this is isn't just me being optimistic...we may very well do nothing, but, ed wade has NO incentive and receives NO possible benefit by giving brian mctaggart some scoop. wade showed his stance on how he deals with reporters when he duped alyson footer into telling everybody that we had no interest in pudge whatsoever. brian mctaggart getting told by wade that "all is quiet" means absolutely zilch.
Not really blaming Wade at all because unlike Poopera who was scared to death to make a move, Wade has made his share good and bad. I guess I just wonder if this is a case of telling Drayton you want to be a champion then lets do something as minor as it may seem it will help(Wolf, Hawkins). Hunsicker quit over junk like this and Drayton hired a Yes Man and we saw how that turned out, now while Wade is not the Yes Man that Poopera was he has not shown the fight back to force a trade to happen like Hunsicker would do at least not to us in the public which would be understable I guess.
The team has $50 million in expiring contracts, of which I would expect about $15 million to be resigned as arbitration eligible players. If we don't offer arbitration to the players that would warrant us draft picks(Valverde, Tejada, & Hawkins), then I'll be mad.
Purpura's first year the Astros made the World Series, why would he make a move then? As for the other two years, Aubrey Huff, Ty Wigginton, Jason Jennings, Carlos Lee, Woody Williams, Preston Wilson... certainly not all of them worked out, but I wouldn't at all agree that he was afraid to make a move.
$50 million? Seriously? Didn't think it was that much. I just thought Tejada was the "big" deal expiring. I guess Valverde makes around $6 million as well.
The percentage of overall revenue the Astros spend on payroll is ridiculously high compared with the rest of the league. You can certainly question how they distribute money for the payroll, but to say Drayton isn't willing to put out the bucks is beyond ridiculous.
Not sure where to post this, but it seems somewhat relative here. Some blogger reversed-enigineered last year arbitration classifications to cover this year, and here is the listings: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17870577/Rankings-073009 FA Astros on the list include: Tejada: A Valverde: A Hawkins : A! IRodriguez: B Brocail: B
Poopera made 3 trades? 3 FA pickups? Ok...Lee wanted to be here and in fact took less money as ridiculous as that sound to play here, Woody well he lives in Houston and always wanted to play here. Trades lets see Huff and Wiggs werent both with the same team with his former boss interesting no? Preston Wilson I will give him credit for I thought it was a nice pickup but didn't work out although it was Lane or Wilson not much of a choice. Wade's minor deals..Wolf, Hawkins, Erstad(Last Year), Pudge, Coste along with big trades Val, Tejada, Bourn, Blum and even Kaz(Last Year) have reshaped this team and the talent he was given up has done NOTHING with the expcetion of Lidge but look at him this year and Scott which we know is not something that he will sustain! Thats not even counting Hampton, Oritz, Michaels and Chacon who ended up being bad but some move was made! Wade = 14 moves Poopera = 6 moves No Contest!
YOU HAVE TO SPEND MONEY ON STARTING PITCHING!!!! Example of past failures: Woody Williams, Russ Ortiz, Shawn Chacon, currently Mike Hampton, Jason Jennings, Brandon Backe, Oscar Villarreal, Geoff Geary
Oops sorry messed up the quote...the bold is my part... Quote: Originally Posted by The Cat Purpura's first year the Astros made the World Series, why would he make a move then? Sorry but that year was Hunsicker's team and while we went on a miracle run, in fact one of the greatest of all time, he should have made one mvoe atleast I really dont like when people give him credit for not making one because that team had numerous flaws and he really, hate to say it, lucked into that one! As for the other two years, Aubrey Huff, Ty Wigginton, Jason Jennings, Carlos Lee, Woody Williams, Preston Wilson... certainly not all of them worked out, but I wouldn't at all agree that he was afraid to make a move.
When posed the question of trading for value or losing him for nothing: So you'd only be mad if we lost Valverde and Hawkins for nothing, right?
Hawkins, maybe. There's no way you can offer arbitration to Tejada or Valverde. They very well could accept and could get ridiculous deals that would hamstring the team even further.
The Diamondbacks have a couple of passable starting pitchers in Doug Davis and Jon Garland, but the market is "remarkably quiet" for them according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The writers note that these hurlers might slip through waivers, making August trades possible. Davis earns $8.75MM this year, Garland $6.25MM. I sure hope, prey, this is what the Stros are thinking... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/07/quiet-market-for-arizona-starters.html
Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, & Kaz Matsui are the only players with contracts through next year. Wandy, Pence, Keppinger, Byrdak, Sampson, Bourn, Geary, & Quintero are all still under club control, so don't worry those guys won't be going anywhere unless the Astros let them.
5 dollars says Drayton will want the Payroll at 80 million next year no questions asked... Sad thing Id take it at 50 million as long as we get some decent young talent busting there butts out there and improving!
