Item #1 – GM Tim Purpura has met with Jeff Kent and has offered him a contract, no other details at this time. Kent is described as “a proud and private man” who didn’t have much to do with his teammates and seldom spoke except to chew ass during the playoffs and contributed “intangibles” (even though the magic word “leadership” was not used. ) But he did contribute 107 RBIs…
Item #2 – Purpura has met with Orlando Palmeiro’s agent to discuss Palmeiro returning to the Stros.
Item #3 – NO news about contracts for Oswalt or Berkman or Everett or Ensberg
Item #4 – Roger Clemens has filed for free agency.
Item #5 – We have not, to my knowledge, signed any minor league free agents.
-Remember, we NEED 2 decent OF, 2 starting pitchers and at least 4 decent relievers.
-Remember that we HAVE a decent 3B, a really good SS, a 1B and C who aren’t going anywhere and a young guy who is a ML ready 2B, Chris Burke, and a guy who is probably gonna be a utility infielder, Eric Bruntlett. And Biggio, who I WISH would be a utility guy.

Yesterday, Adam asked me, “Other than the minors, I see two options for your ‘Stros OF problems: You could go after a free agent (J. D. Drew, Magglio Ordonez or even Steve Finley). Or you could trade a prospect for some team’s 4th outfielder and try to improve your other positions to make up for what you’ll be losing in the OF. Which of those things do you think the ‘stros will do, and which would you like to see them do?”

#1 – what do I THINK the Stros will do?
What is really bothering me is that I don’t know what McLane is up to. I have a bad feeling that he wants to go cheap and is gonna pretend that he’s trying hard to get Carlos, etc, but will bring back Kent, who we don’t need, and show that at least we could “afford” Kent. I’m sure he regrets the giant, long, expensive contract he gave to Bagwell (interesting that you NEVER hear his name when all the knowitalls talk about big expensive contracts that hurt the team) and he isn’t gonna try to sign either Berkman or Everett long term. He’ll make the excuse that Berkman’s hurt, so he’ll hafta see, and of course, he CAN get Everett for 3 more years for pretty cheap and non-tender him if he gets too expensive his arb years.

Problem is, this isn’t gonna go over with the fans. Next to Roger, Lance is the most popular player and if the fans think that Mclean doesn’t want the homeboy hero, he’s gonna lose a LOT of fans and a LOT of $$$. I don’t know if Purpura is a yes-man, but Hunsicker sure nuff wasn’t. I know that Hunsicker actually answered questions and was pretty open. I know that Purpura sounds like a politician (and on the scale of humanity, I put ALL politicians just barely above baby rapers) and I don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. So I don’t know what’s up.

I think McLane doesn’t want a losing team, but he doesn’t trust baseball people enough to let them run things, and he wants enough to end up with records over 500. I haven’t heard a WORD about negotiations with Carlos. Of course, ain’t nobody, even George, gonna give him 10 years, and I disbelieve that anyone will give him over 7. So I THINK that we will resign Kent, (yeccccccccccccccch) waste Burke on the bench or in AAA, keep Lamb, put Biggio back in the outfield (God help us), have Palmeiro play right (God help us) until Lance comes back and have Taveras (God help us) play center. No free agents. Forget Carlos. Forget Roger. (And I haven’t even gotten around to pitching problems, but that’s for another entry.)

#2 – what do I WANT the Stros to do?
-SIGN CARLOS!!!!!
-sign Berkman and Everett
-let Kent go and play Burke
-use Biggio as our Vizcaino utility guy
-keep Lamb for the bench, maybe try Royce Huffman for the bench, relieve at 1B if possible.
-Lane full time in the OF
-bring up either Luke Scott or Todd Self, who look pretty good, because face it, I’ve seen Taveras and he has a bad glove and is NOT a major league hitter and if we’re going to use a AA guy in the OF, why not guys with decent plate discipline? Let these guys play right until Lance comes back (or, I guess, play Palmeiro.)

I DON’T want JD Drew, who has had exactly one year he wasn’t hurt, because we can’t get him for just one year.

I DEFINITELY don’t want Magglio Ordonez, (he’ll be 31 on opening day) who will demand an expensive long term contract, and who refuses to get a physical until after he signs the contract.

I DON’T want to give a multi-year contract to Steve Finley, who will be 40 years old on opening day. Anyway, he wants to go to the west coast.

Trade prospects? There’s NO ONE in AAA, (see yesterday’s entry) except Royce Huffman, who’s “old” and a Mark Grace type guy. We have a few decent looking “old” (25, 26 years old) guys in AA and who can tell who’s gonna be any good in A ball or the rookies? And we can’t afford to give away any pitchers – we need em.

So if there’s gonna be a trade, I hear that the DRays don’t want to keep Aubrey Huff, who’s good, or Jose Cruz Jr (another homeboy) who is a decent hitter and a GREAT glove. I’d LOVE to have either one of those guys. I looked at the FA OF list and absolutely no one except Carlos is anyone I’d want here.

Dan Lucero, who blogs on the Rockies, says he’s heard rumblings that we don’t want Ensberg back. I know that I’ve heard that the Stros organization doesn’t really like him, and I heard that many times when Morgan was in the minors. I’m positive that Jimy Williams didn’t like him, because he kept playing Geoff Blum (WTF???!!!) and Lamb instead. I think it’s a personality thing. I wouldn’t be even a little surprised if we got rid of him and he went somewhere else and turned into Troy Glaus. Then we could play Lamb full time, live with his 50 – 60 errors and missed plays/year, worship his HR and pretend that it doesn’t matter that between him and Biggio, the entire left side of our field is a sieve.

I know I sound like doom and gloom. I hate winter, cold weather and no baseball in sight for too long. And I REALLY hate it when I haven’t heard a single good piece of news about my team and all the rumblings I hear are all bad news. So if yall have ANY good news, let me know…

Tags: Houston Astros, MLB

This entry was posted on Friday, November 12th, 2004 at 11:55 am and is filed under Astros baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.