He very clearly said he would either play close to home or not at all, which is any person's choice - including a baseball player who is a free agent. He never once said he was retiring. I'm shocked this is so difficult for you to understand.
Ausmus isn't good enough of a player to play that flip-flop game anyways. What he did was perfectly normal and shouldn't upset anyone. If there wasn't room for him on one of those Cali teams, he would've retired. Ausmus is one of the classiest players in the league. Good luck to him.
There are some people who, despite the overwhelming evidence, cannot admit they were just wrong. Good luck to Bradley. I hope he gets a standing ovation the first time he plays @ Minute Maid...and then hits into one of his signature double plays.
I don't think we need to worry about the things he does consistently. He will hit into double plays, and he will call good games. I'm just gonna hope he DOESn't hit a clutch HR against us.
i don't care if they are paying the bum minimum wage...signing him means that he is going to be playing for the team. that's what i have a problem with. just because you sign an awful pitcher for dirt cheap doesn't make it a good signing.
That's ridiculous. 81 games away from home or 162 games away from home? Quite a difference, isn't there. Brad was clear and up front from the start. It was in no way a slight against Houston. Seriously, there is SOOO much more to b**** and moan about right now than a .230-hitting former GG 40-year-old catcher not wanting to play for your team.
Prior to last year, Backe had been a serviceable middle of the rotation starter. I am willing to give him a shot to see if he can regain that form. If not, then he can be DFA midseason. It is simply mystifying that the reaction is as though we had signed him to a 10 year $150M deal rather than signing Sheets and Sabathia. That just isn't the case.
Speaking of Sheets, he's still out there. Would love the Astros to snap him up. Given the market, he might be willing to take a one year deal and try free agency again next year. If that's the case you have got to take a chance on him in my opinion.
The Astros have said they are done adding payroll. Couple that with the fact that signing Sheets will cost them their first round pick this coming June. FWIW, I'd love to see them add Sheets to the rotation.
Aces, I just read your signature. I too, today cancelled my season tickets. My wife and I have been mini plan holders ( slider plan) ever since I moved back to Houston (2003). It was for a variety of reasons ( we have a 16 month old daughter) that I gave up my tickets, but I will say this, the Astros did not give me a reason to keep my tickets. Had they done something this offseason, we would have kept them. Letting Wiggington just walk was the final straw for me. Even then, it took me a long time to finally make the call and not renew. I still plan on going to my fair share of the games, but I just dont think I want to make the committment when the Astros are not doing their part.
Yes, the Astros have said they are done adding payroll. We also know that things in sports are fluid. They can change quickly. I am willing to bet that the Astros didn't know that Sheets would be without a serious offer this long.
Here's an article about the worst of the worst in all of baseball during this decade: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3849817&name=stark_jayson Two Astros and two Extros made the list: LOWEST BATTING AVG. (4,000 PLATE APPEARANCES): Brad Ausmus (.243) LOWEST SLUGGING PCT. (4,000 PA): Brad Ausmus (.326). HIGHEST BULLPEN ERA (200 IP): Dave Borkowski (5.56) by nearly half a run, over the next-closest active reliever, Shawn Camp (5.10). LOWEST BATTING AVG. BY A PITCHER (150 PA): Brian Moehler (7-for-142, .049). HIGHEST ERA (1,000 IP): Josh Fogg (5.08), with Eric Milton (5.01) and Jason Jennings (5.00) also in the High 5.00 Club.
Keith Law's 2009 organizational rankings: 30. Houston Astros: Houston's farm system looks like General Sherman marched through it, then turned around and marched through it again just to be sure the job was done. The Astros' 2007 draft class might turn out to be one of the worst in history: They had no picks in the first round (for Carlos Lee) or second round (for the now-retired Woody Williams), and they failed to sign either their third- or fourth-round pick (one of whom, Georgia Tech shortstop Derek Dietrich, looks like a sure top-50 pick for 2010). Two of the top six players they did sign were released in October, and their top signed pick, Colin Dellome, just posted a .305 OBP in high-A at age 22. Their 2008 draft was better -- not that it could have been worse -- with two promising high school arms in Ross Seaton and Jordan Lyles and one solid catching prospect in Jason Castro. The organization's decision to turn its back on Venezuela might reflect the nation's political instability, but it also leaves the Astros among the least-advanced teams in international scouting. There are lean times ahead in Houston, and even a massive shift toward rebuilding won't stop the oncoming drought. So, we are the worst ranked farm system while our in-state rivals, the Rangers, are ranked 1st. We also have only 1 player ranked as a Top 100 prospect and he barely made it (Castro, 96th). Justin Smoak, who was picked right after Castro, was ranked 15th.
I was just referring to the Silver Boot Series and the fact that I've seen a lot of Rangers hate in game threads. That wasn't the point anyhow. You're right, they don't give out awards for best farm system. Since that's the case, we might as well strive to remain the worst. There is no significance in having good prospects in your system. That never leads to having good, young, cheap talent on your major league roster and it never helps when you want to make a trade. I hope the Astros never waste another penny signing a draft pick. They might as well get all their scouts off the payroll. Do Drayton and Ed know that they don't give out awards for best farm system?
I would safely assume Drayton and Eddie don't know this, since in a way they in fact do; in fact the Astros were recipients of this award in the early '00s. They were pretty highly rated from the late '90s through to like '03 or '04; then the bottom fell out after the Hun had a couple bad drafts and Purpura's disastrous tenure as GM.
Well, there you go. I was being sarcastic and didn't even realize that. Regardless, I was just posting a couple of things related to the Astros up above. I didn't pass any judgment in either of those posts. Don't shoot the messenger just because the news isn't good.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-astros&prov=ap&type=lgns Looks like no dice on Pettitte...at least for now.
