alou sucks right now...he's played very little due to injury...is no where near what his contract his worth...right now, Darryl Ward is a better hitter than Moises Alou. castilla isn't much better...not worth the price
Castilla: 48 G, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 9 BB, 33 K, .233 BA, .667 OPS Alou: 33 G, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 10 BB, 16 K, .188 BA, .524 OPS Yep, our offense would be much, much better with those 2. Here's some additional pertinent numbers: Castilla: 2 years, $8M Alou: 3 years, $27M Worth it?
I guess some folks are just spoiled by the success of winning 4 divisions in 5 years. Perhaps they won't make the playoffs this year, but it is still early. Last year they were muddling along until mid June and then started playing very well. With the exception of Alou and Castilla, the Astros are fielding the same product that they did last year. It has already been pointed out that those 2 aren't playing near to their contracts or capabilities this year. Perhaps had they stayed, they would be, but Alou is an injury waiting to happen. Houston fans are not unlike most teams fans. The Twins have been in first or second all year, playing exciting games with some good, young, exciting talent and still have trouble drawing. As a whole, attendance is down. The Astros are currently averaging 30,000 per game - not bad for a "losing" team, especially since the 'novelty' of the new stadium has worn off for the most part.
bobrek -- great points! to say that, "astros attendance is down," and to try to extrapolate something from that without acknowledging that attendance is down across the league, is pretty unfair to the astros. ticket sales are largely a function of how well a team does the season before...the playoff losses hung in the minds of those season ticket holders when it was time for a renewal..couple that with pretty sizeable ticket price increase, and you end up with lower attendance. i think that tells the story more than the fact that alou isn't around does.
