Well, Drayton actually told the truth – the announcement wasn’t a hiring/firing. Aaron Boone will not be playing this season because he has to have heart surgery. Fortunately, he isn’t sick or ill and he is an athlete in good shape, so he should do fine. BUT, it is enough to prevent him from playing baseball this year.
Good luck Aaron, hope the surgery is successful.
His 750K is guaranteed, but it really is a drop in the bucket, not like losing, say, Carlos Lee. But anyway, this does mean that Chris Johnson has a VERY good chance to make the team, seeing as how Drayton is opposed to going and buying any other 3B – not that one is available. (Drew Sutton also would have a decent chance of playing there, in case Johnson fails.)
But actually, speaking of available, it just might could be that Miggy will be moved to third and someone else would play short. It would really have to be either Manzella or Maysonnet, who are real actual SS, as no one else is actually good enough to play short as a full time position.
It is, of course, possible that we would try to trade for some other ML SS, but it would cost $$$ and unless it is someone who would make a big splash, as Pudge did, I seriously doubt Drayton would spend any more money.
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
Wonder if Boone saw this coming, knowing he’s had the condition for a while, and said something on the QT to Miggy, which is what made Miggy say he’d be willing to play third.
i wondered that exact same thing as soon as i heard the news.
Having an aortic valve replaced is not a condition that just “popped” up. I know people that have had the surgery, and there are lots of warning signs. I wonder about the process by which he passed the team physical. It could be a good thing for the team if they move Tejada to third and bring up Manzella, although I think he needs another year at AAA. I say give Chris Johnson a shot at third base this year (which is shaping up to be a bad one), Tejada leaves after this year and we bring up Manzella next year to play SS. He is fun to watch on defense no stick yet. Find a good 2nd baseman for when Matsui leaves and we have a pretty good infield in a couple of years maybe.
So who is Chris Johnson, and what does he bring? Blum full time at third can’t be a good solution…
At least he’ll get on base.
Maybe they can bring back fan favorite Morgan with his 120 walks and .220 BA.
That was supposed to be funny.
steve
i read that he has “bicuspid aortic valve” and if you have that you are born with it. i guess doctors found out he had this when he was in college and i would guess it was always on his medical records and he has played pro baseball for over 10 years and it hasn’t b othered him.
i would guess that for some reason it is cousing him some kind of problem now that wasn’t there before. i don’t know what/why.
i wouldn’t mind moving tejada to 3rd and starting manzella, but manzella is gonna hit maybe 200 and the fans are gonna hate him because they don’t think defense has any value (see adam everett)
i also wouldn’t mind putting chris johnson at third and letting him learn to hit in the bigs – but again, the problem is that if he doesn’t come right out and hit 300 or if he has an struggles, the fans/drayton are gonna turn against him because drayton either thinks or wants to persuade the fans that the astros are a contendah.
as for second base, i hope that drew sutton will be able to do the job. he seems to be doing pretty well in ST
chris johnson is a young 3B who spent most of last year at AA and he looks as if he can at least hit – his defense wasn’t, um, good, although he hasn’t stood out as an iron glove in ST
blum at 3rd full time is a BAD solution. just as it was back in 03/04 when ensberg (and he was very good back then) should have had been there full time.
as for a ballplayer walking, seems to me that the fans HATE guys who walk unless they are hitting leadoff. they have an unshakeable belief that a ballplayer should be able to hit a pitch that is not a strike for either a hit, or to move a runner ahead.
there is simply no convincing anyone that pitches outside the strike zone that are swung on very seldom go for a hit. with the exception of famous “bad ball hitters” and they are pretty rare.
Why not give John Gall a shot at 3B? He’s played it some in the minors, wasn’t anything special, but it would get his stick in the lineup. Doesn’t cost you anything and if it turns out to be horrible you’ve still got Blum/Johnson/Tejada. Besides, he’s younger than Blum.
i have no problem with trying him out there. seeing as how he isn’t exactly displacing a david wright. if he fields like ryan braun/mark reynolds did, well then, that wouldn’t work unless he hits like barry lamar 2001
and as i’ve been saying, I’d rather have gall as the backup OF than jason michaels