As Scott Humphries says, “you need to wake that $#@% Purpura up!!!”
Um, yeah. (And that is assuming that he don’t have insomnia but is being tied up by McLane…)
Well, what we DON’T know is if Roger Clemens and McLane already have some sort of understanding bout is Roger gonna come back for us after May 1 – especially if it looks like we have a chance. Richard Justice of the Chronicle thinks so now (he changed his mind, which is his perogative…)
hehhehheh
- Oh. By the way, I will believe that Roger is headed back to the media hell on earth that is Boston/NY to pitch every 5 days April thru Oct about the same time that I see a male give birth. Here in Houston, Roger is bout as close to human perfection in a celebrity as you can possibly get (next to Jeter, of course, who is god hisself.) Non stop adoration 24/7/365. Up There he gonna get loads of poopoo dumped upon his poor wittle head the first time he don’t pitch good enuf to win. And I don’t believe for ONE minnit that his wife gonna uproot their 3 kids from Texas Schools and go back Up There and wave byby to all the social stuff she involved in here in Houston.
Anyhow
What we DO know is that McLane don’t like to spend money and that even though we got all that extra money from the playoffs and WS and the increase in ticket prices for 06, not to mention the extra $$$ that every single ML team got from the internet and XM radio, he playin poor. IF he re-signs Roger in May, the extra pub and ticket and merchandise sales will pay for him right there. Roger is the biggest thing to EVER happen to the Stros (sorry Nolan, but it’s true.)
So let’s go to rumors
1) big trade with the Cubs – Kerry Wood and Corey Patterson and some prospect for Backe PLUS Burke PLUS Taveras. PUHLEEEZE. This nightmare invented by some Cub fan (not that I blame them…) Kerry Wood is a freaking expensive China doll with another year left on his expensive contract and Corey Patterson, one of the 10 best lookin hotties in the ML, really is all hot and no hit. And we supposed to be giving up 3 cheap (for at LEAST a few more years) decent players for THAT? In a pig’s eye. Purpura might could be slow as molasses, but he ain’t no Hendry or Sabean about cheap young players or prospects for el-sucko name brand vets.
2) (courtesy of John P. Lopez, Houston Chronicle) Brad Lidge and somebody not Jason Lane for a bat.
Now, who could we be talkin bout?
First, lets think of who gonna be where who is NOT moving:
- Baggy at first (no, he ain’t goin to no Boston to DH – they got this guy already there named Ortiz who is pretty good)
- Biggio at 2B
- Ensberg at 3B
- Berkman in LF
- Ausmus at catcher (of COURSE he comin back – the Dbax just got Estrada and the Pads just got Mirabelli and Ausmus really DO wanna come back here and the guys on the team luuuvvvv him and besides, he’s HOT (at least to us estrogen soaked fans 0f all ages, shapes and races)
- everybody else is relatively cheap
Lane in right
Taveras in center
Everett at short
so if it ain’t Lane, it’s Everett or Taveras.
Now I LIKE watching Everett field, DON’T like watching him K. Taveras, well, he CAN get better with both bat and glove.
Which means we would have to be getting a bat to play either center or short.
So, who needs a closer?
1 – Cincy does. They ain’t trading Felipe Lopez to us for no Lidge, and it better not be no Wily Mo Pena cuz he ain’t WORTH no Lidge. Heck, he ain’t worth no Everett. OR even Taveras. So I would be guessing Griffey. Now, it’s not that Griffey can’t hit, it’s that he can’t play center. Trust me you don’t wanna hear what his fielding stats were – let’s just say they remind me of Biggio in left and leave it mercifully there. Yall have watched him as much as I have last year, so you KNOW what I’m talkin about and he’d hafta play left – wouldn’t mind having Griffey there, except that’s where Berkman gonna be. And CF is harder to play here than in Riverfront (I mean the new Riverfront…)
2 – San Fran does. So they can have Lidge and Taveras for Barry.
hehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehheh
But I have this feeling it might could be Mo Alou, Baggy’s best friend. Problem is that Alou can barely play left and he can NOT play CF. (And neither can Lane, for that matter…) And he expensive. And a righty.
3 – the Orioles. I have NO trouble trading Lidge PLUS Everett PLUS Taveras (we can put Bruntlett in CF – he’s bettern Taveras out there in my opinion…)
straight up for Miggy – who, if yall remember, developed a SERIOUS luuuvvv affair with the Crawford boxes and the train tracks a few All-Star games back.
4 – Bahstin – Foulke, I hear, is iffy. They could use BOTH Lidge and Everett, seeing as how they got no SS after trading away both Renteria – no great loss – and prospect Hanley Ramirez… And they DO wanna dump Whining Manny and his 20 mill a year for 3 years.
BUT
No freaking WAY can Manny play center – heck, dude can barely play left. All his “Manny being Manny” horsestuff ain’t gonna be tolerated in THIS clubhouse I can tell yall THAT. Guaranteed. And he can’t play left cuz Berkman already there and neither Berkman nor Lane can play center.
Now, let’s be real here. McLane ain’t payin Manny no freakin 20 mill a year for 3 years for a guy who say stuff like
“ida wanna play today!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
“ida LIKE it out there. I wanna go to the barzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”
sob
pout
sulk
“ida see why i gottaaaaaaa. ida LIKE catching balls offn the scoreboard…”
“it’s not FAIR you luuuvvvv him bettern me”
“he gets ta do it and how come i can’t?????”
“ida WANNA!!!!!”
“you doan lemme i’m gonna hold my breff!!!!!!”
sob
pout
sulk
and Bahstin has said thay ain’t payin Manny to play somewhere else, anyhow.
5 – Pirates – Lidge and Taveras straight up for Jason Bay? Can I hear a HELL YEAH???!!! I’d even throw in cash with that one.
Can’t think of anyone else.
I hear we tryin to get a starting pitcher to replace Roger even though we already have 5 starters in Pettitte, Roy, Zeke Astacio, Wandy Rodriguez and Brandon Backe. We have Jason Hirsh in AAA, who look pretty ready for the bigs to me. If we need to throw in a starter, they can have Astacio. I can NOT believe how many people think he’s good. I KNOW that his era was 3.97 after the break, but I keep reminding people he don’t last over 5 IP, gives up a LOT of HRs and he had a lot of unearned runs and got bailed out by the bullpen too many times. Dave Studeman, a baseball statistician who writes for the Hardball Times, says he is absolutely POSITIVE that Astacio’s HR rate will go down this year – remember he gave up 23 HR/ 81 IP – a rate even higher than Eric Milton. Because, you see, it is SO high above the ML mean that a probability graph sez that chances are overwhelming that it MUST come down. OK. So he’ll give up 22 HR/ 81 IP – or 23 HR/ 82 IP – big freaking deal. Then the stat geeks will be right and it DID come down. Sometimes I just HATE stats…
I also been hearin bout how we might could be interested in Jarrod Washburn, LHP. One small problem – Scott Bore-ass is his agent, and I have a REAL hard time believing after the, um, hard time (ahem) he gave us last year with Carlos the Jackal, that McLane would have anything to do with ANY Boras client ever again. Washburn is at best, a #3 starter, and I’d rather just keep Wandy, to be honest. I LIKE Wandy, yes, you right.
And I heard we thinkin of gettin Kevin Mench from the Rangers. WHY??? We already got “Kevin Mench” right here and his name is Jason Lane and he’s already bettern Mench. This is too dumb for any further discussion. And we do NOT need another righty bat, we need a lefty.
OK
That’s it on the rumors I know of.
We did re-sign Orlando Palmeiro to a 2 year 1.9 mill contract. I got no problem with this one. He a decent lefty bat, a VERY good pinch hitter, and he is at least a league average glove in RF or LF.
We didn’t lose anyone in the Rule V draft, for ONCE. Don’t know how we ever gonna live down either Abreu or Johan Santana. But we did get an A ball pitcher named Ben Diggins, a righty who was a former #1 draft pick by the Dodgers from U of Arizona in 2000, from the Brewers. If the name sounds a little familiar, he appeared in 24 innings for the ML Brewers in 02 – looks like he got hurt after that and has taken a few years to come back. Amazing how many former #1 draft picks were left open for the Rule V this year, hunh.
So anyhow, if we decide to trade Taveras, we can put Bruntlett in CF and sign Brooks Conrad to replace Viz – they hit about the same, play IF and are switch hitters. Conrad will make ML minimum, instead of the mill or so that Viz will cost.
NOW
it’s off to make Christmas cookies (24 dozen – yes, you read that right) with my 3 little elves. And yes, I DO know I’m gonna hear
- hunh? chew, munch, swallow
- it was jes ONE star
- cn I have jes a little piece PEEEEEZZZEEEE???
- no I wanna do the green ones
- gimme the santa
- NO YOU gimme the santa
- MAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII he got the santa
- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ida wanna do the trees
- how come HE gets ta?????
- no I dint gived it to Dog. he eated it.
- NO BOY!! dontchu eat stuff offn the floor!!!
- how come Dog gets ta?????
- oops
- uh oh
- wasn’t me
(preparing for 3 years of Manny?????)
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
Cubs fans are pretty delusional, if they believe in the Wood trade. I think I would trade Taveras for Patterson straight up, though. Corey may be a head case, but I think he could benefit from a change of scenery, plus he has the ability to get an extra base hit with his bat more often than every week or three.
Personally, the only other deal I like that makes sense is the Tejada deal, but I’m not sure you could do it within the $85 mil cap. I think it’s probably worth going over that number for, but I don’t have $5 mil in my back pocket to cover if Drayton doesn’t agree with me.
Oh man, oh man, the thought of getting Miggy has me frothing at the mouth. Lidge plus Everett plus Taveras, do it if they take it. The only problem is the Orioles now need 100+ rbi’s,which will be essential to survive in the AL East slugfest, and you ain’t getting that from Willy and Everett. Manny plus cash makes a lot more sense for them, but trading within the division like that can only hurt you. What about Lidge plus Everett plus Lane? Then play Scott or sign Sanders/Burntiz/Nomar for a year and then go after Dunn in 2007. A guy can dream can’t he? Anyone actually heard any rumors if Purp is even contemplating going for Miggy? Most of the stuff I’ve read is just wild fantasy by Stros fans, which I’m sure every team board is also full of.
I’m torn on Manny Ramirez. The Astros have done such a good job keeping head cases out of Houston that I just don’t know how well he’d fit in. Plus, as desperately as the Astros need a bat, not really loving the idea of an outfield that has Berkman AND Manny. And it would HAVE to happen at least occassionally, on account of Bagwell AND Lamb.
Plus, as big a drop off as Lidge had last year, I don’t know about giving up a closer like that. We just traded Wagner for NOTHING. We gave up Dotel for NOTHING. Now we’re gonna give up Lidge for a guy that’ll probably only be here for one year? Who will close for us – Wheeler? Qualls? I’m loving that even less than Manny and Berkman at the corners.
Oh, by the way, yes, Cubs fans are completely dilusional. Can’t deal with them, at all. And as far as Patterson goes, he’s a power hitter stuck in a leadoff hitter’s body. That never works out well. Way too many K’s and too low a BA for the amount of power you’re getting there. Maybe if he would give up on this power fixation he has.
You mentioned the Rangers and Mench; personally, I think both teams could really help each other out by making a trade involving Wilkerson. What do you think?
Which is why, Austin, trading Lidge away in a deal for Tejada makes much more sense. He still has what, 4 years left on the contract?
Lane + Lidge + Everett + Burke for Miguel Tejada would work well, I think. Its giving up a lot, but if we can also re-sign Ausmus and get Sanders/Burnitz for one year of RF: the offense would then look ideal for Clemens to get the run support he needs shall he wish to come back in May.
well austin – lets look at this -
“I’m torn on Manny Ramirez. The Astros have done such a good job keeping head cases out of Houston that I just don’t know how well he’d fit in. Plus, as desperately as the Astros need a bat, not really loving the idea of an outfield that has Berkman AND Manny. And it would HAVE to happen at least occassionally, on account of Bagwell AND Lamb.”
– remember baggy gonna be at first and lance in the OF. so where would lane go? center (shudder) if we had berkman in right, lane in center and manny in left, it would look like the worst OF d in the NL.
“Plus, as big a drop off as Lidge had last year, I don’t know about giving up a closer like that. We just traded Wagner for NOTHING. We gave up Dotel for NOTHING. Now we’re gonna give up Lidge for a guy that’ll probably only be here for one year? Who will close for us – Wheeler? Qualls? I’m loving that even less than Manny and Berkman at the corners.”
– well, manny and lance at the corners worries me a LOT more than qualls and wheeler. agree that unless buchholz suddenly looks like he did in the AFL, we have indeed got ZERO for dotel and wagner. because i STILL don’t think real too much of astacio.
“Oh, by the way, yes, Cubs fans are completely dilusional. Can’t deal with them, at all. And as far as Patterson goes, he’s a power hitter stuck in a leadoff hitter’s body. That never works out well. Way too many K’s and too low a BA for the amount of power you’re getting there. Maybe if he would give up on this power fixation he has.”
– or, better yet, stop using a power guy as a lead off type guy. he can’t walk and he can’t hit 340. so no leadoff. i’d rather see him hitting 7th. or even 6th.
“You mentioned the Rangers and Mench; personally, I think both teams could really help each other out by making a trade involving Wilkerson. What do you think?”
- i would trade taveras for wilkerson straight up without blinking. and feel bad bout robbing the rangers blind…
and for michael -
“Which is why, Austin, trading Lidge away in a deal for Tejada makes much more sense. He still has what, 4 years left on the contract?
Lane + Lidge + Everett + Burke for Miguel Tejada would work well, I think. Its giving up a lot, but if we can also re-sign Ausmus and get Sanders/Burnitz for one year of RF: the offense would then look ideal for Clemens to get the run support he needs shall he wish to come back in May.”
- well, that would work for THIS year. but then baggy and bidge gonna be gone and we got nobody in the OF and we got nobody at 2B
lisa
Lane, Lidge, Everett and Burke? Are you insane? That would make Palmeiro a starting outfielder and kill our depth. With Vizcaino gone, and getting rid of Lane, Everett and Burke, our best pinch-hitting possibility would be Bruntlett or Lamb. And the situation gets even worse if Bagwell can’t play and Lamb has to start again. You’ll have a bench that would include Chavez or Quintero, Bruntlett, Scott and a handful of players to be determined. Sounds just perfect.
You’d be trading away an outfielder that’s only going to get better. You’d be trading away one of the game’s best closers and forcing someone like Qualls or Wheeler into a closer’s role they don’t belong and kill the depth of our bullpen, forcing our starters to pitch longer (hasta la vista Clemens). You’d be trading a very good fielding shortstop and our best position playing prospect, all for just one bat. I understand we’re gonna have to give a lot to get a lot, but I don’t think we need a bat so badly that we need to sell away the franchise.
Sorry, forgot one more thing – you dump a high-paid player and three players that basically make minumum wage, pick up an even higher paid player, AND Clemens, AND Ausmus, and think the Astros will still have the money for Sanders or Burnitz? Sorry, man, you’re living in a dream world.
We gave up Dotel for NOTHING.
Well, that’s about what he is worth now anyway…but we did get the best individual postseason performance in Astros history out of that deal.
Another day, another set of prospect rankings:
http://www.sportsblurb.com/minors/farm22.asp
This guy seems to agree that Jason Hirsh is about ready for the majors.
Uhh…I have to ask here why the heat to trade Lidge? Usually one (if not THE) best closers around, is the consensus a “trade him before he wants $8M+/yr?” kind of thing? And I then have to assume that a “new” closer would be brought in…nobody on last year’s staff could touch the position (althouh arguably if you build an offensive team, a closer’s roll is less of an issue). Just curious…
StroMan, I have to disagree. Dotel doesn’t work as a closer, but he’s still got great stuff and was still valuable as one of the best setup men in baseball when we traded him. If he lands on a team that won’t try to use him as a closer, I think he’ll thrive again.
great line in NY Newsday ’bout Manny’s defensive prowess (quote from AL scout):
“If the Mets get Manny Ramirez, he’ll be the first outfielder sponsored by OnStar.”
Y’all are nuts to wanna trade Lidge this year.
Just plain nuts. Unless you are giving up on this year.
Look at how desperate all the team are who don’t have closers. Look what they pay to get one. Look how hard it is to fill. And look at how demoralizing it is for everyone on the team to lose games in the eighth and ninth.
Oh, one more Manny quote:
“You sell your soul a little bit.”
–an AL Executive, on what happens when you sign Manny Ramirez
”
ok guys
our #1 priority is a Bat. as in a manny, abreu or tejada type bat, not a kevin mench type bat.
right?
right!!!!!
and there aren’t any FA, or guys in our minors, so this means a trade.
so who could we trade?
(ausmus gonna re-sign, gee what a surprise)
not baggy, biggio, ensberg, roy, lance or pettitte
and not backe or wheeler
so
lidge
qualls
everett
burke
bruntlett
taveras
lane (tho the Organization seems to understand the boy is GOOD and not to give him up)
luke scott
astacio
wandy rodriguez
- in the minors
there’s A ball players, but we better not trade koby clemens if we want daddy back….
and i wouldn’t trade hirsh, nieve, buchholz (just yet, anyhow) mclemore or troy patton
- so you can guess that lidge GOTTA be at the top of the list.
like i said, remember berkman gonna be in left, so either you gotta live with him or lane in center if we get abreu or manny, or we gotta trade for a cf.
and andruw jones is the ONLY CF in MLB who is a real Bat. well, griffey ain’t bad but he can’t field.
so really, what is wrong with lidge, astacio and everett for miggy? do yall really think wheeler or qualls can’t close? and we could stick nieve or hirsh into the bullpen to kinda ease him on in just like we did with roy. we shouldn’t have thrown mike burns away, but too late now.
i am not EAGER to trade lidge, believe me. i AM eager to get a bat. roger or no roger, we ain’t winning without another Bat.
dotel was fine in setup. great, in fact, and i wouldn’t mind a bit having him back…
well, hey, lisa, i pretty much agree with your analysis, ‘cept wheeler’s definitely tradable. but let’s play devil’s advocate for a minute.
we won the freakin’ wild card last year, and we went to the series. yet we started 15-30. you want a bat. okay. this year, for the first 45 games, i give you a healthy lance berkman, one of the best hitters in all of baseball. now that’s a BAT.
okay, i also give you a healthier jeff bagwell, and while he’s not the 1994 vintage, i’ll bet he surprises people and hits .270-.280 with power.
there, now you’ve replaced early 2005 luke and burke (hitting under .200) for berk and bags. i dunno, you really wannna screw with the pitching? i’d rather go with that, bring burke and scott along slowly and watch them improve.
the problem is that O Mighty Sorcerer Tim now feels obliged to “do something” and the public also wants “something done”. i have a bad feeling about this…