(to any of all yall who read the previous entry posted here, sorry – not sure how on earth that happened, except that maybe I am still not quite myself after being sick for almost a week…)
Anyway, the Astros and Moehler had a mutual option for 2010, meaning that either party could pick up the option, and Moehler wanted to come back. (I’ll be reviewing Moehler’s year in a later entry – the Astros Starters Review.) Moehler should be in better shape after having his knee scoped and fixed up.
I don’t really have a problem with this – he is satisfactory as a #5 guy/long reliever/spot starter and that is a VERY useful person to have on a pitching staff, especially IF the astros are serious about giving the young pitchers any sort of chance. Young guys are gonna have BAD days. Unless they are Roy Oswalt, and not everyone is Roy Oswalt.
3 mill is really not an excessive payment for a reasonably reliable swingman. Unfortunately.
I know I’m gonna hear about how I could fer SHER find some minor leaguer who could do the exact same job, but I’m gonna remind you about Bazardo/Wilton Lopez and ask if you REALLY think those guys are really reliable 5th guys/swingmen.
I will remind you that these days, fans are extremely demanding and don’t think that young players actually NEED development time, that they should all be Ryan Braun/Evan Longorias. Well, they aren’t – see, for example, Michael Bourn. Cooper didn’t want him last year (remember all the fuss about wanting him platooned with Reggie Abercrombie, replacing him with Darin Erstad) and the ONLY reason he didn’t get JR Towlesed is because he had Ed Wade in his corner. And Bourn most definitely improved this year. Not that he doesn’t have some holes, mind, never said he didn’t, but he surely did a LOT better than he would have if he had been sent back to AAA to rot in favor of The Gritmeister.
And, by the way, I SERIOUSLY doubt that Drayton is gonna fork out for some FA pitcher’s multi-year contract. He might could go after Ben Sheets, if he’s cheap enough, or try out Wesley Wright as a starter instead. Forget Lackey.
I get amused by all the people who INSIST that Drayton sell the team to some rich guy who has no interest in the team as a business – doesn’t care if he loses money – his OWN money every year, just so long as the team wins. Oh – and he will stay completely in the background and let baseball guys run everything.
Like, who IS this masked man? What billionaire really REALLY has no problem losing HIS OWN MONEY every year on a sports team?
After all yall find thismysterious guy, you mind giving Grady Sizemore my phone number? For once, I’d like to be shivering from some other cause besides this stupid virus…
Moehler’s coming back for 2010! Wow, this a GREAT NEWS!! I’m certain Roy, Lance and the team are feeling really good now that we have that settled. Phew. I was really worried there.
Lisa,
I hope you are teaching your children to play chess. If so, they will be able to do very well in school. Chess helps childen in school. It has been proven all over this country that chess helps children in school.
steve
it could have been worse. suppose they decided to re-up mike hampton. or use bazardo.
francois,
what is this about chess???
First. I don’t buy that any team would have paid close to $3 million for Moehler on the open market. He’ll be 38. He’s coming off surgery (not major surgery, but still). His ERA was 5.47, and it’s the main stat general managers are going to be looking at, not FIP or whatever else. (Also, Wade’s excuses about the beginning/end of the year are silly. Hey, he’s a pretty good starting pitcher if you just take away all his bad starts and leave the good ones!) Somebody might have signed him to a $1 million deal. Maybe. Which is what we should have signed him for, plus the $250k option buyout. Basically, it’s flushing money down the toilet, simply because he could have been had for much cheaper.
Second. I have little confidence in Bazardo or Lopez to turn in Moehler-like results, but I have a lot more confidence in Paulino, Fulchino, or Wright to manage it. And your point about young players needing to develop cuts both ways. How are they going to have time to develop with a declining 38 year old guy taking up their rotation spot? And, do you really think the Astros will play them instead of Moehler when they’re paying Brian three big ones? You saw what they did with Maysonet and Matsui. Matsui cost the team more money, so he got the job even though he performed worse than Maysonet.
And yes, Wandy/Roy/Bud/Moehler does leave one free rotation spot… but the #3 spot should be taken by a free agent, not a rookie, if we want any chance of competing. We can afford to put the rookies at the back end, but only if we have a solid top 3. Ben Sheets sounds fine, though.
I don’t see any problem at all in bringing back Moehler. The FA market is thin, and any of the front line starters are going to cost more than the Astros have to spend. I expect the Astros to have Paulino playing some winter ball to work on a few things in the hope that he can take a spot in the rotation next year.
Hawkins might be back, but Valverde won’t be.
orem,
you’re dead right that (almost) no team would pay moehler that amount to be a 5th guy/long man given his numbers – well, except for the red sox and wakefield, but he’s kind of an icon anyhow.
thing is that moehler HIMSELF could have exercised that option even if the astros didn’t.
so since he WANTED to play here and since, really, the team actually NEEDS him, given all the uncertainty, it isn’t really that bad an investment.
i don’t know what drayton is going to order the manager to do – like the insisting on only playing the veterans this fall for absolutely NO reason whatsoever. IF they are gonna insist on playing players based on salary, well then, the youngsters are uck-fayed already, but they would have been anyhow, since moehler could have picked up the option himself.
unless they are absolutely already sure that they do NOT want to give the youngsters a chance, then you really HAVE to have a fallback long man, unless you want wilton lopez again. IF give the young pitchers at least until the ASB – at LEAST – well, there will be plenty of times they will get knocked out early, plenty of times they will barely finish 5 innings and you have just GOT to have someone who can eat innings. moehler actually CAN pitch multiple innings every few days. he runs into trouble if he is NOT used at least every 4 – 5 days
Lisa,
It’s been a few years since my last Pig Latin class, so whatever it is you said about the youngsters, I’ll take your word for it.
I had been in favor all along with keeping the Cockroach, but mainly in a sentimental “yay for old guys” sort of way. Your explanation makes great sense, especially with the comparison between him and Wilton. With any luck, Paulino’s star will start shining next season, but just in case it’s still a gaseous nebula, we could do far worse than to have Moehler there to pick him up.
Thanks a million for your coherency and insight.
Did I miss a codeine post? Blast.
It has been proven that chess helps children in school all over the country. People have done very careful studies about chess and chilren. Now chess is not a game for every child. But the one who do play chess are smart. For the ones who do not play the game, you have to find some other way to establish that they are smart. Only smart children can play that game.
Are we sure the Astros were obligated to pick up Moehler’s option? I was under the impression that it was mutual, in other words they both had to agree to it, not just one of them.
If they had to pick it up then forget what I said. Anyway, you’re right, Moehler’s not a bad long relief/spot starter, and he’s not even that bad of a #5, I just don’t see why we would pay $3 million for him unless we had to.
francois,
interesting about chess. i don’t know anyone who plays and maybe my kids will agreee to try it some other time but right now they don’t even like to play checkers. any particular reason why there are no female experts?
orem,
i’m not positive, but the original report i had of the contract last year was that either party could pick up the option. perhaps that was not correct, youneverknow.
and it is also the only reason i could think of for paying him 3 mill – remember all the fuss with brocail last year and the team trying to cut 500K by not picking up his option and then resigning him? i seriously doubt any other team would have paid moehler 3 mill and he really had no bargaining chips that way, which is why i think that i was right about him haviong the right to pick up the option…
The Poglar sisters are the queens of chess.