He was one of the few players that got over 400 ABs and had a lower OPS then Matsui and Towles. Seriously Willy T had a .275 OBP and a .285 SLG last year. I was a WillyT fan, but he sucked something awful last year, and the year before.
From Jerry Crasnick's twitter... Rafael Soriano's reps are scheduled to meet with Astros today. Could Soriano be a possibility for Houston if Valverde declines arbitration?
From Tag's twitter... brianmctaggart To follow up: Astros not pursuing starting pitching b/c of the cost. Oswalt, Wandy and Norris at top of rotation, Moehler at back. No. 4??? Annoying but rather spend wisely then overpay for a guy like Myers in a year where we won't contend one bit.
I dont know how I feel about signing Soriano. Apparently we would have to give up: 11:29am: Heyman notes that Soriano has attracted interest from the Yankees, Orioles, and Astros. The Yankees would give up their #32 pick, the Orioles #37, or the Astros #43. With this ball club and the state its in, I am a HUGE advocate of looking towards the future and the draft is the biggest part of that. I dont really see us competing legitimately next year or anytime soon after that
Consider this, if the Stros sign Soriano that means Val declined arbitration and we would get 2 compensation picks for him thus in reality only losing one of the two comp picks by signing Soriano.
That would be wonderful as I was hoping the Astros would offer arbitration to everyone so they could all decline and we get the picks but of course thats a fantasy. I would definately be down for that scenario but the latest rumors are Valverde might accept arbitration and with Ed Wade, you never know if he plans on adding Soriano ontop of that in case we lose Hawkins. Hawkins, i believe (correct me if I'm wrong), wasn't offered arbitration?
YES!!!! From the Media's twitter.... richardjustice RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Jose Valverde DECLINED arb, remains on open market, Soriano accepting
Yup he declines SI_JonHeyman closer valverde declined the #astros offer to arbitrate. 1 minute ago from web Reply Retweet TBrownYahoo Valverde declines arbitration 6 minutes ago from web Reply Retweet Ken_Rosenthal Jose Valverde DECLINED arb, remains on open market, Soriano accepting
I guess were are going to look for a cheap alternate/Hawkins and go after "O", relief help and bench help.
He hits the open market. I believe the Astros can still make an offer to him or if he signs elsewhere we recieve a draft pick. SOmeone else who knows more can clarify
Wow...I thought it was two supplemental picks but it turns out to be even better. I wonder how this impacts who they target in FA, although I know not to expect much but with a bad economy there could be some interesting names going for cheap.
After declining arb., Valverde unlikely to return.. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/6758148.html
That's good news! This team needs 2 draft picks more than it needs a top-flight closer. Let Hawkins close.
Let Gervacio close. If we're really looking to 2010 (like the Rockets), throw the kids in and see who can swim. from: http://astrosprospects.blogspot.com/ Samuel Gervacio #19 Closer Quite possibly the Astros closer of the future, Samuel Gervacio has stood out as one of the best bullpen arms in the system. Gervacio at times can be dominating. He has a good fastball and great breaking ball he can snap off. He can strikeout people with either pitch. The Dominican product has an outstanding K/IP ratio with 76 strikeouts in just 52 IP. The only problem is consistency. If he's going to be a closer, he'll have lower that era because the majors is very unforgiving. The good thing is he strikes a whole lot of people out. He could be a surprise next year if we're in need of bullpen arms but '09 seems more realistic.
