Well if you go back and look at SChilling, he was not given a chance by the astros. He was a relief pitcher and was never a starter. He went off and became a good starter. It would be different if he actually started and then we let him go after seeing what he could do.
You can find other reasoning behind every move the Stros have made, but that doesn't mean that salary cutting wasn't a consideration. The fact is, the Astros have a history of making moves they wouldn't have made, getting rid of players they liked, sans budgetary concerns. The Caminiti/Finley trade, the Everett deal, the Wagner deal, choosing to not offer Kent 3 years or Unit 4, those are all decisions that have been made with one eye on keeping the budget down. Drayton has typically been a frugal guy, but he's loosened the purse in the last year or two. This offseason will be seen as Florida-esque though if we don't keep Beltran and Clemens stays retired as a result.
True. I gave information which I read at the time, coming from the front office. I tend to believe what they say at face value rather than draw my own conclusions.
Considering he went 14-11 with a 2.35 ERA for the Phillies the next season, you'd think we would have given him a chance to start before trading him away. I mean, Jason Grimsley?
I am referring to the period after the trade when the Astros once again pursued him in free agency. Obviously bridges had already been burned by that point, but they still pursued him. My purpose with the Johnson statement was to point out that the contracts offered by Houston and Arizona were quite different, and not nearly identical as originally posted.
If Beltran leaves, we should start rebuilding immediately. I think Ausmus, Bagwell, and Biggio should all have to split time with prospects. I think most fans are tired of seeing these guys play.
What prospects? The upper level of the farm system is pretty dry, and the one guy who's ready (Burke) is likely to start at 2B.
From where I sit I honestly believe that Beltran would rather stay in Houston if the offers are close to the $100 mark ($98 million maybe?). The problem is here is that his agent is the Great Satan Scott Boras. Boras is only interested in getting the most $$$ so he can brag about being no.1. Boras needs the Astros in this farce to lend an air of legitimacy to his schenanigans but he clearly wants Beltran in NY. To Carlos, I can only offer two words to consider: Alex Rodriegez. If he takes all that money to become the "face" of the sad sack Mets, he may very well end up in the same hell that "Pay-Rod" now inhabits. The time has come for Drayton to decide just how much he wants to win a World Series but no matter what happens, it would be wrong to blame him if Beltran goes elsewhere because at least this time, the Astros stepped up to the plate and made a real run at a superstar talent. For that reason alone, I am happy to see a serious effort being made to get to the top.
That looks like BS. Any fool can make up a headline and put it on a website. I really believe its between us and the yanks, however the longer it goes on, the more I am anxious about what we will do as a plan b, and what shenanigans Boras is pulling.
One of my Sources here during Astroline was commenting about the whole Beltran scenario. He was saying that With Beltran being such a nice guy it really is hurting him in a way to have Boras representing him. Stated that no one in the high ups of the Astros like Boras at all or any of the tactics he is using in trying to manipluate the amount of money and offers from other teams. He stated that they are going at Beltran hard and have given him as much space as needed and tried to basically do everything right and do no wrong. He did say that they are not going to let Boras break them either. They are willing to bend but are not going to go and break because Boras wants more money. Also mentioned and you can't hold me to this but based on the information i have had in the past (like them not going to sign Miller and this was back 5 months ago when they talked about it) ...He said that the chance of Clemens coming back is really high. I know a lot of people are saying that Clemens is waiting for Beltrans answer...but this is what he stated and i guess we will see what happens soon enough.
I knew we had Schillings before, but can somebody tell me how Santana was let go by the astros? Also did Schillings get traded or was he a FA?
Santana was a product of the Astros Venezuelan academy (Hidalgo, Abreu, Hernandez), and ended up being taken in the Rule V... he never was on our major league roster. Evaluating talent at the minor league level is not an exact science... its almost as random as gambling. Some guys look like studs down there, but never do much in their careers.... and some just end up blossoming like you never expect.
Houston Astros traded Curt Schilling to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jason Grimsley; 4/2/92 Santana, originally signed as a teenager by the Houston Astros organization, came to the Twins in December 1999, following a Rule 5 Draft-day trade with the Florida Marlins.
Here's a nice article I found about the Astros and Johan Santana (man... if only they had taken the same leap of faith with him that they did with Miller, Oswalt, and Redding... I guess 2 out of 4 aint bad... oh wait, Miller's a bust now too... 1 out of 4). http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Santana/Santana_bio.html Andres Reiner, a scout for the Houston Astros, liked Johan enough to drive 10 hours through the Andes to his house. This happened during the 1994 baseball strike, when Reiner had been instructed not to spend any money. He was so excited about Johan that he dug into his own pockets to hire a car. Reiner rang the doorbell, and the teenager answered. He told the boy that he had the arm to pitch professionally. Johan was also being pursued by the Colorado Rockies, who had a camp in Venezuela. At one point he traveled nine hours to a tryout and then performed poorly. Still, Colorado was interested. Johan’s family was so impressed by Reiner’s effort, however, that they convinced he to sign with Houston in July of 1995, just after his 16th birthday. When Reiner looked at Johan, he saw major-league pitching talent. The Astros agreed, and moved him to the mound when he joined their Dominican Summer League team in 1996. The gangly 17-year-old hurled 40 innings, primarily in relief, and enemy batters managed a meager .178 average against him. In 1997, Johan was promoted to Houston’s Kissimmee affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, where he threw 36 innings of relief and got hit hard. He also started a game for the Auburn Doubeldays of the New York-Penn League at the end of the year. Johan was back in Auburn for most of the 1998 season, where he regained his form as a starter, winning seven games and racking up 88 strikeouts in 87 innings. Johan spent the entire 1999 campaign with the Michigan Battle Cats of the Class A Midwest League, under the tutelage of Al Pedrique, who would later manage the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Astros stockpiled Pedrique’s pitching staff with a group of top prospects, including Roy Oswalt, Tim Redding, Mike Gallo, Jacob Whitney and Mike Nannini. Johan led the staff in starts with 26, going 8-8 with a 4.66 ERA and a team-high 150 strikeouts in 160 innings. For the second straight season, he showed improvement in his fastball, curve and change, and showed arm strength well beyond his 20 years. Unfortunately, the Astros felt Johan was still years away from wearing a Houston uniform. When they had to set their 40-man roster, the last spot came down to Johan and teammate Aaron McNeal, who was coming off a 38-homer 131-RBI season. They opted for McNeal, exposing the young lefty in the Rule 5 draft.
my guess is the beltran wants to be here and thus is ours for the taking. the question remains how high MUST we go, and then how high will we go. Horrible game of chicken. Horrible. I'm sick of refresh, refresh, refresh. reminds me of the tmac trade saga.
