Juan Pierre? If you consider Pierre a really good center fielder, then the Astros already have one of those on their roster. His name is Brian Hunter.
There have been quiet rumors and mentionings that Carlos Beltran is on the trading block. If the Astros could swing a deal for this guy, I do a happy dance on my kitchen table.
If the A's deal Tejada then I will never go to...well, I said the same thing after McGwire and Giambi (FA). Because our owner is the biggest tight wad in all of baseball and Miggy's a free agent after next season. There was a report of Tejada to the Diamondbacks for Durazo and Byun-Hun Kim. Well, A's got Durazo anyways and Billy Beane got pissed about the rumors with dealing Tejada. Im my mind, all their deals to free up money (Lidle, Koch) is to setup a good offer to Miggy. Of course, as it came down with Giambi, its a matter of whether or not Miggy wants to stay. The A's will offer him a good contract (I'd say $12 million per) but not the best one on the market. No dealings are happening yet because Miggy's in the DR and there's rumors that when he gets back to the US, he'll be getting older Thanks for letting me talk a little about my team. Sorry if I pissed anyone off.
Kent update: Drayton says Astros in serious negotiations with Jeff Kent. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1217/1478447.html CK
Yeah a post at OrangeWhoopass pointed out the defensive differences: Which is the better defensive alignment: 2b - Kent 3b - Blum OF: Biggio - Berkman - Hidalgo or 2b - Biggio 3b - Kent OF: Ward - Berkman - Hidalgo I am thinking I kinda like the look of that first lineup
I think our first priority is to get rid of Richard Hidalgo... Ithink this guy played with a double corked bad in the 2000 season. I'd really want the Astros to try to deal for Vlad Guerrero in a deal involving hidalgo
Personally I think we'll move Ward in a deal to get a CF. Ideally, I'd like Randy Winn...but we'll see. OF next year... Berkman- CF via trade- Lane IF next year... 3B Kent SS Lugo 2B Biggio 1B Bags C Ausmus I think that's a pretty solid lineup.
This will be an opportunity for Biggio to be an All Star at three different positions in his career! I'm all for it!
You know, I was thinking...if we do manage to sign Jeff Kent somehow, we damn well better see some apology posts on this BBS from the various Drayton bashers who claim he never gets key free agents. Kent is one of the bigger FAs available this offseason. Of course...that's if we get Kent.
Maybe this is getting closer? The word "serious" is used now: HOUSTON -- The Astros are in "serious negotiations'' with free agent second baseman Jeff Kent's agent, Houston owner Drayton McLane Jr. told a television station. HOUSTON -- The Astros are in "serious negotiations'' with free agent second baseman Jeff Kent's agent, Houston owner Drayton McLane Jr. told a television station. "The negotiations have been going on for the past three days, and it could go either way,'' McLane told KRIV-TV in Houston on Monday. The Red Sox are also looking at Kent as a possible free-agent addition, the Boston Globe reported in Tuesday's editions. The Globe did not cite any sources in its report. Kent's agent, Jeff Klein, confirmed the San Francisco Giants player had some interest in the Astros because he respects general manager Gerry Hunsicker and "he likes the lineup, (Minute Maid Park) and he owns a ranch in Texas.'' Kent's ranch is near Spicewood, northwest of Austin. Kent is the only second baseman in major league history with 100 or more runs batted in for six consecutive seasons. He led the National League last season in extra-base hits and in multi-hit games. The Astros already have a solid second baseman in Craig Biggio. If signed, speculation has Kent moving to third base or taking over at second, with Biggio moving to the outfield. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1217/1478447.html
Now espn says that the Astros are very serious about him, but not according to hunsicker,but Mclayne himself.
That would be difficult for the Astros to do. 1st off Montreal would not take any kind of straight up deal like that. Next they wanted 4 good players for Vasquez or Colon plus the cash to pay salaries of the players they got. The Astros would never want to take on an $11 mil salary without unloading that much in return or getting cash in the deal. And they certainly would not trade Hidalgo to a team for 11 million in salary then agree to pay Richard's salary on top of that. The Astros will be hard pressed to find a team that will take on Hidalgo's contract and not give us a similar contract in return. Especially with Richard getting shot and coming off 2 sub-par seasons. Teams just aren't gonna say "You know that Hidalgo is great let's ge thim and his bad contract. If I had a bag of crap and I offered it to you for a bag of gold would you take it? Neither would most MLB teams.
I think signing Kent means that a big contract will be moved-either Hidalgo or Wagner. I wouldn't be surprised if it's Wagner-If you can package him with Ward and maybe even throw in Ensberg and/or other prospects for a leadoff type CF and a setup man, then sign Kent, DO IT. That's the value of havin Dotel-he can easily take over the closer's role. Kent would look very good on our team. leadoff CF Biggio 2B Berkman LF Bagwell 1B Kent 3B Hidalgo RF Lugo SS Ausmus C You can flip flop Lugo and Biggio, and manuever the 4-5-6 however, depending on if Hidalgo miraculously finds his stroke or not. Bench includes: Zaun (C), Hunter (OF), Blum (3B/SS), Merced (LF/RF), Lane (OF/1B), Vizcaino (infield), Everett (SS) etc. Rotation: WaMi, Roy, Reynolds, 2 of Redding, Saarloos, Hernandez, Lidge, and any of our other fringe guys, with the others going to the bullpen. Pen: Aftorementioned guys, guys picked up via trade, and ending with Dotel.
