Tim Purpora, the General Manager, had a terrible offseason. His analysis and judgment was that Andy Pettitte was too old and too fragile to pay him the market rate. Tim decided that money would be better spent on too old Woody Williams, and too fragile, here for one year, Jason Jennings. Andy Pettitte is anchoring the Yankee pitching big staff and has an All Star level 2.66 ERA. Woody Williams looks old and done, with an ERA of 5.65 and growing. Jason Jennings was durable enough to pitch two games and 12 innings before his pre exisitng injured pitching arm required surgery. I did not know he had a pre existing pitching arm problem. A competent General Manager would have. The most important talent of a GM in any sport is talent evaluation and knowing what to pay for it. You are either Charlie Casserly or Bill Belichek. The offseason analysis that decided Andy Pettitte was not good enough, and that old Woody Williams and fragile Jason Jennings were better, is the equivalent of the Texans deciding Aaron Glenn was too expensive at the market rate for experienced cornerbacks. Casserly pushed the solid corner with the All Star character and leadership out and then gave up way too much for a name replacement whose hype was swallowed by only one gullible GM. The Astro's have their own gullible GM. They could have Pettitte ( 2.66 ERA )as the number 2 starter, with Willie Tavares (.299 BA) leading off, providing excitement at bat and great range in center. Hunter Pence ( The Natural) will get to the Hall of Fame just as easily in right field as center, and what a great defensive pair they would have made in the outfield. Jason Hirsh would still be an Astro with an expectation of a solid career, Woody Williams would be a star in slow pitch softball, and Jason Jennings would just be another injured Colorado Rockie instead of the face of the unfortunate Houston Astro's. The wisdom of Tim the Gm also came to the conclusion that Willie Tavares(.299) was expendable, and replaceable in the lineup with Luke Scott (.233), infielder Chris Burke (.238) Orlando Palmiero (.143), and Jason "Psyco" Lane, (.171). Clearly, the Astro's need a GM that can evaluate talent and not be a patsy for the other teams in the league. Tim, the GM's, only positive talent seems to be repeating "The Sun Will Come Out Tommorrow", over and over and over and over and over. Posted by Jrazz at May 26, 2007 09:40 AM
did not hear whatever was on the radio but I do know that I agree with it and I am pretty sure you do
I for one agree with Jrazz. Tim has done very little to show he has what it takes to be a successful GM. I really wish Drayton decides to clean house and starts with Tim. We need an experienced GM who is ready for rebuilding the Astros.
Nope, just an unfortunate coincidence if thats the case. I started writing about the Pettitte / Jennings decision and came to my own, if apparently, obvious conclusion.
Agreed. The last offseason is looking terrible right now. Losing Tavares and Hirsh for a pitcher with a 86 mph fastball. Yuck.
Carloss Lee was a good pickup but I still contend we gave up too much for Jennings.... And signing Woody Williams was just flat out stupid. DD
I think I don't like about Tim is that he never is willing to make a small move that could turn to be a big deal like Gerry did. I am not talking about a guy who needs a change of scenery and has success with the Stros. Players Gerry brought in were Mike Lamb, Dan Wheeler, Geoff Blum, Sean Berry, Stan Javier, Mark Loretta the first time, Orlando Merced, and Rick White the first time.
How? It's not like there was any structural damage. All Jennings said was that he pitched through some soreness. How can a "competent" general manager find that out? If Jennings doesn't say it, there's not much you can do. Also, as Major said, when did Jennings undergo surgery? Here's what's funny... you're talking about durability as a plus for Andy Pettitte? All the guy does is complain about his arm, to the point where he almost retired at age 34. Finally, Jason Jennings has been healthy for almost all of his entire career... but one stretch where his arm feels a bit sore and he's too fragile. Quite objective. The offseason analysis was based on who would have the better season, not the better first two months. If you seriously believe Pettitte will have a better ERA than Jennings for the season, I'd be willing to make quite the sig bet on that. Let me know. Also, you're either Charlie Casserly or Bill Belichick (learn to spell)? That's hilarious. So you're either the best in the game, or the worst? There's zero in between? I think you're the one that needs to learn how to evaluate talent. Used by itself, batting average is next to irrelevant. I'm sorry to inform you of that. It's a solid tool when used in combination with other statistics that measure extra-base potential, but simply putting together a team of high batting average, no power players (Taveras) would yield very poor results. Here's what's funny. As poorly as Luke Scott has played this season, his OPS is still clearly higher than Taveras after his so-called "development." So was Burke's. In other words, both Scott and Burke are clearly the more effective offensive players than Taveras, and that's with them in a clear slump. If Pence can play good defense in center field, and it looks as though he can, Taveras would be useless for this team. There's no reason to pass on putting a legit bat in RF (if Scott doesn't prove to be it, they can be easily acquired, it's a dime a dozen at that position) for Willy Taveras simply because he's "exciting." Whether you think we gave up too much value for Jennings can be debated, but it's really silly to think that Taveras would/should have a long-term place in the starting lineup if he were here now.
Huh? The most consistent and productive bats in the Houston lineup have been Lee and Loretta, the two offseason acquisitions. Jennings was solid before the injury (and will be back soon), and as poorly as Luke Scott has played, his OPS is still > than Willy Taveras. I know some of you like the guy, but Taveras had absolutely no place to play on this team with Pence in the lineup. The offseason moves have turned out fairly well. The problem with the Astros is that the holdovers from last season - Berkman, Ensberg and Scott - aren't hitting anywhere remotely close to what they were expected to or are capable of.
Gerry Hunsicker was the best GM this town has ever had, except maybe Steve Patterson who built our championship teams.
Actually he the Astros called Huff a "major move" when it happend. I give him credit for signing Loretta but he failed at pretty much every other move he has made. You can't judge the Carlos Lee signing and Jennings trade yet but the Preston Wilson and John Franco signings didn't work out.
I forget he also signed Orlando Palmerio and Woody Williams to two year deals when they both were old and obviously on the downside of their career.
