Chris Johnson has a chance, says Fast Eddie. Yeah, to be a year older next year. Aaron Boone has been signed to be our new RH 3B (and other infield positions, which he can’t play.) You see, he’s 500K cheaper than Mark Loretta. Way to go on the savings there Eddie.
Well, I guess it was Boone or Chris Gomez. JUST what the Astros need to win that championship Drayton McLane is always blathering about. I was surprised to see that Boone is only 34/35 – I thought he was around 40.
I remember him as a Red – he was traded in 03 for Brandon Claussen, a Yankee pitching prospect (back then, prospects weren’t exactly valued highly by Organizations like the Yankees, who wanted only All-Stars on their team and if a pitcher didn’t come up and pitch lights out every time, he GONE) and hit the game ending homer in the infamous Pedro – Grady Little game. I remember that game and I SWEAR that I said to my husband at the minute that Grady Little allowed Pedro to stay in – well, there goes the ballgame. Grady Little is THE Moron-est Moron EVAH, I mean, he King Of The Maroons – our 18 month twins KNOW Pedro NEEDED to be pulled – well, the Sox just lost.
Of course, that was back before Red Sox Nation rose to its most awful awfulness and I actually rooted for them to beat the Yankees, whereas now, I just root for them to beat each other into a mush and descend into a never ending vortex of suckulous suckitude for all eternity. Of course then, BBTN/ESPN/Fox would make their entire baseball show – So, how are the Red Sox/Yanks sucking more today than yesterday? Let us count the ways for the next 55 minutes of the show, then we’ll go to a 10 second recap of any other teams, who for some reason, still play. Oh and here’s the latest Update on the Yankees who are currently behind by 22 runs, undoubtedly because of A-Rod, whose fault everything always is.
Where was I?
Oh yeah. Thinking about Aaron Boone immediately causes the thought of “suckage” to jump to mind.
His OPS+ with Cincy (starting in 98, his first full season- well, almost full season)
98, 92, 105, 109, 93, 105 (yeh, doesn’t look like a 3B’s numbers should, hunh?)
He missed the 04 season with knee surgery, then signed a 2 year deal with the Indians as Casey Blake was out in 05. He put up an 82 OPS+, then in 06, in a part time role, a 77 OPS+ (yeh, not great.)
He was a bench guy for the Marlins in 07 and over 228 PA, put up a 113 OPS+ and last year, for the Nats, as a utility guy, put up a 77 OPS+ over 255 PA (and he was also injured and on the DL for 5 weeks.)
sigh
Remember how much all yall HATED Mo Ensberg? Beacuse he walked? Well, You’ll LUUUVVVV ol Aaron, because like most of the other Astros, he seldom walks – only 303 over 4319 lifetime PA. He’ll strikeout a bit less than, say Michael Bourn, but his rate isn’t much lower. Oh yeah, and he’s spent the past 2 years mostly PH and playing first base.
Great.
Jason Michaels. Aaron Boone.
Looks like we’ve been vaccinated against catching pennant fever…
Tags: Houston Astros
I guess Drayton is going to expect us fans to pony up a bit more change to watch this improved version of the Astros for ’09? Right?
I’ll admit I didn’t think there was a whole lot Drayton could do through the FA market and certainly along the trade route given how the farm system has been ravaged through trades the last decade. It has now caught up with them.
Since I’m out in sunny California, I have to pony up $130/year to watch the ‘stros on DirecTV MLB Extra Innings. I may just skip this year.
In more entertaining MLB news, I was reading the Braves/Furcal saga and thinking of how we felt when we were played big time to juice the Mets’ contract for the Jackal.
“Two days after Furcal, then a free agent, spurned an offer from the Braves to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers, team president John Schuerholz called the actions of Furcal’s agents, Paul Kinzer and Arn Tellem, “despicable” and “disgusting” and said the franchise would never deal with the firm again, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”
btw, Lisa, your nyy/sox rant was particularly funny this time — i cracked up on the “never ending vortex” line and people in the other cubes wondered what the heck was going in. Thanks for the humor break from work.
james,
for ONCE, drayton didn’t raise any ticket prices. i haven’t read/heard anything about ticket sales are going so far, but signing aaron F bboone and the other 2 whatshisbname washed up guys ain’t gonna cut it
steve,
glad i made your day…
and yep, the furcal thigy DID remind me of the Jackal except that he never agreed to a contract and had boras get a term sheet faxed…
Holy freaking crap, I’m so tired of this garbage. I wish I had something more insightful to say, but I’m just too tired of this garbage.
this is an interesting article about how Angel fans feel now that their gamble to win the Series failed. No team is one player away from the Series, but everyone thinks they are. In the middle of the article, they make this point:
“But Teixeira is merely the latest illustration of how no baseball team is One Player Away from winning championships. He did what the Angels expected. They still lost.
•Just like Houston did in 1998, when it picked up Randy Johnson from Seattle and watched him cut through the National League like a scythe on speed. Johnson was 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA, and Houston barged into the postseason — and fell off a cliff in San Diego.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/teixeira-angels-games-2263331-first-series
everyone always thinks that some guy – say manny ramirez/cc sabathia – is that infamous “last piece.”
but no one guy can win a WS all by Himself – check barry lamar in 2002.
however, i would bet the angel fans would be a lot less Up Set if tex had decided to sign a contract with them