Buck, Couldn't Berkman's quote be: "There is no more appropriate nickname than Richard Justice, righter of wrongs?" DD
I was agreeing that this story isn't going to somehow hurt Pettitte's feelings and make him not sign with Houston.
This has to be why the deal died. I think the White Sox got greedy/smart unfortunately and asked for Hirsh. Oh well.
i think it was made quite clear to AP that we are not going down the "beltran road" again....we told him we wanted him as our first priority but that we are not going to sit around while all thse other pitchers get signed/traded...i dont think it will affect AP one way or another....if anything, if he truly wants to be in Houston, he will see this as an opportunity to get a deal done before we go back out in the trade mkt and land a pitcher who will price us out of AP's mkt.
It's definitely no joke. You act like a 4 for 1 deal with quality players involved is garbage. I think you are vastly underrating some quality players. You want to write off Buchholz already because he's "done nothing of note". He's had 19 starts on the MLB level, and some damn good ones in those 19. He has a plus fastball, and nasty 12-6 curveball that is top notch even by MLB standards. Hirsh is a solid middle of the rotation type that could project as high as a #2. Pence has put up solid numbers at every level and hits for power, while Willy brings speed, defense up the middle and youth.
BTW....im not buying the "buckholz failed a physical" thing....if that were the case, both sides would have announced the deal...and buckholz would have had to be in chicago getting examined ALREADY by chisox drs.....right? You dont take physicals BEFORE announcing a deal
I'm not saying those players are junk. Teams don't trade aces for servicable players. Hirsh is the only player in that lot that is highly regarded in the way of value for a guy like Dontrelle. I wasn't saying not enough for Garland, I was talking about Willis.
I am glad they didn't get Garland, I like Willy T in CF, and think that Bucholz will be fine. Unless they are planning to play Burke in CF every day, then I would be FOR the deal. DD
Hirsh is only the latest in regards to being highly rated. Just three years ago, while in the Phils system, Buchholz was rated as high if not higher than Hirsh is now throughout MLB. Just two years ago, Buchholz was the higest rated player in the Astros organization. Dontrelle's contract is also running short and the Marlins are likely not going to afford him anyway.
Gavin Floyd was once rated higher than both of them, and he and Gio Gonzalez, a highly touted lefty, were only good enough to net Freddy Garcia. The same Freddy Garcia who's never had two very good seasons in a row, was fatigued last year, is over 30, and only has one year left on a contract that pays him close to 10 million. But you think the same type of pitchers plus a low obp, no power centerfielder with speed is going to get you a young lefty who is highly regarded around baseball and has been ace for Florida?
I'm glad this deal fell through also. I do like the Astros looking to give up on Willy T though. I don't understand you guys fascination with the guy. He is a terrible hitter. His defense is decent only because of his speed, yet the guy is a bad base stealer. We need to get rid of as many of the 600 ops guys in our lineup as possible. I wonder what Purpura has planned for CF.
Floyd was what got the deal done and Buchholz is a better pitcher than Floyd is, yet you write him off. Buchholz, in the same number of starts as Floyd in the same NL, had more than a run lower ERA, gave up less hits, and had a strikeout to walk ratio of more than 2:1 compared to Floyd's near 1:1. And as for Gio, he's highly touted like Zeke Astascio was highly touted.
