Many of the prospects that were traded away for Beltran, Tejada, Valverde, etc. didn't pan out, but alot of prospects don't make a big impact. The biggest loss IMO in the Tejada trade was Troy Patton and Luke Scott. Say what you will about Scott, he could fill in the spot Lee currently holds for a hell of a lot less money (thats just my opinion). Patton is coming off surgery and we'll see how he does in the next few seasons. My biggest concern with player development is the lack of opportunities to acquire talent. The Astros are no longer players in Venezuela (where they had a stranglehold), they weren't players in the Pacific Rim (until two seasons ago) and they don't sign any high profile Cuban or Latin American free agents (Chapman, Sano, etc. ). The biggest thing that hurts is failing to offer arbitration and getting picks in return when the offered player refuses and signs elsewhere --- thats what hurt the Astros in the past, also signing players for their signability over talent has hurt them as well. Rome wasn't built in a day, but slowly but surely the Astros will get back to contention by building through the draft. It started two years ago and in June they'll have a chance to really make a dent in the rebuilding effort with three of the top 33 picks.
Ed Wade finds good players. Bobby Heck does too. Tal Smith makes sure they never win an arbitration case. They contribute even though Tim Poopura is garbage.
Does anyone have a good analysis of each of these players? Or a good place of finding it. I like keeping up with baseball but don't really watch too much college (until the College World Series) or know anything about the next best high school player out there. Out of this crop who is the best and who does what?
