I guarantee you the Astros already know who is on the Mitchell Report. The fact this trade was made the day after the league was made aware of who is on the report is pretty indicative to me that Tejada ain't on it.
Absolutely right. We are now very diverse and with Loretta and Blum (although I wish it was Lamb over Blum) on the bench the lineup is very high quality and has the ability to win big or small. Our defense is better. I think the addition of Bourne over Pence in Center, Pence over Scott in right, Matsui over Biggio, Wiggs over Lamb/Loretta, and Towles over Ausmus more than makes up for the small step back at short. We have fortified the middle bull pen and Qualls is not a significant step back from the Lidge of the past 2 years. Starting pitching sucks, but listen up THERE IS NOTHING AVAILABLE FOR WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER. We will just have to grow our own or hit the jackpot in FA next year or the year after. I think our new GM is doing a lot for what little he has had to work with. If you can't get pitching, get what you can.
We have to do something about pitching. Starting pitching was and is even more so now our biggest weakness. If we go into the season as is, we are screwed. It doesn't matter how many runs we score, the other team will have batting practice except every fifth game.
"Tejada played in 619 of the 648 games in four seasons, missing 29 games during the 2007 season. His consecutive games played streak of 1,152, the fifth longest in baseball history, ended June 22 when he went on the disabled list with a fractured left wrist after getting hit by a pitch from San Diego Padres reliever Doug Brocail." Didn't we sign Doug back?
No, just stupid! He let PooPooRuh make that stupid trade to get Jennings last year and he is giving away too many players for a player who is likely to get suspended for 25 games next season and who had an average season last year.
As The Cat said, I highly, highly doubt Wade makes this trade without knowing the results of the Mitchell Report beforehand. That would represent an almost unfathomable lapse in judgment on the part of the Astros.
You keep making up the "likely to get suspended 25 games" thing assuming you know more than the Astros about it. That's funny to me.
Well that's wrong. I don't think there's been this many good pitchers available via FA or trade in years, whether we have what it takes to get one is another matter. As in our cupboard is completely bare now. The trade market is actually sick: Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, Danny Haren, Joe Blanton and some other decent guys.
I just wanted to, in the heat of the moment, point out to Drayton-bashers that this is yet another example of the owner spending some money. We just traded for a guy making about $12m per year while giving up less than half that -- i.e. we just added over $7m in payroll. And I bet a FA pitcher signing is coming soon.
which is completely irrelevant because we don't have the prospects necessary to trade for a pitcher of that caliber.
I'm not as down on Jennings as everyone else is. I would rather have him on the team than not at this point.
Have you seen what the Twins/A's are asking for those guys? It sure ain't Troy Patton, Matt Albers, or Dennis Sarfate. Try Pence/Patton/Bourn as a starting point for a deal for Santana, Haren, Bedard, and maybe even Blanton.
Well, ok, as long as we SIGN SOME FREAKING DRAFT CHOICES, and draft some decent pitching prospects for a change, and ACTUALLY GET THEM TO SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE. Hello, Uncle Drayton??? If you are going to suck what little life there is out of our pitching prospects, then LET YOUR GM SIGN YOUR DRAFT PICKS!!!
I think if we bring in Livan and resign Jennings, then we are in much, much, much better shape than we are now. We aren't going to have the best pitching staff in the league, but we aren't going to be the worst either.
I'm telling you -- sign Livan and/or Jennings and we're done. This would be a successful offseason to me. (I'd go to war with Qualls as closer.)