My goodness.... <I>Team sources confirmed that Vinny Castilla will sign a two-year contract with the Atlanta Braves, but the deal has not yet been announced. They declined to discuss the financial parameters of the contract. The addition of Castilla, a two-time All Star performer who split the 2001 season between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Houston Astros, means that third baseman Chipper Jones will move to left field. Jones had indicated to general manager John Schuerholz earlier in the offseason that he would be open to such a switch if it would permit the Braves to add a third baseman who could bolster the team's offense. Castilla was released by the Devil Rays last season after just 24 games, and with a batting average of .201. The former Colorado Rockies star then signed with Houston and, in 146 games, hit .260 with 25 home runs and 91 RBI.</I>
Although this isn't an earth shattering move, it sure helps Atlanta and puts yet another dent in the Astros armor.
GOD ****EN DAMN! Sorry for the language but this has to be said.. I HATE THE ASTROS. I dont want to repeat what i said, It was to offensive.
Astros have the cheapest owner , Houston Astros have had the best talents come in and leave the next year sooo many times now. This team is a joke management wise.
Supposedly, he signed a 2yr/$6M deal. If that's true, there's no reason the Astros should not have resigned him.
You guys notice how Drayton waited until he got his new stadium, before he started dumping good talent? Everett, Hampton, Castilla, Alou, & Astacio would be a pretty good nucleus of players on any team & we let them go. I realize that one of Alou, Everett, Hidalgo, or Berkman might've had to be traded, but at least we could've gotten some good prospects in exchange. I'm hoping that Adam Everett turns out to be a great SS, but the early revues indicate that he may be another Tim Bogar (all "D" & no "O"). By letting Astacio go, we've got nothing to show for Elarton. What a bad decision that was. Not for making the trade, but for making the trade knowing you had no intention of resigning Astacio. I feel that Castilla had finally solidified the 3rd base position & he's going to be the one player we miss the most. Imagine a starting pitching lineup of Hampton, Astacio, Reynolds, Miller, & Oswalt, with Hernandez, Redding, & Rodriguez waiting for their call up. Our current outfield consists of Hidalgo, Berkman, Hunter, Ward, & Barker. Compare this to what could've been: Alou, Everett, Berkman, Hidalgo, Ward, & Barker. If Hidalgo doesn't bounce back from last years drop off from the previous year, then our outfield just got a whole lot weaker. If they go out & get Damon, then maybe things will look a little better in the outfield. Let's hope that all their decisions aren't based purely on economics or it's going to be a long season. I'm starting to be reminded of McMullett.
Castilla wasn't that much of a loss. Even if you ONLY count the Houston portion of last season, he only had a sub-par .320 OBP. He slugged pretty well, but his POS was still below .800. That production isn't too hard to replace.
uh . . . Castilla was only average last year, and he's old. Morgan Ensberg is the future, might as well find out if he can play.
Off topic, but Hottodie, do you still think the Rocks are going to go 53-8 the rest of the way?? Please, for the love of Hakeem, change your sig...it's depressing.
Sorry RocketsPimp, but I'm keeping the faith. It's not looking very good right now, but I still believe in our guys. 53-8, it could happen.
While I really don't think it was at all stupid for Drayton to allow Vinny to leave, it did occur to me that if McClane were the GM for just about any other team, he would have had to give up long ago. He has taken FULL advantage of the Astros tremendously deep and talented farm system. He lets players go, he makes trades of players that he knows he won't make serious offers to. But the Astros will still kick ass next season, because we have guys like Oswalt, Hernandez, Miller and Redding who can pick up slack where guys like Hampton, Kile and even Astacio (to a lesser extent) have left. Who knows if this is the correct thing to do or not, it would be impossible to guess what would have happened if we had managed to hold on to Hampton, Kile, Carl Everett, etc. While I don't like his penny pinching ways, I must admit that, with our great minor league talent, his strategy has been effective (it really isn't Drayton's fault that his players can't perform in the postseason). We have been to the playoffs 4 of the past 5 seasons, and I think it is now safe to admit that most of that really wasn't Larry's doing, but the fact that the team had great talent. I think Morgan Ensberg will replace, or at least come close to replacing the offense Vinny gave us. I think, in time, Jason Lane will be an adequate replacement for Alou in the OF. If these things happen, letting these guys leave can't really be construed as such a stupid move (even if it was for the wrong reasons).
