Quintero is getting a 610K contract as a 1st year arb eligible guy. Nobody better and cheaper was available from the trash bin and that is telling yall what kind of lousy lousy players are still hanging around. Remember, he’s a guy who hits worse than AUSMUS did his last 2 years.
But most guys don’t care about that because their females don’t look at Q with quiiiiiite the same, uh, feelings as we do at Bradley Hotness.
Byrdak, one of 2 lefty relievers, is one day short of a 3 year veteran. However, he signed a minor league FA contract in 07, and since he has already been a FA, albeit a minor league one, he became arb eligible the next year (I don’t get some of the arb rules, but what can I say…) He just signed a 1 mill contract – reasonable for a lefty reliever. He had a 109 ERA+ over 55.1 IP – 3.90 ERA, 1.32 WHIP. His great weakness is, as we all know, walks. When the slider doesn’t slide juuuust the right amount, guys trot to first. He was also a bit homeriffic last year, giving up 10 homers/55.1 IP – a little more than his ML average.
All in all, a reasonable deal.
Brandon Backe, a second year arb guy, signed for 1.55 mill + incentives for IP over 150 innings (as well as incentives in case he is turned into a reliever, like Sampson.) I can hear fans screaming, but seriously, seeing as how they refuse to let Sampson start, exactly who is gonna be the 5th guy? Russ Frickin Ortiz? Jose 1-inning Capellan? They apparently plan on wasting Bud Norris in the bullpen, like starters grow on trees, but hey, what can I say?
Backe is the only guy who didn’t miss a start last year. And yes, I know he should have been shut down in August when his arm was obviously dead. It isn’t impossible that he will improve in his second year off TJ surgery, and besides, he’s dirt cheap for a ML starter. He wasn’t THAT bad before his arm went limp in late August.
I know fans are screaming, but Drayton has made it MORE than clear that he won’t get Peavy or sign Ben Sheets or Randy Wolf, who will get more money than Backe, even if he only DOES get a 1 year deal again.
The point is that Backe is better than Russ Ortiz or Runs-elvys Hernandez or anyone else that Fast Eddie has fished out of the dumpster.
So it’s not saying much. Who do YALL think is better for the price? Besides, Backe can be used for trade bait – signed to a cheap 1 year deal. Hope Fast Eddie didn’t bad mouth him too much already.
Wandy and Geary still haven’t settled, but they and the Organization will most likely settle before their cases come up – Tal Smith has a big time winning record and they both know it. And I don’t want to hear how we shouldn’t have Wandy on the team neither. You want him gone, you find someone who is gonna throw 120 ERA+ ball as a STARTER for 2.2-3 mill a year. No he’s not an ace, but he’s a better starter than anyone on the team not named Roy Oswalt.
And speaking of Roy, yall notice I have so far not discussed his playing in the WBC (which I personally think is something that should be done only by lousy minor leaguers so that good prospects/players won’t get injured wasting their time.) If anyone wants to know why I am so opposed to Astros players playing, all I can say is go look at what happened to Brad Lidge and Dan Wheeler in 06 – and don’t bother bringing up Willy Taveras because all he did is sit on his dead ass and he managed not to get hit by a foul ball, so he did his job, far as I’m concerned.
And this year, Carlos Lee plans to play for Panama and THIS time, we have not good hitter like Wiggy with whom to replace him, so let’s just hope that Carlos doesn’t get injured ot the extra time get him too tired to play in September.
Yeah, September. Only thing the Astros gonna be playing in October is golf.
Tags: Houston Astros
Lisa – I agree with you about Backe. He is a decent pitcher, especially for the price. I like the performance-based contract for a guy like him. I think he still has the chance to pitch a “career-defining” season. Let’s hope it helps us make it to the playoffs. MDD