accidently hit submit... i dont think the astros need another bat when you consider the money the astros need to spend on pitching. #2 and #3 starters are needed. solid reliever. burke pence berkman lee scott wigginton towles/munson everett pitcher is not a bad lineup... unless berkman takes next year off too.
his career ERA+ (which measures a pitcher's ERA against the league average) is 99 (100 is considered league average) and that includes what's been a terrible 2007; prior to that, he was slightly above average. he's thrown a 180 innings or more in every year except the one in which he (iirc) broke or hurt his hand in a baserunning incident. so if he gets healthy and is given a clean bill of health, if he's willing to sign for woody-like money, you'd turn that down? i'm not by any means defending jason jennings. but you'd be hard-pressed to find a #3 league average, or better, pitcher for less than $6M. unfortunately.
I'd do it for 2 years, $6MM each. I wouldn't do 3yrs/$8MM though - not for a guy who walks a ton, doesn't strike out a lot, has a high BAA, and throws in the mid 80's. Ultimately, do you consider him much/at all better than Wandy, Woody, Sampson, Albers, or Backe? I think he's at that level and we already have Woody at $6MM and the other guys are dirt cheap and under our control. I'd rather spend $15MM on a legit quality #2 pitcher over $8MM on a league average type which we seem to have a lot of. Ultimately, to me, having a dominant #2 is better than a $8MM Jennings + $6MM Woody (I know that we don't necessarily have that choice since Woody is already signed, but just in terms of long-term "ideal" planning).
three quick points of clarification: 1) i've never advocated giving jennings a penny more than $6M a year; 2) as stated originally, he'd be one of several additions, improvements, etc., to the staff, including the need to still significantly upgrade it overall; 3) this is all based on him getting and passing a thorough examination. i don't think jennings is healthy. if healthy, yes - i prefer him to wandy, woody, et al. he's been a league average or slightly better pitcher for his entire career pitching at coors field. i think we could do a lot worse than a healthy, cheap jason jennings as our #3 pitcher. but if he's not healthy, if he's delusional enough to believe he deserves $8-10M; see ya.
you don't make it thru bus rides in topeka, kansas, and $50 per diems (or weekiems - whichever) if you're a sissy girlie man who can't take the pain, nor do you dare tempt losing your stranglehold on a major league roster spot, especially in a walk year, by admitting you're hurt. IOW, blind, unchecked ego and selfishness, the foundation of any good, successful athlete. it's why they have to be pushed out the door at the end of their careers, benched against their will so they can have a day off and sent to the DL only when they truly can no longer stomach the pain.
I could go with that lineup happily if we seriously address the pitching holes. Signing a real #2 guy that could be a #1 pitcher on many teams and a #3 that can eat innings and is a quality pitcher. Add a solid reliever and our bullpen would be stacked as well as having a talented and deep starting rotation when healthy. I'm just real hesitant in believing Hunsicker will spend money on starting pitching on the open market. The only time he ever has was Petitte and Clemens, and he had enormous pressure from the city to do that. I will be astonished if he were to sign an Ace pitcher and another quality one all in one off season. However, i don't think Towles will be ready defensivly next year and i'm not sold on Munson. I need to see Munson play more before passing any judgement on him. However, just about any catcher is an offensive upgrade over Ausmus. And you're probably right about Everett, though i wish you weren't. He'll be with us untill he's a FA since he has zero value on the trade market. I don't see us ever signing him to a contract after that. By then someone in the minors should be able to field a ground ball and ground out into double plays killing rallies for even less money.
In 2006 he did have a 3.78 ERA while pitching in Coors field half the time. He also ate up 212 innings. It's actually kinda sad he's the all time Rockies leader in wins. If he could pitch like that here i would definantly consider him a quality #3 pitcher. I really do think he's injured this year to have such a slip and a decrease in velocity. He's just pitching through it. If he didn't everyone would be saying he's a wussy that sucks rather than that he just sucks. Our team Doctors have a pretty good track record when predicting if guys will have arm trouble, so i have trust in their opinion on him. If they give him the green light after the season, i'd expect him to be resigned with the limited pitchers available in the FA market and who might possibly take a home town discount. Sorry guys. Even guys that can pitch 200 innings with a career ERA under 5 are a rare commodity. But we still need a real #2 1st and foremost.
Of course everyone has to play through some pain, but if it is affecting your performance as much as it is supposedly affecting Jennings, he shouldn't be playing. He would be helping himself and the team more if he didn't play right now, especially if he is injured.
