Yeah, yeah -- Jeff Kent. The Cards, Cubs, even the White Sox are active and seemingly improving. Forget the Yanks. Are the 'stros even trying to remind the Houston baseball loving (sic) public that they care about fielding a good, exciting, winning team? Lugo may be healthy, but who can improve on Vizcaino's year? I doubt Jose can. The pitching is no deeper, probably less so without Gordon. This team needs an Angel-like injection. This team needs a Cuban-like ownership/front office injection. Drayton, show me that you care!
There is no need for the Astros to acquire any position players. Their everyday lineup is essentially set and their bench is solid. They will get a couple of middle relievers, probably in a trade for Ward. What else do you expect them to do? They have an ace in Oswalt, a solid 2nd starter in Miller, a solid 3rd starter (if healthy) in Reynolds and solid guys to choose from for the 4th or 5th slot, including Munro, Saarloos, Moehler, Redding and Hernandez (if healthy). Dotel and Wagner are arguably the top 1-2 relief duo in the majors so there is no need to concentrate any efforts to upgrade there. The Astros don't need an overhaul, thus there is no reason for them to be making a lot of moves.
Yeah, guys like Cuban are all over the place. Count your blessings, dude. We could have done a lot worse than snagging Jeff Kent.
Yeah, yeah...he soldifies our lineup...yeah, yeah...why can't you see that...yeah yeah. I think landing the lead story on ESPN for a couple of days and shocking the baseball world by landiung Kent would qualify as a yes. If you are one of those guys who isn't satisfied if there isn't "free agent signing of the week," then please don't discuss baseball...MTV is much better suited for short attention spans. At this point in his career, Viz can't play 140 games, much less 162. If the Mavs aren't making money 10 years from now....even Mark Cuban won't want to lose more money on the team. The difference between Cuban and McLane is that Cuban hasn't been at this very long. Drayton started siging free agents and building what he thought would be a sure winner the very nanosecond he took control of the club. It blew up in his face, and then attendance dropped and the club started hemorraging money.
Geez, we have a whole forum filled with people complaining about the Rockets... we've got people complaining about the complacency of McLane (even though he just made a big splash in free agency)... What's the over/under on the time period before we start complaining about the Texans? This is ridiculous.
i was about to post a message nearly exactly like what you just posted! but did you see that super bowl logo?? we should b**** about that too!!! i'm ready to spend all day stewing on these items!!
I am surprised that the Astros have satisfied those tossing greades my way. Fine. I do not believe the Astros will make a dent in the standings this year. I believe Jimy Williams needs more than another 'm' to be a good manager. I believe Bags and Bigg are great, but on a decline, Bigg moreso but Bags is, too. This team has Blum at 3rd? Nice player, but not a high calibre-type. The outfield is a mish-mosh. The pitching has ? ? ?s throughout half the staff heading north in April. How many of the eight position players are really good at this time -- Kent, Berkman, Bags (tho not as good as he was) and ? Ausmus and Lugo are ok for their positions. Hidalgo and Blum and Biggio are below average. I am counting on four pitchers, Roy O and Wade + Dotel and Billy Wags. I can count on power numbers from Lance, Bags, and Kent. Period. The owner does not make the heart go pitter pat. This does not look like a promising year to me at all. The Cards and Cubs will be well above the 'stros. Minute Maid Park will be empty. Attendance will stink. Then the owner will cry about losing money and cut more payroll. And Minute Maid Park will remain empty. Want to buy a ballclub? Dial 1-800-waaaaaaaa
What have the Cardinals done to make you so envious?? You can't think that Brett Tomko and Dustin Hermanson can be bigger than Jeff Kent (especially with the Cards losing Finley). The Cubs are the Cubs...you gotta see it to believe it. What Angel-like injection does the Astros need?? Signing Brad Fullmer?? Better to have an Angel-like year: players have career years and you get a bullpen phenom to come up in September. Quit crying Astros fan...try being an A's fan like me.
Blum was one of the best 3B in the NL last season. In fact, the production the Astros got from all of our 3rd basemen lead the NL. Every team has weaknesses, xiki. To expect the team to fill all of our holes every offseason is to expect too much. Even the best team's have weaknesses, but not too many teams can boast a hitter of Berkman's caliber, or an ace pitcher of Roy Oswalt's caliber, or a one-two punch of Roy-Wade, OR Dotel-Wags. Sure, there are question marks outside of those that I mentioned, but it's not as if none of the other players we have won't be able to step in and play well. Lugo was having a good season before he was injured last year. If he can pick up where he left off, then SS will be just fine. As for OF, I'm sure that will be a weakness of ours, but that's fine, there almost always has to be a weakness somewhere. Bagwell may or may not ever recover from his shoulder problems. The bonus is that he is still a productive hitter even when he is not 100% there. Kent will be great as expected. Ausmus will be excellent defensively and probably hit around .260, just like always. I don't think this team leaves too much to be wanted...but I guess you can never make everyone happy. I suggest you learn to be content with this team as it is, because I doubt it will get considerably better before the season starts.
that's a vicious cycle, but you don't know the half of it. the people who don't go will have more time to create garbage, increasing pollution, destroying the ozone layer, which will raise the earth's temperature, earth's oceans will boil off and then we will all die. damn you drayton.
Lets compare the Astros to St Louis and the Cubs why don't we? C-Ausmus/Matheny/Miller-Brad is the best defender of the bunch, Miller the best offensive threat-Matheny is the worst of the 3, edge stros/cubs tied 1b-Bagwell/Martinez/Karros or Choi-This is no contest to the Stros, if I need to explain then well....-Stros, Cards-Cubs. 2b-Kent/Vina/Hill or Grudzielanek-Astros by far, Vina is solid but Kent is MVP caliber. Hill needs a year or two and Grud sucks-Astros, huge gap, Cards, gap, Cubs ss-Lugo/Renteria/Gonzalez-Renteria is the best, but which Edgar shows up-last year or 2000? Lugo and Gonzalez are equals, edge Cards, small Gap to Astros and Cubs tied. 3b-Blum/Rolen/Hill or Grud-Rolen, then mid size gap, then Blum(Rolen is overrated offensively, check his career OPS if you don't believe me). Blum definitely beats the Cubs trio-Cards, Astros, Cubs. Lf-Berkman vs Pujols vs Alou-Tie Astros/Cards, if you include defense edge Astros, Alou is a notch or two below these guys. Astros-Cards, then Cubs. Cf-Biggio/Edmonds/Patterson-Cards then Astros barely over Cubs. Edmonds is the clear cut winner, and then Bidge and Patterson-who has a lot of upside, are close, but Craig is slightly better. Cards, Astros, Cubs. Rf-Hidalgo or Lane/Marrero(and then Drew)/Sosa-Obviously Sosa wins, but he is not good defensively at all. Then its basically a wash between Hou/Stl as Richard and Drew are big potential huge risk guys. Cubs, Astros-Cards. So Hou is 1st at 1b, 2b, tied for 1st in Lf/C, 2nd at 3b, tied for 2nd at ss, 2nd at Cf, tied for 2nd at Rf. Stl-3rd at catcher, tied for 2nd at 1b, 2nd at 2b, 1st at ss, 1st at 3b, tied for 1st at Lf, 1st in Cf, tied for 2nd in Rf. Cubs-tied for 1st at C, tied for 2nd at 1b, 3rd at 2b, tied for 2nd at ss, 3rd at 3b, 3rd at Lf, 3rd in Cf, 1st in Rf. So the Cubs have the worst lineup of the 3, the Cards are next(Edmonds adv compares to Bagwell's, Renteria's washes out Ausmus's, but Rolen is not as big an Adv as Kent in career numbers), and the Stros 1st. Starting Pitching 1. Oswalt-Morris-Wood-Extremely close but Roy O is the best pitcher in baseball outside of Curt, Randy or Pedro-Houston, then STL, then barely Cubs. 2. Miller-Williams-Prior-Miller is 1st, then its a tossup between Prior(who could come close to Wade) and the revitalized Williams, but I take Prior-Hou, Chi, STL 3. Reynolds-Tomko-Estes or Zambrano-This is a crapshoot, but I will give a slight edge to STL then Hou then Chi 4. Saarloos or Redding-Stephenson-Estes or Zambrano-Another tossup, but the Astros side has the best prob for success unless it is Estes, then the Cubs/Astros wash. Still unpredictable, too close to call. 5. Moehler or Redding or Munro or Fernandez or Saarloos-Simontacchi or Hamilton or Carpenter-Cruz or Bere-Another all 3 wash, Redding and Cruz highest upside. So Hou is 1st in number 1, number 2, 2nd in 3, and all 3 tie for 1st at 4-5 as it is a crapshoot. STL-2nd at 1, 3rd at 2, 1st at 3rd-barely, tied for 1st 4-5 with both CHI-3rd at 1 barely, 2nd at 2, 3rd barely at 3, tied for 1st at 4-5. So Houston has the best overall SP, then CHI(with maybe more upside, then STL whose is weak). Bullpen Closer: Wagner-Izzy-Alfonseca: Astros barely over Cards then big gap Cubs(Izzy hasnt done it as long as Billy) Setup Men: Dotel-Kline-Veres: No question Astros, then Cubs, then Cards Rest of pen Astros: Lidge, Stone, Puffer, Munro/Fernandez/Redding/Saarloos any 2 of the 4. Cards: Stechsulte, Hamilton/Carpenter/Simontacchi-two of the 3, Levine, Fassero, Hermanson is also a candidate for the rotation but doesnt change anything Cubs: Remlinger-Bere or Cruz-Guthrie, Sirotka I like Houston pen best, Cubs 2nd, Cards 3rd Managers: Baker is my 1st choice, then LaRussa then Jimmah Bench: Astros, then Cubs, then Cards-the Stros have a lot of quality pinch hitters the cubs have Lenny Harris and the Cards dont have much depth. Overall, the Astros and Cards are close, then the Cubs lag behind. Quite frankly, the Astros are the best overall team in the division and you couldn't be much more wrong Xixi. We will contend and contend well, thank you very much.
