If a Lee for Lowe deal was on the table, and they instead settled for Vasquez for Cabrera, the Braves front office should be run out of town.
Why aren't the 'stro's ever interested in Mark DeRosa? Seems a solid player and he has family here in the Houston area...
Yep Mark is a darn good player but he is going to get about 6-7 million per yr, maybe more, and thats to rich for the Stros blood. Honestly for the money he is asking and considering his age it might be a bad use of resources even though I think he would be a quality addition to them team inside and outside the lockeroom.
I understand the $$$ and the Astros desire to not spend money, but isn't the real challenge getting the right production from dollars spent, not just dollars spent? After all, the Astros signed Matsui in 2007 for what... about $5-6M per year? They just signed Feliz for $4.5M, who perhaps provides similar production (of DeRosa, hopefully not Matsui) and for all I know is a good dugout guy as well. So I get the desire to pursue players at the $1-2M a year level (or less). And resigning Keppinger provides enough of the utilty backup. Just wondering why the 'stros haven't ever pursued DeRosa who seems to be a player that solved a team need and has local ties.
Is that you Kubiak? In all seriousness, as others have said, it's about the money he is looking for that the Astros dont have. I'd love to have him though. He may be on the backside of his career but he can still help a team out. He's also very versatile.
It looks more and more like José Valverde will not get anywhere the deal he hoped for after he declined arbitration from the Astros. He would have likely got a 1 year, $10 million dollar deal in arbitration and would have been the Astros cloer in 2010. He may have to settle for a 1 year, 5 million dollar deal now plus incentives and he may have to settle as a setup man. I think only the Tigers and Pirates have openings at closer and they won't spend a lot of money on Valverde. He needs to fire his agent.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/odds-ends-kouzmanoff-berkman-sheets.html •In a discussion of Lance Berkman's future plans, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com says that "the older [Berkman] gets, I think the less likely he is to play elsewhere." The Astros star is under contract next season and the team has a $15MM option on Berkman for the 2011 season that it will surely pick up if Berkman matches his .274/.399/.509 line from last season. McTaggart notes that the Astros have been hesitant to rebuild since they still feel they can contend with quality veterans like Berkman and Roy Oswalt in their relative primes. As we learned last September, however, Berkman might rather retire after 2011 than be a burden on the organization. •From that same piece, McTaggart says Houston's acquistions of Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz last winter have made the team leery of signing another injury-prone starter like Ben Sheets, especially since Sheets would come at a much higher price.
I don't give a **** what lance does next year, there is no way that he desevers 15 million dollars for the up and down production he has given. I dont think Ryan Howard even makes that kind of money. It makes no sense that we keep complaining about payroll and yet insist on calling Berkman and Oswalt "stars" who we are willing to give ridiculous money to keep. I understand how bad the Lee contract is crippling this team but thats a pill that we have to swallow until we can trade him or even if we can. Roy and Lance are past their primes. They both should be lucky to get 10 million dollar contracts at this point. I dont really care how big of icons those two are, they are still on the downside of their careers and should willingly take paycuts if they still want to be Astros.
Berkman is one season removed from arguably the best season of his career (2008). Oswalt is on the downside of his career, that's for sure. Berkman - it's up for debate. Yes, he was down from 2008, but he's done this his entire career - alternated very good, low .900 OPS years (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009) with great years of .980 OPS or greater (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008). I see no reason, at this point, to think Berkman's slightly (and it's very slight) underachieving 2009 as any different than 2003, 2005 or 2007. And if you think a switch-hitting 1B with a consistent .900 or better OPS in every year of his career - Hall of Fame numbers, basically - would be "lucky to get $10m" on the open market, you have absolutely no concept of reality and just how rare those numbers are. Picking up his $15m option is a no-brainer.
Someone help me out with this... Why can't the Stros look at starting some of these relievers with better ERA's? Why not make a huge competition of it and find a good competent pitcher to compete for that 5th spot? Anything would be better than Moehler! Now what if we use TWO decent long relievers (if you think they can't last that many innings) instead of ONE bad starting pitcher? I really don't get it! Why do they love Moehler so much? There's tons of decent relief pitchers out there that can be had cheap... why not develop them into starters' innings???
I'm sorry to say, you have described what Moehler is. Bullpen and starters are very different. Much easier to go from starter to bullpen, as most relievers do at some point in their careers. I'm hoping Moehler goes to the bullpen, but that is less likely with Lindstrom and Lyon now in the fold.
I still don't know why the hell Ed Wade gave Brian Moehler $3 million dollars when he could have gotten him for a minor league deal. Moehler was of th worst starters in all of baseball last year and is only gonna get worse.
Thank you! That's what I'm saying... I keep reading that Moehler is slotted in the 5th spot. Is that really gonna happen? Just add one decent 3rd starter anywhere and things shape up tremendously (at least on paper). Is there any possibility for competition at that spot???
It is pretty quiet all over the league though. There are not many deals getting done or rumors flying around.
