I'll tell you what I would not do. I would NOT boast about not making trades last year and still making the world series when your guys went 0-30 something with RISP during the WS. Historical record setting pitching last year down the drain.
1. The Beltran deal blew up in everybody's face, largely because he screwed us over. Blaming one person, who more than likely was doing exactly what his owner wanted is a little shortsighted. If Puprura elected to not even go after Beltran, the same peple would be arguing that he sucks because he let a "stud" like that go. 2. Hasn't made a trade because as of yet there have been no reason to; why should he not get credit for staying pat last year with a team that went to the WS; yeah they botched the series but one trade wouldn't have made a difference there anyways. 3. There weren't too many good FAs on the market this past offseason, as had been stated before. 4. Clemens was definitely McLane's doing. I think what happens this season and the offseason will go a long way to determing what kind of GM Purpura is. It's pretty clear the roster needs to be tweaked a little, and if not now then definitely in the offseason when some salaries will be off the books.
If I was Timmy Purpura, I would just eat another Ding Dong and call it a day. This is a 2nd half team. There were plenty of knocks on this team this time last year. We'll pick it up when the 2nd half rolls around.
Well, his pursuit of Beltran lost us Kent, and he has done nothing since the Beltran derby to replace him. I never heard him talk about wanting to stand pat until after we were in the postseason - to me, it seems like he got lucky and took the credit for something that wasn't neccesarily his intent. We've had a glaring need for a bat for a year and a half now, it cost Clemens a Cy Young, it cost us the World Series, and it's still gnawing at us now. I don't mean a Pujols, I mean a simple, reliable RBI guy. Purpura is inept, and that will be my view of him until he proves that he's able to close deals. We can't afford to wait til next year - this is it for our WS window with the pitching staff we have; the greatest starting pitching rotation the Astros have ever had. You have to try and make that push, and Purpura isn't. Last soundbite I heard from him? "Our payroll is as high as it's ever been, so I don't see us doing anything" Thanks, you loser. Way to settle for wild card "championships". Evan
1. we weren't wild card champs...we were NL Champs....we won the pennant 2. one of the guys people here were clamoring for last season a "difference maker" was our current left fielder, preston wilson. i remember people being really pissed that the 'stros didn't get him and he left for washington, a team that was in the wild card hunt at the time.
But don't you understand? Wilson turns out to be mediocre. Like Ensberg, who's suckiness clearly was foreseeable. We don't want to hear about him "trying" to make trades, or trying to improve the team. Bottom line, Purpura should be judged by the results - except when the results happen to be the first WS appearance in franchise history, of course. In that case, since we don't like him, he should be judged on the # of trades he makes and other nonsensical things. That's why the Rockets are such a great franchise - they make trades all the time. It's awesome!
not foreseeable, but not entirely unexpected. looking at the season back in march, who among us didn't at least think, "we need ensberg to repeat his 2005" when discussing the team's prospects? and yet, i doubt many of us had the same hope for berkman, oswalt, pettitte, biggio... ie established players who's level of performance is more of a given based on a more extensive track record. what's been odd, to me, is for all the talk of purpura sticking with the organization's youngsters.... where have all the youngsters been this year? why is luke scott still in round rock? why are pence, zobrist and anderson still in corpus? jason hirsh can't in any way help this team? we're better off with wandy pitching every fifth day? you need corner OFers who can hit for power, a SS with a stick, and some arms... and you have several potentially viable options vanquishing in your system. makes no sense. and now we have just 21 days until the deadline, not nearly enough time to bring some of these guys up and give them a fair assessment before we have to pull a trigger on a deal. for his inaction this year with his own guys, not outside the organization, i tend to give purpura less credit for last year.
"Ha ha ha! Oh gosh that's funny! That's really funny! Do you write your own material? Do you? Because that is so fresh. You are the weakest link goodbye. You know, I've never heard anyone make that joke before. Hmm. You're the first. I've never heard anyone reference that outside the program before. Because that's what she says on the show right? Isn't it? You are the weakest link goodbye. And, and yet you've taken that and used it out of context to insult me in this everyday situation. God what a clever, smart girl you must be, to come up with a joke like that all by yourself. That's so fresh too. Any Titanic jokes you want to throw at me too as long as we're hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity? God you're so funny!"
Fact is, given how bad we have played lately, we are still only like 3 or 4 games out of a wild card and 6 out of 1st. That being said, I don't think its in our best interest to stand pat and hope Ensberg comes around...or Lidge's head stops exploding...or Wilson (who I loved when we signed him) stops grounding into dp's with a chance to break games open. If there's a guy out there like an Abreu or Tejada (looking for a 3,4,5 in the order type guy...not so much a Carl Crawford) that can help, I think we need to think about doing something. Thanks to hindsight, its easy to say that we should have jumped on that Lidge, Everett and Nieve (wasnt that the deal?) for Tejada. Now unfortunately, other teams dont have to wonder if Lidge has lost his stuff...they sort of know it. Maybe a change of scenery would help him...who knows. I still think he has value...and I also think that Qualls or Wheels could make up for what we would lose in Lidge at this point. Hell, Nieve and his 96 mph fastball may be the answer at closer...who knows. It just seems that in so many games we are one hit from Wilson, Lane or Mo from breaking it open and these guys are just not getting it done. When the last 3 slots in the order are virtually 3 pitchers (Ausmus, Everett and the pitcher), it makes it awfully tough to sustain a rally if just one of the top 5 or 6 is in a slump. I think its time to give Munson a shot to play (at least every other day...let Ausmus catch only Clemens)...keep Burke and Lamb's bat in the lineup...and move Lidge to the set up role (or even back to the 7th inning guy). I wouldn't hesitate to shop Willie, Mo, Lane, Lidge, AE and even Lamb if someone wants to buy high. If backe comes back and has one good start, make him available if someone wants him. We can so easily win this division this year...or at least win the WC again...hopefully we have something cookin.
Tim Purpura sucks. I hate this guy so much. He refuses to makes trades. Last year he could have gotten Jose Cruz Jr. for pretty much free and he didn't. Cruz went on to hit .301 for the Dodgers with a .923 OPS. Over the last two years he hasn't made real any moves. The moves he has made have sucked. 1. Trade Redding for Quintero=Both players suck so nobody really one this trade. 2. Sign John Franco=This dude was horrible. Bad signing. 3. Sign Preston Wilson=Jury is still out on Wilson. He has good times and bad times. 4. Sign Trever Miller=Not as bad as Franco but he has costed the Astros at least 3 games this year. 5. Signing Orlando Palmerio to a two year contract= Nobody on their right mind what have gaven Palmerio a two year contract. This dude is old and you could have likely signed him for a minor league contract. Luke Scott was there and he has more power and cheaper. F U Tim Purpura. You suck.
The only guy we had a real shot at getting that could be really helping us right now is Nomar. We offered the same deal if I recall...he just chose LA over Houston. The guy is having an amazing year.
Hi, long-time lurker, seldom poster. I think that it is important to point out that we probably are at a disadvantage with any deal with Tampa Bay. Hunsicker knows our players (more so than other organizations), and I don't think we will be able to trick them into taking someone who isn't quality. Of course, that could also work to our advantage. Are there any players that Hunsicker had an unreasonable infatuation with? Personally, I think that if you want Crawford, don't be surprised if Burke is included in the deal.
I remember saying that I thought Nomar would be a great signing. LA offered a 2 year deal, we didn't. Oh well. We need to add some sort of a middle of the order bat, preferably a lefty corner outfielder. Ensberg will turn it around, he's our second best hitter.
abreu is set to make, like, $14M next year. tejada would be a nice upgrade, obviously, but the unspoken word on him, at least from my perspective: the juice. supposedly, he's the willy wonka of juice, and i wonder if he's a bit of an untouchable because teams fear a suspension......? (btw, i think it was lidge, everett and teveras) funny, everyone's roasting lidge and ready to name qualls or wheeler the closer... who was it last night that gave up the three run jack to edmonds? and weren't we all ready to release both after that second game against the white sox? closers will, from time-to-time, cough one up. i think, had lidge given this same performance last year, none of us would have thought twice. he made good pitches; his location was precise (after the fiurst two batters); they just made plays. i think he'll be ok. i don't think the astros would, either, but these guys have zero value right now. at best, they're fodder. if you wanna deal for something big at the deadline, think hirsh, patton, pence, boguesevic, zobrist, anderson, burke, nieve and/or buchholz. it's gonna take a combo from that group.
Did you see my post? We're past "coughing one up from time-to-time" now. Lidge's numbers in pretty much every facet of the game are terrible (except for strikeouts) when compared to the top 25 save leaders. To boot, his ERA has been climbing just about every month, too. Whether the problems are mental or physical, one thing is assured: The Astros are in deep trouble, closer-wise. Look, I really hope Lidge can turn it around, too, but we've been saying that all season now. And guess what? We're at the half-way point. How much slack does Lidge get? How much time do we give him?
With Roger's, Baggy's and potentially Pettitte's salary coming off the books, we could certainly afford it I have to agree with Vescey here...I think we are past the point of "from time to time". He doesnt look himself out there. If he doesnt get the first pitch in for a strike, he seems to lose it. probably right about that...although someone would take Ensberg and he still may have some value in the eyes of some teams...Willie as well.
