Important part that some apparently didn't see. Little risk. IMO not a bad move. If Hidalgo plays well then great, if not then no big loss.
he's lost a lot of weight according to who? his agent? i want to see him first. the last i saw of him he was an AWFUL, OVERWEIGHT rightfielder for the rangers in an extremely hitting-friendly ballpark. so sorry for calling a spade a spade. when you hit .220 and manage a whopping 16 HR in possibly the world's greatest hitting balllpark (ameriquest field) you shouldn't be considered anything short of pathetic. and sorry for forgetting his 2003 season, his last somewhat significant season in the majors, where he struck out 104 times on a non-playoff team. and sorry for forgetting his career .118 postseason batting average. i also apologize for his 2001 season where he hit 19 HR in 146 games, and for his 2002 season where he hit .235 and hammered 15 HR. before you call me "numb nuts," look at the facts that the astros paid him A TON of money after his career year in 2000 and he flopped worse than dirk nowitzski against an oncoming opponent. he hit 20% of his career homeruns in one season (2000) and put on A LOT of weight in the proceeding years. sorry if i'm optimistic against a guy who burned us once already and has some serious knee issues.
No kidding. Dude was *never* fat, and **NEVER** slow. He pounded too much hard weights, protein shakes, (juice? HGH?) after the fat contract and came in with no flexibility left. In overcorrecting for his big stiff muscles, he developed some serious mechanics problems with his swing. Dude was a bona fide average run producer with AWESOME defense. He sucked in 2001 and 2002, but if he even comes close to 2000 or even 2003 we've landed a real diamond in the rough.
...didn't see him in '05; he may very well have been overweight then. He was never "fat" with the Astros; this from talking with folks who spent lots of time in the locker room and saw the dude, err, not wearing his uniform. Forgot about his knees. Wonder how they're doing?
he was overweight with the rangers because i did see him "trying" to handle right field for them. he was probably 20-25 pounds heavier than he was with the astros. that's why i called him fat, because last time i saw him in the majors he was fat.
The head of Latin American Baseball Operations for the Houston Astros has been his ****ing coach for about 3 months and has recommended to the GM, who has also seen & spoken to Hidalgo, that the team give him a tryout...but YOU need to see him first...before what? Before you can admit that a ZERO RISK deal that could ONLY HELP the Astros this season just maybe might kinda possibly be a good thing to TRY? A few scrap heap guys come out of nowhere every year & have success (Julio Franco, Jose Valentin, Russ Springer, Ramon Garcia, Chris Hammond, etc, etc, etc...). The odds are slim, but there's no reason not to give him a shot.
sorry that i don't want the same mistake to happen twice. obviously, not at the same fininicial risk, but he didn't play in the majors last year, and in 2005 he was awful in a hitter's paradise (ameriquest field). AT BEST, he makes the MLB team and plays occasionally. that's not much different than most triple-A players. so in the end, the question is...why are we wasting our time with hidalgo? a guy getting up there in age, documented knee issues, a notorious underacheiver. sorry, i'd rather play luke scott at this point. and he may or may not be fat now, but i saw him play in person with the rangers and he was considerably heavier with them than he was back with the astros.
Dammit. Luke Scott has earned a starting spot in the outfield for us. Give Hidalgo and Lane a shot at CF or 4th outfielder sure. But Purpura is an idiot for saying Hidalgo is definitely in the mix for RF. Way to screw with a young player's confidence. Scott almost single handedly lifted this pathetic offense to the playoffs and now they bring in players and make public statements about taking his job? Way to go poopura.
Awesome--the whole "fragile ego" take all over again, and a new "poopura" reference. The best drivel is predictable drivel.
I sure hope that Scott's confidence doesn't take a turn because there's competition.... If Scott wants to show that he has something special in this league, he better learn to use that as motivation. now, as for getting screwed twice.... You can't really get screwed out of a deal like this because there's nothing to get screwed of! This is a good signing to try to get something out of nothing and if he gets some speed back and lost the weight as reported, he might be a valuable defensive replacement at least. You can't go wrong with this move unless he's playing when he shouldn't be.
The picture from the Chronicle doesnt really help me feel optimistic about this . Look who's in the pic with him .