Woody looked done, he really did. Of course, he usually looked done last year. I really wish that he could have played for us when he was really good. Woody has said that although he has formally been put on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release, that he will retire and not play for another team. I wonder if this means he will forego his 6 mill salary this year…
Also, Quintero is being sent to AAA – Wade preferred to have Tomas Perez on the roster – not surprised one little bit. He’s been a great favorite of Wade for years, not sure why. Anyway, Quintero has to pass waivers, and if he does, he has the right to declare free agency if he prefers.
Jose Cruz, Jr. made the club, which is a good thing because we could use a reserve outfielder who can actually hit.
The pitching staff has been set too, with Paronto being optioned to AAA:
Starters: Oswalt, Backe, Wandy, Chacon, Sampson
Bullpen: Valverde, Villareal, Moehler, Geary, Borkowski, Brocail, Wright
So we’ll just have to see how the guys do this year. Like they say, it’s why they play out a long season…
Yall want to know how the game went today, don’t you? Well, in between getting the kids water, answering the kids questions, taking the kids to the bathroom, buying the kids water, taking the kids to the bathroom, Chacon gave up 2 solo homers, no one made any errors, Bourn, in a 2fer 30 slump didn’t start, every starter except Towles had a hit and Hitter Pence and Wiggy hit homers into the Crawford Boxes. Oh yes, and long explanations of why even if foul balls are hit farther than home runs, why they aren’t good enough to be home runs anyway. So a good time was had by all.
And yall want to know if, when we got home, the puppies were still there.
Five guesses….
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
As bad as our starting pitching may be, at least we got rid of Woody and Jennings. Even if our starting pitchers are worse than they were last year, at least we aren’t going into the season optimistic about them.
jack,
you have a point there. i actually wouldn’t be surprised if jennings has somewhat of a rebound this year, since he got his arm fixed. too bad we had him the year he was hurt.
ah well, youneverknow…
The point wasn’t to hate on Jennings- just that last year he was abysmal- and Woody was just barely better. And that after the worries were more that Jennings would be here for a year and then leave for greener pastures (the type of green found only on money) and that we’d take a hit this year. Well, the starting pitching will be bad this year… but we expect it to. Last year it blindsided us, and was responsible for our lack of sucess more than Burke, Ensberg, Lane, Berkman, Lidge, Wheeler, Everett, Garner, or whoever else might take blame.
Finally, rather than ditching a Burke/Ensberg scapegoat we get rid of someone who is part of the problem. Not that this makes the rotation good, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
So much depends on whether Wandy can repeat last year’s success- I think he was about a run better than his ERA would indicate. Last year his K/BB ratio took a jump for the better. Now we’ll see if he can repeat it. I hope so.
Chacon was never great, but has been b/w mediocre and good at times, and ain’t old yet.
Sampson will suffer fromn Wiggy and Tejada- poor guy.
Backe? I am as worried about Backe as I am about Chacon. He’s 30, there’s little upside left.
But betting on any one of these panning out is a safer bet than Woody- who would have to give up all his 400 foot fly balls to dead center to turn them into outs. So why not dump the players who are part of the problem?
Next issue: not giving Loretta 400 PA.
kevin,
agree that releasing woody was the right move – i didn’t think mclane would actually DO it because of the $$$
watching the game tapes and talking to people who watched him pitch in ST – he simply couldn’t keep the ball down, the sinker didn’t and he had neither velocity nor movement on his pitches.
i’m sorry we only got him after he was finished. and i hope that if he doesn’t formally retire (meaning the astros don’t owe him the 6.5 mill) that he stays with the team in SOME capacity – assistant something helping with pitching.
as for loretta, i also would rather not give him 400 PA, but the alternatives are blum and tomas perez. if matsui follows true to form, we won’t be getting a whole heck of a lot from him neither
I think they should have kept Q. He worked hard in the off season and had a great spring. I doubt he’ll pass through waivers. If something happens to Tolwes, you have Ausmus as the only other option–an no one to back him up.
I’m surprised but happy that they cut Woody loose. I thought they’d probably put him in the bullpen in the role that Moehler filled last season before they’d eat his contract.