Astros Major Press Conference at 4:30 (UPDATE: Astros trade 3 for Jason Jennings)

I think I'd rather have overpaid for Andy Pettitte and kept all those prospects and Willy. We're going to have to pay for Jenning anyways.

 

We gave up two bigger unknowns.

Was an extension brought up in the press conference?

 

I have a feeling some people around here are going to really hate Jennings. If you look at the stats he was fourth in the league in walks last year, had 62 in 122 IP the year before and 101(!) in 201 innings before that.

For the past three years he averages 4.17 walks/9 innings.
Compare that with Andy Pettitte's 2.46 walks /9 innings


I'm guessing based on the stuff I read he is a 'nibbler' who needs to get the calls on the strike zone from the ump to do well and the kind of pitcher who winds up with lots of deep counts and lots of fouls. That pretty much describes the type of pitcher that can make you want to pull your hair out.

 

Charlie is talking with Pupurra right now... they didn't address it in the press conference.

EDIT: They're talking about the extension now... Pupurra says they have to sit down and talk with him about it. Nothing has been talked about yet. Says they have to figure out why he didn't want to sign an extension in Colorado first.

 

purpura just said on 790 that colorado was trying to work extension with jennings, but it fell through...so they decided to trade him. so tim wants to talk to jennings about why that happened and what he expects.

 

In what world would Taveras hit 25 long balls?!

The Astros gave up 2 relatively promising pitchers for an established solid pitcher. They needed to make that move.

 

maybe im trying to rationalize the deal in my own mind...but walks can possibly be attributed to the fact that its either a walk...or he gets whiplash watching the ball sail into the rocky mountains

 

Buchholz no longer seemed "promising" to me as a starter... I saw him as a bullpen guy, given his inconsistencies after a couple of innings.

Hirsh is promising according to his minor league numbers... but the fact that he couldn't keep the ball in the yard (after not allowing hardly any HR's at AAA) has me questioning whether that "high 92 mph fastball", which he was striking out AAA guys with, is simply too hittable for big league pitchers.

I do know that Hirsh never impressed Garner/Pupurra.

 

Good news gents. I just traded Purpura 2 quarters for 1 dollar.

 

This is such a bad bad BAD trade. I Hirsh becomes a stud or if Jennings doesn't resign, I am calling for Timmy P's head.

 

This thread is funny.

I love how Baqui "Luther Head is a piece of crap" 99 doesn't make an Astros post the entire offseason & shows up now with pitchfork & torch in hand. "Hirsh is the next Kazmir" might be the funniest thing I've read on here in awhile. Not sure you could have picked 2 more different pitchers to compare.

Don't quite know what to think about the trade yet (depends on how the rest of the offseason shakes out) but some of yall need to calm down just a tad.

 

how'd you find that out?

 

I find it funny that you guys are questioning Fatty Tim's knowledge of our "prospects..." Just one year ago, the guy apparently "loved" our prospects too much.

I do have faith that Tim knows our prospects better than any other person in both our organization and throughout baseball. That's how we got Huff for just Zobrist and Talbot.

 

Can someone shed some light on Hunter Pence and Troy Patton? I know they are considered the Astros top prospects but a brief synopsis on each would be greatly appreciated. What are their strengths and weaknesses?

ps - Vince Young and the Titans rock!!! Loved the VY references in this post!!!

 

you know what...that's an excellent, excellent point. that makes me feel tons better about this trade just considering that.

 

Garner said as much during Spring Training last year, and then he even brought it up again once Hirsh came to the big leagues (indicating that he simply didn't forget about it, or toss it up to spring training-itis).

Pupurra said Hirsh had some things to improve when the team didn't call him up (even though he was dominating AAA)... and when they finally did call him up, he never aknowledged whether or not he improved as much as he wanted him to.

 

I'm actually agreeing with this move. I also think it's somewhat ridiculous for everyone that's saying how we'll regret trading Buchholtz. I can even understand Hirsh possibly making us regret the trade, but Buchholtz? That guy had a few great games, sandwiching some horrible games. That guy is Wandy Rodriguez but worse. I hate it because his stuff is great. The movements on his pitches are phenominal, but his location sucks.

As for Hirsh, comparing him to Kazmir is a horrible metaphor. They are nothing alike in terms of "stuff" or hype. Hirsh did well by pitching to minor leaguers with decent movement and good location, which he has not fully shown yet in the majors. I can assume that it's nerves and that he can pitch his spots in the majors, but his stuff just doesn't overcome bad pitches to major leaguers from what I've seen. His allure IS his good win/loss percentage in the minors and the minimal number of walks he issued. He's struggled in the majors and is not the pitcher Jennings is currently. Give Jennings a chance, he really is not a bad pitcher. Just watch a few taped games or something and watch that defense behind him. They really don't move an inch. That defensive infield rarely gets their jerseys dirty on defense, EVER. They don't get to balls and the outfield stands forever before crashing towards a ball. There's more to it than just simple 'ol Coors Field. Jennings actually have a better strike out pitch than all 3 pitchers in this scenario. He's consistantly getting out of jams on his own without his defense and I think he could be very decent for the Astros, ASSUMING we get a contract extention.

The reason I'm not all excited about this trade IS because the extension is not mentioned, at least I haven't heard it yet. I'm worried that we could lose out on resigning him and cementing a good portion of our SP rotation for the forseeable future. I, however, am not going to complain about Buchholtz smoking us and making us regret this trade. Willy?... maybe in a Juan Pierre sort of way, and Hirsh?... maybe in a Hampton kinda way if he learns to keep balls on the ground.

 

It *is* funny, no?

 

i'll say this...baseball can't get here soon enough. man, i'm ready for it. can't wait for my son's little league to start!!!!

 

Me too... can't they just fast-forward the NBA to the playoffs, and have T-mac avoid all that back trouble in meaningless regular season games?