dotel is far, far above decent. he's an elite setup man and leads the league in strikeouts for a reliever. he's not rivera but then again we already have a closer. spencer is not an adequate replacement for hidalgo but it would open up the spot for jason lane who could be even better. i'm guessing this is fake but it wouldn't be a bad trade for the 'stros. i still wouldn't do it though.
You have GOT to be kidding me. There are SO few players that get in on the first ballot that we can't possibly dub Rivera as a shoe in first timer. There was even a dissenting vote on NOLAN RYAN!!!!!
ok, maybe rivera not a first ballot, but he's definately in. he is undoubtadly the most dominant closer of recent times. if eckersley is a lock for his time, then so should rivera be also. rivera has better stuff than eck. did in his early days. rivera is young and has just begun. he can pitch well into his 40's no doubt. most baseball writers who vote on this and other pundits regard rivera as a lock. if not first ballot, maybe second ballot but he's in. anyways, if the trade were real houston would be getting much better closer than erratic billy. he has lost his confidence and his touch. billy still commands good trade value and should/could be dealt for a stellar hitter. good trade would be wagner and hidalgo for cliff floyd.
You should be banned for such a hoax........ BTW, I think this would be a good trade for us... We update at closer... get two decent OFers(Even though we dont need em). We still got Jason Lane coming up. If we trade Wags for a good CFer(Could we get Giles), we will come out on this deal on top. I dont think the Yankees would do this because they love Rivera. I have looked all over the net and still cant find anything on this so I think its a hoax........
I don't care if Rivera is a Hall of Famer. We would be getting the guy on the downside of his career. Currently, Dotel's numbers are much better than Rivera, and Dotel will be good for a lot longer than Rivera. Plus, I am sure that Rivera would want to be the closer, and he and Wagner would probably grate on each other fighting for the saves. Spencer is having an awful season, and Hidalgo is doing pretty well. At best, what this trade would do is give us a slightly better reliever than Dotel for maybe a year or two, and a much worse OFer in Spencer. I am pretty certain it is a hoax, and I think it makes sense that it is a hoax becaus it is a truly awful trade for the Astros.
I personally am not that high on Rivera. Sure his postseason numbers are great...but man...i just don't like him. Yes, my reasoning sucks, but I'd rather have Hoffman or something.
It's definately a hoax - ESPN doesn't use Freeservers, for one - but in any case, Rivera blows Dotel out of the water. For one - Rivera's 32 and Dotel's 28. Not a huge gap in ages, and nothing to indicate that Rivera is on the downside of his career. For another....Wagner and Rivera would not fight over saves. Rivera would have the closer's job hands down and Wagner would fill Dotel's current role. You think there'd be a competition between one of, if not the best closer in baseball and a good-but-not-great closer in Wagner? No way. Spencer sucks, but Rivera's a heck of a lot better than Dotel... Dotel (career): 4.15 era, 1.31 whip, 23-18 w-l, 21 saves Rivera (career): 2.61 era, 1.08 whip, 38-27 w-l (10 starts), 237 saves Other than his bad outing yesterday and his hiccup in the WS last year, he's been the most dominant closer in the regular and post season for the past 4 seasons, and there's nothing to suggest he won't continue that. Dotel may have closer stuff...but he hasn't shown enough to get the chance yet; if he was that close in terms of talent to Rivera, he definately would've by now. In any case....the whole article was someone's pipe dream and bears no logistical merit on the outcome of the season, because it's simply not going to happen.
if you want to compare rivera's and dotel's whole careers well of course mariano blows him out. but if you look at the last two years with dotel as a reliever theres not that much seperating them. the point isn't whether rivera has had a better career or is a hall of fame player(he is) but what they've both done recently. i don't get this whole wagner is not doing his job, he's lost it crap. obviously he's lost his confidence. the man has blown 3 saves. one of them was entering the game with the bases loaded and 0 outs, only giving up 1 run but picking up the blown save anyway. he hasn't had the save opportunities so how can he boost his totals? when called upon he has done the job. wagner's era: 2.79 riviera's era: 3.00 take that for what it's worth.
I think people get worked up about Wagner because he doesn't post the high strike out total that he did before the surgery. People point to this as evidence that he's lost some stuff, which may be true. The flip side of that is that I think Wagner has learned a little more about the art of pitching over the years. He can now be just as effective without being as overpowering. For one thing, he seems more likely to coax a ground ball for a double play than he used to be, which can be very helpful in getting you out of jams.
I agree BigM. The only reason Wagner's saves are down is because his save opportunities are down. The Astros have yet to lose a game when they have led after 8 innings which also says that when Wagner has blown a save, he has not blown it into a loss. He is throwing as hard as ever, he's just not striking out folks at the record breaking pace he used to. The last position the Astros need to trade for is a closer. Also, he is being used a bit differently this year. He already has 6 games in which he has pitched more than one inning. Last year he had 1.
yeah...and all our previous owners were so great it has to be newbie Astros fans who say things like this...if you grew up with this team in the 80's, you'd KNOW Drayton is far and away the best owner this team has ever had. oh...and as RM95 says...if you field a championship caliber team...and they hit like gangbusters in the regular season...and finish as division champs 4 out of 5 seasons...and then get to the playoffs and conveniently leave their bats in the dugout...THAT IS NOT THE OWNER'S FAULT!! He has put a team together that was good enough to at least GET TO the series at least 2 of those years (98 and 99 in particular). That they didn't is not the owner's fault...particularly with the way they lost those playoff games.
Here, here. People forget that the credit unions operated the club in the early 1980s. Yeah...THAT'S a good owner.
Look. I hate Drayton. I understand he has put a winner on the field in the regular season, and he can't help it if the winner does not hit in the playoffs. I understand that all of this is not Drayton's fault but I need to vent towards someone. I vented towards Dierker last year, and guess what it was not Dierker's fault. I'm not going to vent at Jimy Williams or the players - Drayton is the head man of the club. I hate his penny counting ways. I hate how we are on an unlevel playing field in baseball. I hate how he is Selig's lackey. I hate how he promised with a new stadium the team would be flexible in payroll. I hate how other teams can go out and get people while he sits in his diamond club seats. I understand the above may sound like the rantings of an idiot. Fine I'm an idiot and you can go ahead and call me a non-fan. Whatever makes you happy, but that isn't going to change my feelings towards Drayton. Can we drop it now?
Smokey Out of curiosity, why would you vent towards the owner rather than the key players who (for the most part) did not perform even close to their regular season ability in the playoffs?
Good question bobrek. As the owner Drayton has the power to make changes to the roster. If the star players don't perform in the playoffs after performing well in the regular season then Drayton needs to consider whether these are his star players. Drayton's job is to keep improving this ball club. I don't think he has done it. Lets say we reach the playoffs this year and our hitters freeze up in round one again. How many times can you blame the players? How many times can you blame the coaches? At a certain point the owner needs to take responsibility. That is all I'm trying to say.
I agree that the buck stops with the owner. Unfortunately, the two players who have disappointed the most in the playoffs are Bagwell and Biggio, arguably the two most popular Astros ever (Bagwell was respectable last year). Also, they, along with Reynolds and Wagner are the only players who have been on all 4 playoff teams. It was much easier to fire Dierker (a move I did not agree with) than trade Bagwell and/or Biggio. I think those two will retire as Astros.
