that's the greatest!!! he is my favorite part of every Astros game I attend. so cool to have a player like that pitching for you...and he's not even your closer!
I never said Ausmus could. I wouldn't bet too much though on a guy that's hitting .250 in the minors.
Seeing Dotel leave would make me weep. I wouldn't mind Wagner going if we got something decent for him. He's older and overpaid. Great closer, but for salary reason, not untouchable like Dotel. Jack Buck is supposedly going to be a star some day at C.
Sorry, must of misread what ever I was reading when I saw that. Glad to know he's doing better than I thought.
ok, some people just are so negative about our sports teams. The astros aren't going to let Dotel go. He will go back to arbitration and will get a raise but we can live with it. Brad Ausmus will take a paycut, maybe 3 million a year to stay and there is probably a 95% chance he does. The astros aren't stupid, Ausmus is a huge part of our young pitchers being so successful. As of right now we don't have a successor who is ready to take over yet, notice i said yet... Ausmus would probably get a 1 or 2 year contract then be let go after that. Wagner will not be traded. That talk has all but died down. Fans look at him like they look at Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman and Kent. He's making 8 million because he's an elite closer and if he's able to come in and shut the door on a team he will stay. This is the best i have ever seen him pitch. Here is what will happen in my estimation Miller & Oswalt both will probably make about 3 to 4 million a piece after their arbitration hearings unless the astros come up with a long term deal, kinda what Oakland did with Zito and Mulder which i could see happening. Ausmus will take a paycut. Instead of making 5.5 million you can drop that to about 3.5. He'll do it because he loves the team and a 190 average isn't going to help out your cause for getting more money. Vizcanio and Merced will take pay cuts. They have been solid this year but not as good as last year. Both would probably get 1 million, so that would clear nearly 2 million dollars Brian Hunter probably has seen his last year as an Astro. His 1.2 million will be replaced by Jason Lane who will barely make 300,000. Shane Reynolds 1 million will be off the payroll along with Lugo's 1.5 million Craig Biggio's salary will go from 9.8 million down to 4 million a year which really will help financially I believe Hidalgo's salary jumps to about 12 million which would be an increase of 3.5 million In arbitration Dotel would get a raise anywhere from 2 to 2.5 million unless the astros reach a deal which is a good possibility So in all... the astros would dump about 13 million in salary and at the same time would add about 12. Keeping the budget fairly the same. Then after next year anything is fair game but this team will remain intact, especially if they are in the playoffs and get out of the first round
JPM0016 You neglected to mention that Bagwell and Berkman will each make 3 million more in 2004 than they do this year. Kent will get 2 million more in non-deferred salary in 2004. Biggio actually goes down to 6 million with the potential for an additional 1.5 million in incentives.
my bad... i was writing kinda quick... i don't see any major loses anyway, Drayton has no one else he can bring up right now.
1st: Starter 2nd: Starter 3rd: Starter 4th: Starter 5th: Starter 6th: Starter 7th: Lidge 8th: Dotel 9th: Wagner That is one of the best pitching gameplans in all of baseball. If the Astros keep hitting like they do, and Kent, Ensberg, and the rest of the team keeps playing outstanding defense... This team can beat anybody. Yankee and Fenway will be a real test. If they walk out of Boston 3-3 on the roadtrip, that will be a huge success. I don't think they'll trade Dotel and his fire-arm. He's too valuable to all of our late-inning success.
Ausmus is having a terrible season, he's battinh under 200, but he can handle a pitching staff like no one elsa and has defensive skills that come in very handy, so what do the Astros do next year, let him go and bring in new blood. AC
