Could happen. It is just a matter of if Beltran will want to play for the Astros and go through a rebuilding phase. The guy has had to play in KC till now and not sure if he will want to go through rebuilding.
as long as we keep our pitching around, i'm not sure rebuilding this team is going to be all that painful.
As long as Biggio keeps hitting as he is this year, there is no reason not to pick up his option for next season - at 3 million, he's cheap (based on this year's stats). As MadMax mentioned, with Oswalt, Pettitte, Miller and Lidge they won't be in a true rebuilding mode. It wouldn't surprise me to see Clemens sign a new contract, either. Burke is certainly proving himself at the AAA level so he may replace Kent. Bagwell will either be bought out (if he retires) or be back. Unfortunately, Bagwell is owed a huge amount of money next year and a lot of Kent's cash was deferred. Berkman's contract is up and they'll need to resign him. Oswalt and Miller will either sign deals or get hefty raises in arbitration. As others have mentioned, I'd rather focus on resigning Beltran than breaking the bank for Miller. If there is any way to get Beltran signed, Hunsicker will do it.
Without prejudice, that is not true. We traded Hidalgo for Weathers. QED. We were going to give Lane the reign for the rest of the year no questions asked but the pressure to win now ballooned so a move for help was prompted and Dotel/Buck became expendable for the acquization of CarlosB. I assume you knew all of this already - don't try to be coy.
Sitting Hidalgo on the bench & subjecting the clubhouse to the distraction of his ensuing pissed-offedness was not an option, with or without Beltran. If he hadn't been traded before the Beltran deal, he would have been traded very shortly thereafter.
The pressure didn't balloon after we traded Hidalgo, it was already there. We used the money we saved on getting rid of Hidalgo's contract to get Beltran. So we indirectly traded Hidalgo for Beltran. Did Hunsicker purposely trade Hidalgo to eventually get Beltran. I am not sure. But I think he and Drayton knew the extra money could come in handy.
Details is always good. Thx. Saying we acquired Beltran directly or indirectly is still inaccurate imho. It is hindsight bias manifesting itself again. Unless Hun tells us that that was part of his grand plan, I think we should desist from assuming such nonsense. In all, I fine with letting Hidalgo go......in fact I was very happy to hear of the trade to the Metz.
Hidalgo is tearing up the Yankees, and more specifically Mike Mussina. I am sure the Red Sox have noticed this. Hidalgo seems to own those crafty type of veteran SPs like Greg Maddux and now Moose. Good for him.
If Hidalgo keeps it up and finishes the season strong and it ends up being because an easily correctable flaw in his swing was found and fixed, then yeah ..............our hitting coach is fully responsible for something like that.
i also think you can factor in the actual trade. Hidalgo left all the baggage he had in Houston. He certainly feels rejuvenated and perhaps more motivated than he did with us this year.
Of course that plays a part as well... but if you watch him now, his entire approach in AB's has changed. He's no longer taking all those pitches right down the middle of the plate (and nodding his head like, "yea... I knew he was gonna do that..." what the hell was up with that?). He's also learned how to foul off tough pitches, as you can see him up there just trying to spoil those good pitches, rather than try to get a hit (and then an out) on them. Don Baylor, although I don't believe he'll ever make a good manager, is probably the best hitting coach in the majors. He got the Braves to put up astro-nomical numbers, now the Mets (a BAD offensive team before he took over as coach) are tearing it up against good solid pitching. Its no wonder why he's being mentioned as one of the candidates to take over if we fire Jimy.
I am glad Hidalgo is doing well so far. Unless he had a monster season here, there is no way he was going to be in Houston next year anyway. The only regret is that he wasn't playing a bit better here because it may have led to more wins. Let's not forget that he had a great first 3 weeks of the season in Houston before spiraling downhill. We'll see the 2nd piece of the trade tonight.
Look for Hidalgo to have a monster season next year. final year of his current contract..........deja vu...........all over again
WHAT DID I SAY!? What did I say? Right there in the 4th post of this thread before he started hitting all these home runs.... Hidalgo is still a good power hitter! Shouldn't have traded him.
