One thing ive really noticed about daigle and wright is that both of them are absolutely terrible at coming into a game with men on base. You can pretty much tack on that run to the other team and give the earned run to the starting pitcher when those two come in. That is really one thing that has impressed me with wilton lopez this year. He gets outs when we need him to.
Valverde wanted a long term deal at 32. There are still some teams out there willing to overpay for pitching if they have to.
Wanted being the key word. He was given a short deal even though he lead the NL in saves two years in a row.
I don't even need to post anything in defense of you. Everything you said was spot on. Rep much needed.
I don't think you will get much more than a warm body, like we gave up for Randy Wolf. In that instance we gave up a guy who was like the #10 prospect in the worst minor league team in MLB, and a guy who was about to be a 6 year free agent. For the Padres, however, it made sense because they had young guys to give a shot in the rotation. That isn't exactly the case here. Myers is not a drain on the team's finances, and he isn't blocking anybody who would be even the slightest credible threat to be in the rotation. If what we get back in return is an "organizational player", I think the stability of a regular body in the rotation instead of having to choose which Runelvys Hernandez clone to run out as the sacrificial lamb is worth it, just in not destroying the arms in your bullpen when you have to pull the starter in the 2nd inning every five days. That kind of intentional self-flagellation won't have any net positive effect on the team rebuilding, and Myers isn't going to by himself prop the team into mediocrity. When you fall that far into a deep dark hole that you get used to being blown out once a week, it actually hurts your rebuilding, IMO. You get "Expos syndrome" where the team becomes full of beaten-down defeatists who expect to lose and you have to turn over all the personnel on the team several times before having a chance at winning. I'm all for trading him if you can actually get something back. But if all you get is an organizational player/AAAA journeyman, it does make more sense to protect the psyche of your team from the sort of trauma you could induce.
Well....that was a fun series. Glad I had to work and missed this one. Posada with 2 GS's in 2 days....unreal.
Your comparison makes sense if 3.18era = 4.72era. I know Myers' peripheral numbers suck ass, but there's still his gaudy era stat to back it up. It's this line of thinking that has us paying millions to Matsuis, Felizes of the world. While we may not have any legit prospect in AAA, there are plenty of 4A pitchers who can pitch in the majors. Not well, mind you, but hardly a big deal. And who cares if our bullpen gets depleted. What, is our bullpen filled with flamethrowers who'll make up the next Lidge/Dotel/Wagner combo in 2-3 years when we may matter? You're making a lot of arguments that would only matter if the Astros matter. Which, of course, they don't. Agreed, Signed, Cleveland Cavs, San Antonio Spurs, Florida Marlins, Devil Rays, New Orleans Saints, and countless other NFL/NBA/MLB teams that quickly go from obscurity to playoff success which I can't remember off the top of my head. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that more than attitude, there is small thing called "talent" that may be more important.
So here's what I see happening. Nobody offers anything real for him (as other major league front offices are at least as diligent as you are at checking secondary stats, watching video, and making judgments as to value instead of becoming mesmerized by the "gaudy ERA" that you with your immense baseball savvy were able to see through). As a result they don't trade him and a bunch of people like you end up blaming the front office because they didn't complete some hypothetical trade for a great prospect that never existed. It is a "win" for you no matter what happens. Either the Astros pull off a steal and rob someone on the rental of an expensive average pitcher, or you have a chance to tell us all how much smarter than the Astros front office you are. Since "they" are all over the place, perhaps you can tell me who "they" are, specifically? Who on the Astros' 40 man, or available currently as a FA would you be running out there? Specifically by name, I mean. And the problem with Feliz and Matsui isn't signing him. The problem is signing then to long term expensive contracts. If you sign Feliz to a one year, $1.2 million dollar contract, he would have been a great placeholder signing, as with Geoff Blum. The fact that the Astros' minor leagues are so barren means they aren't going to be pulling guys up to fill the roster in the near future. Life is not a video game. You don't do that because as a human being you don't send people to career-ending surgery if you can help it. You seem to think that the act of sucking will make this team better - that if we just suck a little more, then we can be better on the other side. MLB draft doesn't work like that. We have to turn over the team, but moving up a couple of draft slots won't bring anybody to the majors any faster. This isn't the NBA, where your first round draft pick is in the starting lineup at the start of the next season. The scouts and instructors have more effect on the outcome of your draft than your draft position.
I saw a reader mention this article in today's Chron so I looked it up. It was written on Sunday and is absolutely brutal in its assessment of the Astros and other losing organizations. Here is the link: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...other_dregs_are_bigleague_embarrassments.html and the article: Against New York Yankees, Houston Astros reveal themselves as major-league embarrassments Bill Madden Sunday, June 13th 2010, 10:39 PM After needing a total of just four hours and 52 minutes to dispatch the Houston Astros Friday night and Saturday, it seemed as if it took the Yankees - through no fault of their own - almost that long Sunday to complete the sweep of one of the most dreadful teams in baseball. Five Houston pitching changes, in and around 10 walks and 89 pitches over the last three innings by the increasingly errant Astro relievers, will do that. Ah, the beauty of interleague play. For every sexy Yankees-Dodgers matchup, you get Yankees-Astros, but, hey, you won't hear Joe Girardi complaining about Bud Selig bearing interleague gifts to him (the Mets likewise owe a debt of thanks to the commissioner for giving them the Orioles for their first road series win of the year). The Yankees are having a feast so far with the dregs of baseball, going a combined 10-2 against the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles and the Astros, all of whom are either in last place or playing under .400 baseball. Which brings us to the thought of the day: Instead of interleague play, which most managers and players will privately maintain is a needless interruption of the season and a novelty that has long since run its course, maybe what baseball really needs is "Separate League" play. In a variation of what they do in English soccer, teams that can't - or rather don't choose to - compete should be forced to play in a separate league in which the reward for winning is not a berth in the postseason but rather a "graduation" back to the big leagues the following year. If you can't play at least .400 baseball, ownership should be ashamed. For the 46,832 fans at Yankee Stadium Sunday, many of whom departed the premises in the sixth inning when the rain front came through, they no doubt got their jollies watching the Yankees toy with the hapless Triple A-stros. But did they ever stop to think they were paying major league prices to see only one major league team? Indeed, how do the Orioles justify charging major league prices for their sorry team? The Camden Yards experience? How have the Pittsburgh Pirates justified doing it when, year after year, their ownership continues to offer no hope to its fans by repeatedly trading away all its highest-paid players? No, in my opinion, all these owners, Peter Angelos in Baltimore, Larry Dolan in Cleveland, Drayton McLane in Houston, Bob Nutting in Pittsburgh, who refuse to give their baseball people the financial resources to acquire the best talent, should have to pay a price for that insult to the fans by having their teams consigned to baseball purgatory from which they have to play their way out of, without sharing in the revenues of the real major league teams. As for Sunday's 9-5 Yankee laugher over the Astros, you really have to feel sympathy for Brad Mills, the first-year Houston manager who spent nearly three decades waiting for a chance at managing a big-league team and, in reality, is still waiting. Because he was forced to start journeyman long reliever Brian Moeller, who is filling the rotation spot for the injured Bud Norris, Mills was carrying 13 pitchers Sunday and was forced to use nearly half of them, mostly to no avail. After Robinson Cano's game-tying one-out homer in the fourth, Moeller walked three Yankees in succession before surrendering a two-run single to No. 9 hitter Ramiro Pena. The following inning two more walks by Houston pitchers helped set up Jorge Posada's second grand slam in two games - a feat not accomplished by a Yankee since Bill Dickey on Aug. 3, 1937. "The walks were definitely a killer for us," Mills said. "When you do that to a good hitting lineup like theirs, they're going to hurt you." Even after "Mendoza-hitting" Astros shortstop Tommy Menzella's two-out, 10-pitch, two-run single wilted Phil Hughes in the sixth and the even lighter-hitting Kevin Cash followed with a two-run homer to cut the Yankee lead to 7-5, there was really no doubt about the eventual outcome. Just a matter of how much longer it was going to take. That's why it seemed almost cruel on Girardi's part to summon Mariano Rivera into the game in a non-save situation in the ninth inning, facing the already overmatched Astro hitters in the renewed steady rain. A weak groundout and two strikeouts and it was mercifully over, after which Mills was asked if he was surprised to be swept by the Yankees after his team had won eight out of 10 coming into this series to climb out of last place past the Pirates in the NL Central. "Not really," Mills said. "We just have to accept it." bmadden@nydailynews.com Man! I feel so very bad for Mills...
That writer is wearing pin-striped colored glasses. What a freaking tool. The Astros were among the class of the NL for ten years. It will come around again. *Every* league has teams with under .400 winning percentages. It's a very simple concept: if you're going to have teams that win at over .600, you're going to have teams that win at under .400, too. What kind of entitled-elitist moron whines about that? Drivel like this is one of the reasons so many people hate the Yankees.
Bill Madden is hardly a Yankee supporter. He writes the beat, but he has never been one to blindly praise the team. Aside from that, how would you get that he was wearing pinstriped glasses out of that article? His article wasn't about praising the great Yankee franchise, it was about demeaning the lowly Astros, Pirates and Orioles. (And inter league play in general) His main argument is that teams like the Pirates and Orioles that are constantly losing while their owners pocket profits are a joke.
Because this paragraph is so off base with the truth. McLane may not be a great owner, but it has nothing to do with trading away high-priced players. Comparing the Astros over multiple years to those clubs, especially the Pirates and Orioles is completely off base.
