Well shut me up. Moehler comes through. Can't figure this team out but it's sure fun to watch! If Bourne were hitting .300 he would break the record for stolen bases in a season!
I respectfully suggest that your trust is misplaced. Ausmus isn't even good at throwing out runners anymore. It isn't that runners are getting a good jump, Ausmus' throws aren't even accurate these days. He's mediocre at best in all facests of the game at this point in his career. I'm not saying the Q is the answer...but I'd feel a lot better in the short term with him as the backup instead of Ausmus.
The complaining about Ausmus is even more pointless now, with a stronger lineup, than it was in previous years. Yes, he's not going to be hitting in the heart of anybody's lineup. Neither is the guy who catches 3 out of every 5 games in Towles (who isn't exactly lighting it up with his bat either). If you can obtain an all-star/silver slugger catcher, I'd be all for throwing him and our other light-hitting catchers under the bus... but those guys don't grow on trees. I'm still fixated on ways we can upgrade our starting pitching after Oswalt. Chacon has exceeded all expectations and likely will regress. Backe and Sampson are inconsistent, as expected. Wandy will likely follow the same pattern when he comes back. The biggest bright spot of the year is that Lance Berkman doesn't look like a guy who is on the "decline", like so many here predicted... even though he still was basically our best hitter last year.
i'll be shocked if jake peavy isn't on the market at the trading deadline. they just signed him to a huge extension, only to find out that they dont have the team they thought they did. the guy is best buds with roy, and it would almost make too much sense for us to trade for him. i think he can be had for sure if pence is involved in a package, but can he be had without including pence for a package of minor leaguers, draft picks, and/or other current roster players like bourn or towles? i'd let them gut our farm system for anybody and everybody they wanted to get that trade done. what do you think? a pipe dream? or a viable possibility?
If we're still within striking distance at the all-star break, like we are now, and the offense stays stable (note, Berkman and Tejada will likely decline a little, while guys like Bourne and Pence should improve), we definitly SHOULD make that type of move. However, it takes two teams to make a trade... and the Padres may not find Pence + our not-so-stellar prospects enticing enough. Additionally, if Bourne doesn't get it turned around soon, he'll find himself batting in the 7th spot. Same goes for Towles. The offense is excelling purely on the amazing start of Berkman+Tejada, with solid contributions from Matsui and Lee. There's still room for more balance... namely from the front and back of the order.
The Santana deal should teach us all that a pitcher, even a front line pitcher, will not net you more than a decent package of prospects. I would think that a couple of prospects and a guy like Pence could get the job done. The question is...who do we put in RF should we trade Pence? Cruz, Jr.? Ugh. I like the possibility of Darrin Erstad in the short term, but that leaves you with a hole on your bench.
The problem with trading for Peavy is the same as us trading Roy. If we wouldn't trade Roy if we're not in contention because ultimately we'll need a #1 pitcher when we do get good again, why would San Diego trade Peavy given the same circumstances? If we wouldn't trade Roy because we can't get much in return, why would San Diego in the same circumstances? Unless they plan to suck for the next few years, they'll need him as a #1 eventually.
Peavy won't be on the block. It doesn't matter anyways. At this point the Astros don't have the assets to make that sort of trade or they would have done so in the offseason when Haren, Garza, Garland, Bedard, Blanton, etc were on the block.
in that case, why would anybody ever trade their #1 pitcher for any reason other than their contract being close to being up and refusing to sign an extension? you answered your own question anyway. why wouldnt they suck for the next few years? their roster is a complete mess, and i assume they have next to nothing in their farm system, judging by the awful lineup they trot out there every night. they squeezed every ounce of juice out of their roster that they could last year, and even then were making desperation moves like trading us for ensberg and lamb to try to help advance them into the playoffs. they would still have chris young, who is a borderline #1, at a cheap price to rebuild their staff around.
What #1's have been traded in recent history? Randy Johnson to us - Seattle wasn't going to resign him. Beckett to Boston - no interest in paying him (or anyone). Santana to the Mets - couldn't resign. Who else (I'm sure there are some that I'm not remembering)? The reason you described pretty much is the primary time/reason #1 starters get traded.
#1 starters are such a rare and valuable commodity that yes it's extremely rare for teams to trade them while they are either under club control or not about to be a free agent There were a couple this offseason. Erik Bedard is probably one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball and he was traded for Adam Jones (top ten national prospect) plus other good prospects. Dan Haren was the A's top starter and probably one of the top ~30 starters in baseball (if you consider that the standard for being a #1). There wasn't much starting pitching available in the free agent market, but there was a ton available on the trade block last offseason. That's where having a weak farm system really hurt us.
The A's have traded about three 1/2's(Hudson, Mulder, Haren) and all for the same reason as any other #1 gets traded. Elite starting pitching is so rare that when someone has a #1 starter, the only reason a team trades that kind of pitcher is when it becomes obvious that the pitcher is leaving anyway. Also, I'm not sure if the Santana deal is really the benchmark people keep mentioning it as. That has more to do with the screw-ups in Minnesota and the Yankees than the market for pitching. After all, in the same offseason Baltimore and Oakland got excellent return for trading their two aces.
Great first inning so far from the Good Guys. Billingsley has been all over the place - so it's nice to see us take advantage of that. That kind of cushion is only going to help Sampson - who's really struggled lately.
I like their aggressive baserunning, but Miggy's got to be more careful there. I don't blame Matsui- I thought that was going to the plate. MT should know he just can't go from 1st to home on a ball hit that hard by Berkman.
nice to get a couple runs but man that inning kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth with 2 outs given up on the basepaths.
Well to be fair, Tejada's decision to go home is probably more on Romero than anything else. He probably shouldn't have sent him. If it was one of our faster guys, sure.
