I would do those 2 prospects, qualls and burke in a New York minute....as far as we know, those guys are Wandy and Zeke waiting to happen (meaning that they may or may not pan out). Manny would be another Albert Pujols hitting in this park. Edit: i am pretty sure Nieve is a pitcher...not sure about Hirsch
Hey, with the Marlins getting rid of everybody, should we have any interest in their catcher Lo Duca? He's a career .285 hitter, usually not much pop, made $4.6 mil last year. Would definitely be an upgrade offensively.
I may have missed it but I didn't see this mentioned in this thread. Here's the pitch ... Dec 2 - Free-agent reliever Octavio Dotel already has received multiple offers despite continuing to rehab from elbow reconstruction in June, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. In Thursday's editions of the Dominican Republic newspaper La Caribe, Dotel named four interested teams -- the Astros, Mets, Twins and Dodgers. The Rangers and Cardinals also are believed to be in pursuit. Dotel had Tommy John surgery June 6 and won't rush his rehab just to be ready for Opening Day. "This recovery process will take at least a year," Dotel told La Caribe, "and I don't want to do anything to interrupt it." http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors?CMP=ILC-INHEAD
Dotel just had Tommy John surgery last season... the earliest he could possibly come back is the middle of next season, and even then they say it takes another half a year before that pitcher is back at full strength. In other news, the Astros re-signed Russ Springer to a one year deal... Ausmus fainted.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/3502702.html Dec. 5, 2005, 12:18AM Wish list is familiar for Astros Club awaits word on Clemens; GM seeks hitting help By BRIAN MCTAGGART Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle DALLAS - Astros general manager Tim Purpura enters baseball's annual winter meetings, which begin today and run through Thursday, with many of the same objectives he had last year at this time. The Astros, coming off the first World Series appearance in the franchise's 44-year history, are in need of a bat to bolster their offense, would like to find help for the starting rotation and could use a lefthanded reliever. And like last year, the Astros are awaiting word on whether Roger Clemens plans on returning to pitch another season. Other than the re-signing of reliever Russ Springer last week, the Astros have been quiet this offseason as many teams have been wheeling and dealing. But that could change this week as baseball's annual swap meet begins. "I'm more and more hopeful we can (find a bat) and that there may be some trades out there we could look at," Purpura said. "But what always gets you with trades is you've got to give up somebody, and that's what you have to be prepared to do." The Astros have considered trades for offense — sources say they had an interest in Texas Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench — but have been unwilling to part with the pitching many clubs want. Righthander Brandon Backe has come up in trade talks, but until the Astros know what Clemens is going to do, they are reluctant to trade a starter. Little cash to spend What's more, they have little money to spend on the free-agent market. But they're hopeful they can add pop to an offense that was among the National League's worst in 2005. "The free-agent market is working its way through, and obviously to some extent we're never going to go crazy on free agents, and there's not a great free-agent market out there," Purpura said. "The big boys are kind of coming off the board already, like (Brian) Giles, (Paul) Konerko, guys like that. Not that they're a fit here, but it takes time for the market to develop and settle in. Our biggest objective is to add a bat, but we have to find one at the right price." Clemens is one of the four remaining Astros free agents who must be signed by Wednesday or else offered arbitration. Catcher Brad Ausmus, outfielder Orlando Palmeiro and infielder Jose Vizcaino are also free agents. No progress on Rocket Clemens, who led the majors in ERA this past season, avoided arbitration last year by settling on an $18,000,022 deal. His agents met with Purpura and Astros owner Drayton McLane early last week, but Purpura reported no progress. The Astros have about $65 million invested in five players for next year — pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt, first baseman/outfielder Lance Berkman, first baseman Jeff Bagwell and second baseman Craig Biggio. If Clemens, 43, returns, the Astros will be hard-pressed to keep their payroll near $82 million, which is about what it was in 2005. All-Star third baseman Morgan Ensberg, All-Star closer Brad Lidge and shortstop Adam Everett are among those up for arbitration for the first time. With no top-notch catching prospect ready to make the jump to the majors, re-signing Ausmus is a priority. Ausmus said last week the Astros and San Diego Padres remain his favorites, but his agent has made contact with the Arizona Diamondbacks. "I'd like to be able to wrap up some of our own free agents," Purpura said. "I'd like to be able to make a determination by Wednesday when we have to make that decision about tendering arbitration offers or not. "We've made no decision on any of them yet, but we'd like to get some of these guys wrapped up by then. We'll work for improving offense, adding a starter; that would be optimal. Lefty relief is always an interest." Astros officials will have plenty of other business to tend to this week, including the Rule V draft, scheduled for Thursday. The club has protected 33 players by putting them on their 40-man roster, leaving the Astros room to add their free agents or perhaps make a trade. Rule V draft upcoming The Astros struck it rich in the Rule V draft two years ago when they selected Willy Taveras from Cleveland, but they lost eventual American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to Minnesota in 1999. "You look at your own organization, and you make the determination on who is best suited to your club and the future, and you put those guys on the (40-man) roster," Purpura said. "The ones that you can't put on the roster, you hope to keep on board. But in a way, if you do lose a player, it's kind of a statement about your organization that you have a good scouting system and good player development system. "You can't put them all on the roster. It's particularly difficult for a winning organization to put a lot of guys on the roster because you go through a lot of players over the course of a season."
Worth how much? I can't get too mad about not going after that guy. He's injury-prone and talked trash about the team while the season was still going on.
Clemens is screwing us over. Sorry...but he is. It's his right to do it. But it's putting us in a very bad spot. On one hand he says, I'm not signing...go get a bat. But to get a bat, you have to part with...STARTING PITCHING. They're asking for Backe. And until you know for sure what Clemens is doing, giving up Backe is very risky. Potentially losing 2 starters would be devastating.
That's the thing that scares me about the Abreu trade. If we give up Backe and Clemens doesn't come back, then you're looking at Wandy or Zeke being our third starter unless we land someone else. However, I'm guessing that Clemens has let it be known to them the circumstances under which he'd come back. If that Abreu trade gets closer, I guarantee you they have an idea of what Clemens will do.
i agree....we need to know whats up....i think we need to procedd as if he is NOT coming back...and if he does, then drayton will have to spend more than he wanted to keep him ...period
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1133736612198&call_pageid=968332188492 thats the Toronto Star article
Keep in mind, though - Backe had an ERA of 4.8 or so. We'll be losing something for the playoffs, but there are plenty of free-agent mediocre pitchers out there that can put up an ERA of 4.8. Backe seems to be at his best at home, in a pressure situation - that's it. So losing him would hurt us in the playoffs, but not so much in getting to the playoffs (maybe in September). And the latter is still the biggest concern to me. We made the playoffs by 1 game last year - while we'd like to be in a position to build a WS-focused team as opposed to a playoff-contending team, I don't know that we have that luxury. If you can trade a #4 starter and a 7th inning reliever for an all-star outfielder when your weakness is hitting (and in particular clutch hitting and getting on base), you do it no questions asked, in my opinion.
i'm not sure that tells the whole story though. first, i think backe can be better than that. frankly, i think he WILL be better than that. he dealt with some injuries. but he comes up big in big games. i think you want a guy like that around. second, qualls has closer stuff. he's a 7th inning guy in his rookie season...but that's not where his future is. and all of this assumes that clemens comes back. if he doesn't, you just lost 2 starters from your rotation if you make this deal. i don't like it.
On Backe - I tend to agree. I think he has potential, but for every player that has potential, a substantial portion simply don't pan out. He really didn't improve at all between 2004 and 2005. I don't think you risk losing an Abreu type in the hopes that Backe will get better. On Qualls - I do agree he's likely to improve. But for us, he's a 7th inning man (or 8th inning if Wheeler falters). Ultimately, we're better with Abreu than a good 7th inning reliever, regardless of his future. I think we're at the point where we have to take some risks and give up future talent for a current chance to win. On the Clemens thing - I agree. Losing both would hurt. But losing Clemens is less likely if you have Abreu. And if you're losing Clemens regardless, without that extra superstar bat, this team is not WS-caliber anyway. The pitching won't carry it in the same way without Clemens, so you'd absolutely need another bat.
that's definitely true. good point. i just wish clemens would make his decision sooner rather than later.
