Finally. Not that Navarro is going to represent much of an upgrade, but Keppinger gets the everyday opportunity to see if he deserves to stay. It's the right move. It's time to get rid of the dead weight. Matsui was obviously the easiest to move with his contract when compared to the others.
I miss Miggy....that 6M he was asking for doesn't seem so bad if we use it on him instead of Pedro Feliz aka Happy Peter. And we could have seen what CJ was capable of. Through 40 games: 2009- Miguel Tejada: BA .327, OPS .839, 4 HR, 7 E 2010- Tommy Manzella: BA .191, OPS .497, 1 HR, 6 E Hindsight is 20/20, but Child Please....
What's sad is this wont make any difference. We're just brining up some scrub minor leaguer to replace Matsui. Navarro is a career .259/.330/.344 hitter in eight minor league seasons. Yikes.
Manzella does have better range, but his defense isn't nearly as stellar as it was said to be prior to the season. I feel similarly about Feliz. They should have just gone with Johnson in hindsight.
It's definitely not good enough to make up for a .191 clip through 40 games. I think we could put Wandy at SS and he would hit for a better avg than Tommy....
Maybe he's figured it out. Stranger things have happened. I'm not harboring any illusions, but they guy is playing quite well right now. Worst case scenario is that they got rid of someone who shouldn't have made the roster this season in the first place.
I'm hoping he found HGH. :grin: Highly doubtful on a minor league salary. Ozzie Smith's defense can't make up for an everyday player hitting .191.
Can someone briefly explain to me why Wade and the Astros didn't start rebuilding any time in the last two seasons? Why didn't they, at the very least, trade Tejada when there were buyers? And would someone also briefly give an update on how rebuilding the farm system is going? Also, would someone explain when the Astros will trade Oswalt and/or Berkman and/or Lee to accelerate the process?
We don't know why for sure. Possibly Drayton didn't like it. Maybe the offers weren't there that they wanted. At least at their word they were considering re-signing him. Its going slow, but improving. Jordan Lyles is our best pitching prospect since Carlos Hernandez. We aren't close to moving out of the bottom 10 in terms of organizational rankings, even after what could be a great draft next month with number of picks in the 1st 3 rounds. Lee will not be traded this season. I can't see him getting moved until possibly the final year of his deal due to the amount of money he is owed, and thats doubtful since he probably will age poorly. Berkman/Oswalt are probably 50/50 to be moved, but it likely won't happen until July if at all. The final decision on them lies with Drayton, whom I believe would strongly prefer to keep them.
The Astros SIGNED Tejada 2 years ago. In short, the answer to your question is that McLane thought this team could compete for a World Series the past couple years. When will the Astros trade Lee? Never, because nobody wants him. Oswalt and Berkman hopefully soon.
Sorry, a little off-topic From MLBTR: •Troy Renck of The Denver Post writes that the recently DFA'ed Willy Taveras worked out in Houston this week. The Astros offered Taveras a minor league deal over the winter, so Taveras' workout could represent a rekindling of the club's interest, or it could've just been a courtesy extended to a former Astro.
I knew we should have signed Kelly Johnson. I just looked it up...he signed a 1 year 2.35 million dollar deal. One freakin' year. Ed Wade, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING not signing this guy. He's from Austin, TX for crying out loud!!! Those 12 home runs would look good right now. Do we even have 12 as a team yet?
I mentioned it during the Dbacks series. Instead we invested in an over the hill 3B, that was never that great when we could have had a younger player, who had high upside at a need position for much less. Of course the team was hoping Matsui wouldn't be a pile of suck.
Ed Wade can't judge major league talent to save his life. His tenure at Philly was a Jackyl and Hyde split with ridiculously good prospects vs ridiculously bad FA signings. And ultimately why he got the boot there. I just wish Drayton would just give the go-ahead and stop spending on the major league level, use our resources to overpay draft picks and international prospects. If Wade can give us his Philly-type farm in 3 years, I don't even care if the Astros suck horribly in the meantime.
The Feliz signing was just awful. Yes its not for a whole lot of money nor is it long term, but Chris Johnson or whoever else they could have put out there would have gave the same production. At 4 mil, who exactly were the Astros bidding against? The Astros could have used that Feliz money towards draft picks or going after Dominican prospects. There was absolutely no reason to think he would be serviceable at this stage of his career. Ed Wade better prove his worth in the draft.
I just find it hard to believe that somebody that so clearly makes a lot of bad decisions in one area can be so good in another. It's all baseball-related at the end of the day. Is it possible that Wade got too much credit for building the Philly farm system? I don't know but I have definitely read in some places that he has. It's easy to find if you poke around on the net. A lot of people suggest that it was his scouting director and other people that should get all the credit. Sure, I suppose that he deserves credit for having the right people around him, assuming that he brought them in, but I imagine that a lot of people can hire good baseball people. One things if for sure. You are seeing a lot more of Ed Wade's stamp in free agency and trade. Scouting, drafting and developing players acquires an entire team of good people and the GM probably doesn't have as much impact as he does in FA/trade. The general consensus in baseball circles is that Wade is a dinosaur of a thinker, almost an anti-Morey, in a sport practically defined by statistics and hardcore analysis.
That is exactly how I feel. I think Ed Wade may have gotten too much credit for building Philly. Hopefully he is a legit talent evaluator or its going to be a loooong way until we rebuild.
