in my best elaine: things just. got. interesting... (astros)

He is so obviously waiting for us to get a bat before he makes a decision. That being said, I think he is almost calling Drayton out to spend some money.

 

Anyone see the 4pm ESPNEWS report on the Winter Meetings?

 

On the Baseball Tonight Winter Meeting Special this afternoon, he said that the Philles really likes the Astros offer of Qualls and Backe, and that they were REALLY intrigued by Qualls. Looks like we're in a good position right now.

 

I don't mind giving up Backe, but I hate the idea of losing Qualls.

 

wow. i'm really surprised.

have they talked about the phillies' interest in actually moving him, though???

 

I don't really like it either, but you have to give up something to get something and we could really use Abreu's 100 RBI bat in our line up. We've still got Wheeler and Lidge for the 8th and 9th, so I think we can afford to lose Qualls.

 

Would anyone here keep Backe and Qualls, but deal Lidge straight up for Abreu? I would. You keep Backe and the drop off from Lidge to Qualls probably isn't that deep.

 

i would. probably. but they're gonna want a starter.

i'd hate playing against backe in houston, too. that guy would go nuts in a game like that.

 

Give 'em Zeke. He's a starter... kind of sort of not really.

 

My guess (and I hope I'm wrong) is that the Phillies are saying they like the Astros package to the media, so they can bump up the price for another team like the Red Sox or the Blue Jays. I would be shocked if the Astros traded for a player owed $30 million over the next 2 years.

 

You know, for Abreu's age and the years left on that contract, I think Drayton might bite. It's not like you're bringing in some graying superstar with 4 years left on a backloaded contract. If Drayton gave Jeff Kent 2 years, paying Abreu that money for 2 years shouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

No. This team is about winning in October/November. You win those games with elite pitching, and elite relievers in particular. Brad Lidge is an unbelievably good october weapon(with 2 elite strikeout pitches), and Chad Qualls has to prove he can even close out games and he doesn't really have that one go to strikeout pitch . Plus Brandon Backe is your run of the mill 3rd or 4th starter type pitcher. You cannot have closer problems in October if you want to win the WS. Furthermore, the dropoff from the best closer in the national league to Chad Qualls is very deep. Don't kid yourself.

That is why I'm more worried about losing Qualls in this deal because of the flexibility he provides in the pen. However, yes, I would do the Backe/Qualls deal for abreu and feel good about it. I would not deal Lidge period.

 

LMAO!

I was just poking around on a Phillies board, and a couple posters were actually talking about Oswalt being a part of an Abreu deal!

FWIW, there's not really much talk over there about the Backe/Qualls deal. they're hung up a Blue Jays deal that was also mentioned in the Stark article. plus the rumored Schmidt deal, and they claim the Cubs are bidding with a package involving Zambrano. (Or maybe that was just some dreamcasting -- I didn't read it too closely.)

 

Only if it was a playoff game... I don't recall one regular season game where Backe "went nuts" for us in what has amounted to basically 1 full season of starts.

 

Are you kidding me, This has to happen, if this is a trade to be made, the Astros have to pull the trigger.

 

He's pretty damn good at home. Didn't he pitch the postseason clinching game in 2004? In 2004, he had an ERA of 2.6 at home and 6.5 on the road. In 2005, it was 3.4/5.8.

He's a Galveston kid... he pitches purely on adrenaline. He's at his best in the biggest of games... I have no doubt he'd pitch masterfully if he came back to pitch against us. But I'm OK losing that 1 game.

I also wouldn't be surprised if, if he develops over the next few years, we could sign him as a free agent when he comes up.

 

I know... and I take back the assertion that he's never "gone nuts" in a regular season game before.

This past year, he threw a complete game shutout agains the Giants... he's got great tools, but I don't project him to ever become a bonafied #1 or #2 guy (which isn't bad... good teams need a solid #3-4... see Jeff Suppan).