So what changed in the 24 hours since Ortiz wrote his first article about Alou? Oh, I know -- he quit talking out of his a** and decided to do some actual reporting. Man, the Chronicle's sports columnists suck...
Doh! I still say their columnists, suck though. If anything, Ortiz's blurb just goes to show how lame Lopez's column was in terms of actual reporting. Anyone can pontificate, but I expect these sports "journalists" to actually make a few phone calls before putting pen to paper. Meanwhile, here's a St Louis columnist who picked up on Lopez's column and hopes the Stros don't make any moves: Injury-plagued Cards hope the Astros stand pat BY JEFF GORDON Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist Monday, Aug. 15 2005 As we all know, the injury-plagued Cardinals have remained vulnerable for weeks. Victories have been extremely difficult to come by with a makeshift batting order. The Houston Astros, meanwhile, have been riding out their amazing run. Back on June 7, they were 21-35. Led by starting pitchers Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte and reliever Brad Lidge, they won 38 of their next 51 games. The intersection of those two trends threatened to eradicate the Cards’ lead in the National League Central. When the Cards lost three of four games in Chicago, they risked losing a fourth of their margin over the Astros during a single weekend. Fortunately for Cardinal Nation, the Astros FINALLY cooled off. Their season-long offensive shortcomings caught up to them during a disappointing series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Houston has lost six of its last 10 games heading into its series against the Cubs -– keeping pressure off the combined Cardinals/Redbirds squad. Six games into their season-long 13-game home stand, the Astros are just 3-3. Consecutive shutout losses to the Pirates (yes, the Pirates!) gave them 14 shutouts for the season. During those last two games against Pittsburgh, the Astros hit just .153 with no extra-base hits. During a 6-5 victory over Pittsburgh that started the weekend series, the Astros stranded 14 runners, a season high. In Houston, media types are calling for the acquisition of more firepower so the ‘Stros won’t blow their opportunity to earn a wild-card berth . . . or even take a belated run at the Cards, if their injuries plunge them into a prolonged funk. “We just did not show up on offense the last two days,” third baseman Morgan Ensberg told the Houston Chronicle. “To not score a run in two games is unacceptable. I'm disappointed and frustrated. “We're just not putting together good at-bats, which leads to easy outs for the pitcher. We're not putting pressure on the pitcher to make pitches, and we're getting behind in the count.” True, teams DO get into ruts at the plate. Sometimes they start to flail and bad at-bats become contagious. But the larger issue is this: The Astros just don’t have enough offense. Ensberg is enjoying a breakout offensive season, but the exit of Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent -- combined with the demise of Jeff Bagwell -– left this team short on power. We’ve dismissed that lineup over and over here on STLtoday.com. We’ve never considered them good enough to contend for a pennant. For whatever reason, the Astros didn’t do anything to fix it. Chronicle columnist John P. Lopez is campaigning for the addition of Moises Alou, currently a passenger on the sinking Giants ship. Wrote Lopez: “Alou, who has proven ability and is familiar with Minute Maid Park, could be had for a wink, a smile and about $4 million left on his contract this year. Sure, that's big money. But how much does an owner (Drayton McLane) worth $1.3 billion according to Forbes Magazine — more than all but two major-league owners (the Twins' Carl Pohlad and the Reds' Henry Lindner) — want this thing?” You’re hearing a lot of trade rumblings these days. Ken Griffey Jr.’s ridiculous contract would get him through waivers, no problem. The White Sox seem like a good possibility, since they certainly have the payroll room to accommodate him. The Cards also interest in Junior, both as a contender and a team that trains near his offseason home. McLane has the money to get involved, too -– but he took a pass on Beltran and Kent after last season. The Astros need a lift right now, before the momentum of their two-month roll dissipates. Cardinal Nation hopes they stand pat.
putting this into perspective, we must all realize that alou would make us better, but still probably not good enough to beat the best. That said, our punchers' chance would increase with Alou and that's all we want right now, the best punchers' chance. Especiallywhen you have clemens, pettitte and owsalt doing the punching.
Griffey has already cleared waivers. I would take him or Moises Alou in an instant. The Astros have to do something to maximize our shot this year with this pitching. If they stand pat I am going to be very pissed.
If I had the insight into the conversations the Astros have with other teams like you obviously do, I'd be pissed as well.
Standing pat makes no sense. The Astros may not even make it into the playoffs without adding a decent power hitting player and even if we make it into the playoffs with our current team who are we going to beat with our weak offensive line up?
I'd love Griffey as well. However, given Backe's side, Clemens' back and Roy's recent "dead arms and legs"...I don't see us parting with any pitching to get him...and I would imagine thats what the Reds want.
I think they'd want that for Dunn or Casey or someone like that. I think they'd be happy to dump Griffey for nothing if they could get out of paying his contract. That said, I don't know that I'd want the Astros to pay his contract, and I agree with Max that its unlikely that the Cubs, Phillies, Marlins, and Nationals all let Alou get through waivers.
If that is the case, its a no brainer to get him. If it costs us Burke to get him (for arguments sake) and all we are stuck with is a month and change of his salary, then you have to do it. As for the next 2 yrs of his contract, if Drayton really doesn;t want to pay the guy past this year, you dump him off to the Yanks or Red Sox for a marginal player and you are back where you started....but I think its worth a shot for the stretch if they could do it.
It makes a ton of sense if a) there are no impact players available; or b) the impact players available come with an exhorbitant price tag that would seriously weaken the team in other areas. I don't see why this is so hard to understand. The above 2 scenarios have been repeatedly reported in the media for the past 2 months.
Neither the Yanks or the Sox want him. Sox have Damon, Ramirez, and Nixon. Yankees are in desperate need of a centerfielder, and they still chose not to go after him this year because they seem to be finally learning this "go get old, expensive, proven talent" thing doesn't work. Plus, Griffey has a no-trade clause, so he can control where he goes. The Astros are a possibility because he said he'd love to play here... I'm pretty sure he's a small-market type guy and would kill any move to the Yankees. Apparently, he's under contract through 2008 or 2009, so we're looking at 3 or 4 more years, and he's been healthy only 1 of the last 3 or 4 years. No way the Astros should or would take that risk.
Yes, but the whole "he's rich, he should get some talent" is a ridiculous freaking argument. The business should stand on its own two feet. You don't see other CEOs digging into their own pockets to bring in the best talent--because it would be financial and corporate suicide. McLane's rich. I'm not. Good for him. Go Astros!
