Well, I guess the thinking is we've won three of the first four series out of the break so I guess there is still a chance...If Miggy were to go, I'd hope we'd get good value, although I like Miggy's bat...Glove, not so much...
i honestly think their thinking is: we're better with tejada than without him - unless he could fetch an upgrade at SS, which, of course, is impossible. fans need to be patient. as i suspected, the farm isn't nearly as barren as we were led to believe, and they're now putting a priority on strengthening it. in 2, maybe 3 years, i epxect it to be on its way to being an asset once again. in the meantime, drayton wants to try and field a winner at the major league level - why is this so objectionable to everyone? sure, maybe it's money-driven (ie berkman/oswalt would draw more than young, promising prospects), but as long as they stop robbing the farm to pay the major league roster... every thing should be OK in another year or 3. they're not burdened by large and/or long contracts (save for lee, but, for now, he's earning it), so they can turn over the ML roster as need be pretty efficiently. i honestly don't think it's as dire as some.
Hmm...I don't see why people are ripping on Taylor Buchholz... looks like he's a classic case of Astros jumping the gun too early and trading away an asset Just going on his stats, he's better than any pitcher in our bullpen. We could sure use him....
thanks, and i'd wager they have. i've posted this previously, too, but here's the thing everyone tends to forget: tejada and valverde were both traded not six months ago. and they netted an above average but older, oft-injured OF; an above average middle reliever; two second-tier level prospects and not much else. and they've both regressed since. (as well as, in tejada's case, aged two years and been part of a federal investigation.) so i don't fathom how they could turn two average-to-slightly below average players into anything that nets a positive at this point. might as well play out the string...
Please provide even the slightest shred of evidence that this is true. If anything, it is worse. The 'big hope' A-Ball guys who were moved up to AA have all stumbled and fallen. They have absolutely nothing that would qualify as an A-list prospect above Lo-A.
and where did i say they did? i said it wasn't as barren; meaning it's still barren. it looks like we may (hopefully) have an everyday 3B in chris johnson; SS tommy manzella's glove is ML-ready; though he stumbled upon his promotion to AA, P pollin trinidad burned through the lower levels; and OF jordan parraz has a big arm, a power bat and looks to be getting better. it's a start. when you factor in pence, bourn, towles, and wright (all 25 or younger), plus a hopefully healthy nieve and paulino, plus the 2008 draft choices, i just don't think it's as hopeless as some.
LOL, "many"? I think the word you're looking for is almost none. All the focus was on the Astros losing Taveras and Hirsh. Buchholz, for the most part, was an afterthought, for people on both sides of the debate. That's why it's hilarious to see you try and justify the outrage over the trade by going to the player that both sides didn't really care about losing. With all due respect, that's a terrible way to analyze a trade. If Ron Artest hypothetically tears his ACL walking down stairs tomorrow and never plays another basketball game, I'll still say it was a good trade. Nothing in sports is ever guaranteed. You analyze whether a deal was worthwhile based on the information the team had at the time and the analysis they made -- to do otherwise is pointless. And no, we weren't talking about the future. With the Astros, there is no future, and you should know that following this team. It's season by season, patching holes. See Jennings, 2007, and Tejada/Wolf/Chacon, etc., in 2008. You seem to look at things from the idealistic perspective. I look at them in the confines of reality and what's practical. I don't think it's fair to criticize Purpura/Wade over a school of thought that isn't an option to them. As long as McLane owns this team, this is the way it's going to be -- and it's only fair to judge the actions of general managers while considering the parameters given to them.
something to think about: prior to this year, pence, bourn and towles had a combined 290 ABs at AAA. again, combined. lance berkman had 397 before getting the permanent call-up at 25. even when you factor in towles 78 additionals ABs this year, the 3 still trail berkman. i'm not saying they'd all be lance berkman, 2.0, had they all had AAA seasoning. but i think (hope) they'll continue to (in pence and wright's case) get better and/or start to figure it out (bourn and towles) over the next 1-2 years. all 4 (wright had all of 16.2 IP) are every raw and inexperienced.
He was enough a part of the deal that you felt the need to make 5 or 6 posts about how much he sucks. I'm not trying to justify the outrage on the trade, just pointing out you were wrong about him sucking. None of this really has to do with my point, and I dont disagree with that part of your post. I'm talking about Buchholz. When analyzing a trade when it happens, you evaluate what a player will do the next couple years. When the trade happened, you said getting rid of Buchholz didn't matter because he sucked. Well, he hasnt sucked, and it would be nice to have him now.
Tejada is fine at SS. What you want to do, if you're a decent GM, is move his SALARY (What is it? $14 mill or something?) and then you're a 'player' for a pitcher next year. Forget trading Tejada for now - - If the Astros did NOTHING but ponied up the SICK amount of money that Sheets and CC will ask for, with Oswalt (???) making it back to health, the Astros would be instantly favored to win the division NEXT YEAR! We are BAD right now but if you pay enough, you can be good real quick. Personally, I'd rather stock the pond with young pitchers, move Valverde, and Brocail. Sign a few more BP pitchers and then let em all go and hope you get some squeeze picks in the draft. IMHO...
