_Orlando Palmeiro signed on for 2 years.
- Mike Lamb signed a 1 year contract for 1.7 mill.
- Brad Ausmus is signing a 2 year contract any day now.
The unsigned players who are arb eligible are – Brad Lidge, Mo Ensberg, Adam Everett and Raul Chavez. My only questions are – will the (the first 3) be signed for more than 1 year?
- Raul Chavez, in my opinion, get a minor league contract. He stinks.
- Brad Lidge. Well, this is interesting. HE might could prefer a multi year, but he DID need 2 weeks off in the middle of the year with a “sore muscle” and he DID break down in the playoffs. Is he hurting? Will he be the ol Lights Out Lidge? I would bet that this cautious team will give him only one year, UNLESS they think they can get a better trade if he signed to a multi year.
- Mo Ensberg. He’s 30, and this is his first arb year. He gonna earn a BIG ol paycheck (and he deserves it, too), so the question is, DID he recover from that hand injury Sept 5? (Remember what happened to Nomar…) and if he did, would it be cheaper in the long run to sign him for the remaining 3 years of his eligibility? I would think so, but I’m not holding my breath. The Organization should be remembering what kind of money Alfonso Soriano got in arb for his last 3 years…
- Adam Everett. Age 29. Great glove, lousy bat. The ML got lots of guys like him, so he won’t be too expensive. The Organization just might could sign him to a multi year just so he will be more tradable.
Second verse, same as the first. We got the exact same team as last year, except for No Roger and full time Baggy. Now, if you read my Roger wins MVN BGA entry, you saw that the team won only 14 of Roger’s starts, BUT he only gave up 3 or more runs 4 times. Let’s be real here – even ROY didn’t pitch that well and there’s no veteran available out there gonna give us that quality. And do I think that Astacio gonna pitch like that? (Yeah, when pigs fly.) Same with Wandy. Who knows how Hirsh or Nieve or Buchholz or even Gothreaux will do?
We had really lousy hitting last year. Yes, I DO expect Lance to be one of the 10 best hitters in the NL. Yes, I DO expect Ensberg to be one of the top 30 hitters in the NL. Jason Lane is already 29, but he’s pretty darn good, and if he can avoid the doldrums he sunk into last May and early June, he should be pretty darn good. I would be shocked, SHOCKED if Adam Everett develops any plate discipline and gets OBP up over .300. I would be shocked, SHOCKED if Brad Ausmus hits for power (although I would be delighted if he hits as well as he did in the second half last year – especially if he keeps up the walks.) Biggio is 40 and I have NO reason to think he will hit as well or better. In fact, if McLane will let Garner rest Biggio and play Burke more, it will be better for both. But we all know that is not real too likely. Tavares? Well, he IS only 23. But unfortunately it is pretty rare for guys who don’t walk to develop plate discipline if they have no power. And I personally think he can adjust his attitude so he can hit as well with guys on base as he does with bases empty. A FC is STILL bettern a K. I seriously doubt he gonna develop much of any power, which I wouldn’t mind if he would get his OBP to a respectable 350 and if he would start successfully stealing again. Oh yeah, and if he would improve defensively, too…
The question is Baggy. We KNOW he gonna play even if he makes Jason Phillips look like Barry Lamar. The question will be CAN he hit any better or even hit with power? If he hits like he did in Sept/Oct, the team will do better with Lamb at first and Berkman in the OF. I really doubt that Baggy will look anything like the Baggy of 02, let alone the Baggy of 99. And even if he can hit singles, he can’t run like he used to and will he be able to EVEN throw like a girl?????
So,
let’s make this clear:
#1 – I am NOT eager to make a trade, any trade, just to DO something. I am NOT eager to “get rid of Lidge” or anyone else except Astacio. I am NOT saying Lidge is not valuable, just that IF we trade him, we need to get a bat of equal value in return. I STILL have not gotten answer to the question – and WHY couldn’t Wheeler or Qualls close?
#2 – we need more Bat – we needed more Bat LAST year, and we need even more THIS year to make up for no Roger quality starter.
#3 – we can’t just go get some OF Bat unless we have somebody to play center. And that somebody is NOT Berkman or Lane. UNLESS Baggy will be a PH only, or even on the DL, we can’t, and I mean CAN’T have Manny in left, Berkman in right and Lane in center. Get Real.
#4 – we can’t trade away too much of the team to get a Bat (remember Richie Sexon…) and since those darn reporters got the story all wrong and Miggy DON’T wanna be traded, I guess that won’t happen.
Now, suppose Purpura is telling the truth and he WON’T trade Lane (yeah, I KNOW that GMs “get misquoted” about trades all the time.) But just let’s suppose, OK. WHO could we trade and still not suffer badly? Who could we get and where would he go?
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
Oy…I knew we were gonna re-sign Ausmus, but I’m feeling vaguely nauseated after seeing how much he’s gonna get paid for his 600 OPS. He’ll be making almost as much next year as Ramon Hernandez, another free agent catcher but one who probably will have an OPS well over 800 now that he’s out of San Diego.
I agree, StroMan. I couldn’t believe we’re paying him that much. I mean, Ausmus is great and I love him as much as anyone (except not in the way that women in Houston love him, apparently), but $3.5+ mil per year for two years? That’s pretty hefty, all things considered. I really didn’t think we’d be paying that much for him. I thought his contract would look a lot more like Palmeiro’s.
I really don’t see a “blockbuster” deal going down now. Looks like we’re trying to run the same team out there as last year, minus Clemens. With Tejada chaning his mind now, I don’t like the idea of a big trade, it’s just going to cost way too much. I say we stand pat, sign one of White or Nomar, and hope Clemens decides to jump back in at some point. Of the two I like Nomar the best. Have him play left if Bags can’t go, and bump Everett at short if Bags can. But definately keep Everett for insurance. I really don’t think Nomar is that bad defensively as everybody says. He’s at least better than the Lugo years.