Tommy Manzella will be 27 this season. Time to sink or swim. All re-signing Tejada does is not allow the team to move forward with youth. That and Manzella is a mush superior defensive player than Tejada. With him and Feliz, the left side of the infield is pretty solid.
Ed Wade said this morning Astros have no plans to watch Ben Sheets throw on Tuesday, though that could change. via BM
You'd have Paulino and/or Sheets over Norris? Sheets hasn't pitched in 2 years and was very injury prone before that.
does anyone know if the new owners will spend more or spend less than Drayton? this team needs everything closer,starters,3rd,ss,2nd, and why the heck isnt jason castro brought up yet? sheesh, ive been waiting about 3 years for him and all i hear is great things yet i never see him at minute maid.
First off the club probably isn't going to be sold so Drayton will still be the owner. Secondly Jason Castro is our top prospect and played well in the minors. Last year was his first full season in the minors and he proved himself and will probably start out in AAA this season, but he will get a look in spring training. Thats why you haven't seen him at minute maid...
Dude, Castro was selected by the Astros in June of 2008. If you're expecting a player to go through the entire minor league system in barely over a year, your expectations are way, way out of whack. On average a player will probably spend 3-4 years in the minors, and Castro's at about 1 and 1/3. And any new owner would most likely spend far less than Drayton. On a revenue percentage basis, the Astros' payroll is far, far larger than most teams. You can't expect a payroll much bigger than $100m in this market. Problem with the Astros isn't Drayton's willingness to spend money. It's how management has chosen to allocate the funds he does spend (see the contracts for guys like Matsui and Feliz - consistently paying $4.5-6 mil a year for mediocre at-best production). When you're constantly spending real dollars just to be average, it means you won't have the money to splurge on things like a top-of-the-line starter...
An unrelated question for numbers wonks: As a casual observer it has long, long seemed to me that during the season when a guy returns from the DL he starts off pretty hot, then goes into a reasonably extended slump. Are there any numbers to back this up - or refute it?
To me the question is allocation of payroll. I believe this to be the major issue as too few get paid too much leaving too little for too many.
I'm not sure about that, but every baseball player has slumps it's just a given. When you play 150+ games a year and have over 600 at bats you are going to have off nights from fatigue, traveling, or just facing good pitchers or not having balls go your way.
I certainly understand the ups and downs of hitting a round, fast moving, wildly breaking sphere with a rounded cylindrical object. It just seems to me that in-season guys return from a DL visit and go balls-to-the-wall for a bit then fall into a pretty deep slump. That's the dynamic I'm curious about. Thanks.
I'd imagine that short stints on the DL often leave players rested and that may lead to a strong return that tails off. I'd imagine players usually struggle after long stints on the DL though.
Astros sign Cory Sullivan(OF) to minor league contract http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/6827075.html
In a similar number of plate appearances, Sullivan was superior to Erstad last year and is much younger. Let's not forget that Erstad's OPS was below .600 last year and he has a lot of wear and tear on his body.
