I dont want to go into the season with AE and Ausmus bringing up the rear of the lineup...thats just brutal. Replacing Adam with ARod would be the biggest offensive change we could possible think of...that would be unreal.
Ausmus should just be a backup catcher next season whenever Pettite or Clemens(if both of them resigns) pitch. These two veteran pitchers prefers Ausmus to be their catcher. Meanwhile Everrett should be retained because of his defense but I wouldn't mind replacing with a good batting SS with comparable capabilities on the defensive end.
All conjecture... not enough facts. His 3B trouble seemed more equivalent to the "yips", then him actually losing all his range/defensive skills. Yea... A-Rod wouldn't be as good of a defensive SS as Adam Everett... but his bat would be a helluva lot better than Chris Burke, Eric Bruntlett, or whichever other SS you want to throw out there to replace Adam right now (oh, btw, A-rod was still an above average SS before he went to NY... frankly, he was better than Derek Jeter. I don't think 2 years away from the position at age 31 = done). You talk about wanting to sign Carlos Lee, and then you mention that A-Rod takes up payroll flexibility? A Rod's contract with the Yankees is 4 years 66 million... a little bit more than 16 million per year. You also assume that if the Yankees want to get rid of him, they WILL pick up part of that contract. The last I saw from Carlos Lee, he was turning down 14 mill per year from the Brewers... he wants 5 years 75 million... and he just may get it by being the "best" of the crappy free agents. He's nowhere NEAR worth 15 million a year... not even close... not by a mile. Its like when the #1 pick in the NFL comes out in a weak draft... he still gets more than what the #1 pick got the year before, even if he's nowhere near the prospect. Its an awful premise, but that's free agency. Thus, you get him taking up just as much (if not more) payroll than A-Rod would... except that guy plays the OF, whereas Arod is an infielder (far more valuable).
Look at Oswalt's numbers when Ausmus stopped catching him in 2003 and mid 2004... and look at them when he started catching him again. He can probably do it on his own now... but there's no doubt that he corrected some of the "patterns" that Roy was falling into with his pitch selection (hell, even I could predict when Roy was going to throw the curve or fastball in 2003). Ausmus needs to be retained as pitching coach, if anything... he might be more valuable to us that way.
You may be right about A-Rod's defense ... I don't know, I didn't see enough of him this year. Anyway... It may be a crappy year for FA's (I haven't looked at them too much yet), but .300, 37 HR, 116 RBI are worthy numbers. I know we say this about every guy that we sign or look at (see Preston Wilson), but the Crawford Boxes and Carlos Lee sound good together. Besides that, say the Yankees do pay part of A-Rod's salary ... maybe they take $5 million a year of it ... sure, we'd only be paying A-Rod $11 million, but look at all the pieces we'd have to give up to get him while still shelling out a ton of money for him. If we get Lee at $15 million a year, we still have all the pieces to trade if we wish to do so (say Dontrelle or another good young pitcher becomes available). Lee is probably not worth $15 million a year, but hell, Bagwell wasn't worth what he was being payed the last 3 or 4 years and it didn't hurt us too much. We've got a chance to greatly improve the hitting and keeping the pitching at least as good, if not better. We have to take advantage of the window of opportunity ... and while A-rod shores up the hitting, we'll lose the possibility of making a big trade and signing a nice free agent by trading for him.
I love it. Only possible better situation is Miguel Cabrera. (He's a spokesman for my company. Maybe I can pull some strings.)
I agree that Lee would be a nice fit in this lineup... but you devote $15 million a year to somebody, they better at least be an MVP candidate (or have had a history of finishing near the top). Lee hasn't. I don't even know if somebody on the open market would pay him that much... if the Astros can get it down to $11 million, with incentives, Lee would have to consider that contract (if he was serious about coming to the Astros). Also, Bagwell earned his contract by being possibly the best first baseman in National League history... sure, those last couple of years were a wash... but that's the case with MOST player's contracts in all sports. Oswalt will likely be considered "overpaid" in his last year, but if u want to keep him that's the sacrafice you have to make... same with Berkman.... same with Beltran.
If Purpura were able to pull that off, I'd bow down to him. Cabrera is a freaking stud. He's one player that you'd have to be willing to give up many prospects for. He's still very young, a winner, and possibly the most underrated player in the game.
Yeah, I don't want Carlos Lee if he won't settle for something around $11 million/year. If you have to pay that guy $15 million/year,you're way overpaying. I'd rather see them go a different direction if that's the case. David Dalati said yesterday that Soriano was target #1 for the Astros in the offseason. This wasn't reported as his opinion...he was reporting what he had heard. As for A-Rod...that guy is a third-baseman, now.
Only guy worth the 15 million (if he even is) would be Soriano....this guy would be a homerun (no pun intended) for us.
I would personally rather have Soriano than Lee as well. Soriano gives you more speed with the same bat. But if he is not available, I would be willing to overpay for Lee because they desperatly need a legit clean up hitter. They cannot afford to not want to spend money and miss out on someone like Lee or Soriano. I dont want them ending up with a late signing of a guy like Preston Wilson like they did this year. It is not worth signing a cheap guy if he wont give you production. If you want production, you must spend money.
Lee scares me because of his body size. He seems like he's an injury waiting to happen. Honestly, I would be happy with him at the right price. Otherwise, I think we may end up being loaded down with a contract that's too much to pay to begin with.
Jeez... u sounding like they don't invest money in anybody. If you guys want to take Lance Berkman's 44 HR's and $15 million dollar a year contract for granted, fine... but not every team has a superstar that is as productive as him. Also, if the club goes with Luke Scott (who makes even less than Preston Wilson) for the entire year (assuming he doesn't go to a half-season-long slump), the club is probably still playing right now... spending money isn't ever a guarantee. You have to keep your principles. A part of me feels that Soriano isn't worth $15 million a year, but when you factor in his amazing season, his age, and his speed... he's definitely going to get it from someone (might as well be us). But if they miss out on him I won't have any problems with them not being "desperate" and overpaying for a guy like Carlos Lee... I don't think he's the type of player you ever overpay for.
We have been built around pitching and that should be our primary focus but we also need a bat. A guy that can hit home runs and drive in runs. We would be ok in this department if Ensbergs power didnt fall off. The Mets have the best 1-2 punch (Beltran and Delgado) in the NL and it seems like they will get to the World Series. Soriano's power and speed would be great for the Astros. The guy had 25 more runs that anyone on our team this year. It would be tight seeing Berkman drive in Soriano all the time. I hope our GM can get it done.
Here's another interesting prospect up for bid. All it will take is money. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2619621 Highly regarded pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was given permission by the Seibu Lions on Tuesday to pursue a career in the major leagues. Matsuzaka, who has drawn interest from several major league teams including the New York Yankees, finished the 2006 regular season with a career-high 17 wins against five losses. The 26-year-old right-hander posted a 2.13 earned-run average and 200 strikeouts. Matsuzaka has long been considered one of the brightest prospects in Japanese professional baseball. Seibu is expected to use the posting system in which major league teams present bids for Japanese players and the highest bidder wins the negotiating rights. Ichiro Suzuki signed with the Seattle Mariners under the same system. Matsuzaka is still one year away from becoming a free agent. In his eight-year career in Japan, Matsuzaka has led the Pacific League in wins three times and in strikeouts four times while winning the ERA title twice and the Sawamura Award, Japan's version of the Cy Young Award, once. Matsuzaka impressed major league scouts when he helped Japan win the inaugural World Baseball Classic title last March and was named MVP of the tournament.
Chan Ho Park was once a dominant pitcher for Korea as well... let this guy be somebody else's potential mistake. International pitchers, with crazy mechanics, are still a huge risk.
I agree that he's a risk, but Park was 21 when he came up with the Dodgers, and didn't have anywhere near the experience that this guy has.
Its still risky... and there will be teams that aren't already paying for an Oswalt (or the usual Yankees/Red Sox) that will be high bidders for a commodity that is still very much unknown against MLB competition. I'd rather commit the resources to Pettite/Clemens/veteran pitcher... and a bat.
