run you hit in our ws run. above all, you got to LOVE ed wade's tenacity. the squad wasn't working and i feared the astros wouldn't revamp enough, because it's always risky to make this many changes. i'm impressed thus far though eddie wade has taken a page from our friend daryl morey's book on how to pull an offseason out of your ass.
You don't see why an improvement in a still-young pitcher can indicate an improvement and not just year-to-year fluctuation? Dan Haren, who the Snakes just obtained, was significantly better in 2007 than he was in 06. My guess would be that he's more likely to approach his 07 numbers in 08 than to slip back to where he was in 06. There are no certainties in baseball, but I believe in choosing between a reliever who led the NL in saves and a reliever who's never pitched the 9th inning before, I'll take the proven commodity. Not to mention the fact that Valverde has better stuff than Qualls and better career #s across the board. Bottom line, I'd rather take my chances with a guy who has nasty stuff like Valverde closing games than a sinker/slider guy like Qualls.
Valverde looks a little mean and crazy. He's got that perfect closer's look. I've loved since he first came into the league. He tops out at 100 mph and has great movement, a confusing windup and throws strikes. Tejada is a natural hitter. I love Bourn and Matsui at the top of the lineup. And Pence in the 6 hole...are you kidding me? Wiggington can put up some numbers in the 7 spot. Towles has a chance to step right in a prove what he can do. If not...Ausmus as the #8 isn't so bad. The Astros can mash now. Sign Livan. He's 31 as well and would fit in with these core guys. Plus, he's Cuban. We now have two Dominicanos, a Mexican in Villareal, an Asian secondbaseman and a starting black centerfielder from Houston to go with Carlos Lee from Panama. Ed Wade has changed the face of the Astros with starpower, exitement and big names. I say sign Livan Hernandez and call it an offseason. Can't wait for spring training this year. '08 will be fun.
You don't think the closer year is a better predictor of how he'll do than the further year?? He's 28 years old. If you're looking for a reason not to like it, that's one thing. But I think you have to try really hard not to like this deal.
We are set! Apparently Wade is signing all of our old Pitchers! http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5381448.html HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros' offseason of dealing continued on Saturday when the club traded Jeff Bagwell and the rights to Biggio's expiring contract for Dave Smith. Smith, (born January 21, 1955 in Richmond, California) was a Major League Baseball relief pitcher. Smith attended San Diego State University. Most of his major league career was spent with the Houston Astros from 1980-1990. He only started one game in his career, and was the team's primary closer from 1985 on. Smith was selected for the National League All-Star team for both the 1986 and 1990 seasons. He holds the Astros record for games pitched (586) and saves (199). Seriously... Brocail?
I've said from the start that I do like this deal, but the reason I'm hesitant to consider Valverde a dominator is because his 2005 season was actually better than his 2007 year, and he followed that up with a stinker. My biggest beef is with the argument that racking up big save numbers for a playoff team means he's a stud closer. I have more of an issue with the logic being used in this discussion than I do with Valverde himself. Joe Borowski had 45 saves last year for a playoff team, and did so with an ERA of over 5.
I like the deal but it not like it doesn't come with plus/minuses. Valverde is the best player in deal and by that standard the astros won. However, he's only marginally better than Qualls, has fewer years under club control, and will be much more expensive in the next few years. Add in a decent starting pitching prospect in Gutierrez and they are giving up a decent amount. And i've heard the argument that the astros farm system is terrible so why care about giving away prospects. That ignores that the system is bad because of the lack of players like patton, pence, gutierrez, not because of them. The astros system was among the worse in the last year too, it doesn't make the Pence wasn't a good prospect. They need to be viewed independently. Therefore i don't see it as the slam-dunk that some other astros fans make it out to be, but viewed in what seems to be the overall Wade plan, it makes more sense. The astros seem to be going for broke in the next few years. I think it makes a certain about of sense given the age of their core and the lack of a farm system. However all these moves coupled with the state of the astros team/system makes it a good bet that they'll be historically bad in 3-5 years. Max, you said in the recent marlins/astros thread that you'd rather not follow a team that goes through those fluctuations. It appears to me that the astros are headed down that kind of path. I hope Wade's gamble pays off and turns a 73 win team into contenders, because as of now it looks like a pretty bleak future after a couple years
