Astros countdown to the playoffs

a 10-7 finish with our ****** remaining schedule puts us at 88-74. 15 wins better than this douche predicted. how exactly is he still arguing that he's "right" ?
 
Everyone was scratching their heads at picking up Hawkins, but the guy has a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings over 16 appearances.
 
Wade's in season moves have been incredible. Randy Wolf is 4-1 with a 3.81 ERA since joining the club, and we're 4-0 in his NDs. That means of his 9 starts, we've won 8 of those games.

Wade also picked up Alberto Arias, who was inexplicably waived after posting an ERA of 2.63 over 13 2/3 innings, and the guy gives us a spot start spark with 5 scoreless.

Both the Hawkins and Wolf pick ups were really bashed, but damn if they haven't been integral to this run.
 
I thought 77, which I could foresee landing between 73 and 81. I chalk that up as wrong. Wade put together a better collection of castoffs and never-wases than I anticipated. And I do not think he is stupid.

But I still don't see a future for this team without better starting pitching. I've never thought of Brandon Backe as someone who can be counted on, and Brian Moehler is having arguably the best season of his career and his ERA still is over 4. It's still Oswalt and whoever.
 
They (houston management) knows that about the starting pitching.

There was nobody of any consequence on the free agent market last year and they had no resources to trade for a guy like Santana or CC Sabathia or the like. So, they wisely decided to make the upgrades they could which was on offense and speed and tinkering with the bench.

This year there are a bunch of good pitchers on the market. I expect them to go hard after a top of the rotation guy as they have no help for the forseeable future in AAA. And I think that's part of what trading for Wolf was about - so that he'd come here and hopefully get comfortable.

Bring him back and bring in Sheets and this looks like a team that could go to the WS next year. Not bad for a team that screwed up and should be intentionally trying to lose to prove Joe Sheehan at BP right.
 
I just read that column, and by and large I agree with it, in terms of the broad view of the team and the organization. I agree that McLane prefers shortsightedness to a long-term fix. He's a grocery man by trade -- you don't care about the stuff you have to sell next week or next month or next year. You gotta sell now.

But I am sure (well, I hope) that Wade has told Drayton what he has done what he was told to do, and Drayton has enough experience in baseball now to see it for himself. But more importantly, he has to tell him that the team really is no better off for the future than it was when Wade was hired.

It's gonna take at least a couple more years of good drafts and wise spending to make this team a consistent contender again. I think the jury's out on whether they can do it.
 
They have set about to try to draft better, devote more resources to signing their draft picks and cleaned house on the entire scouting department. Nobody is saying they aren't trying to do that.

My question is this- How in the hell does losing this year make you a better team next year?

It's possible and happens some places where there is a surplus of talent in the minors and the guys take over jobs in the bigs to learn on the job. That is simply not true for the astros- as they have no young talent that looks likely to be major contributors for a big league team.

They are retooling their entire system from the ground up. They are also trying to win in the majors. It's not some manner of either or with them- to imply otherwise is a false dichotomy.

He's an idiot. To the extent that he's saying their farm system sucks- well, no **** sherlock- everyone in the game knows that.

They aren't trading away guys with a solid major league futuer. Picking up Wolf and Hawkins cost them absolutely zero of long term value. Those guys were salary dumps and drayton said he didn't mind paying them. So the fans get a better team, the astros are in the race in September and some nitwit with BP's head is about to explode.

This is coming from a guy (me) who likes statistical analysis and sabermetrics in the game of baseball, something BP claims to stand for.

Now, if we were making the Randy Johnson trade over again for 3 really fine prospects in the attempt to win now I'd agree (maybe) with him that it's short sited to try to "win now" in that way.

But that just isn't what's happening.
 
i think he's just used to every team either being buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. the fact that the astros decided (successfully i might add) to be neither, just doesn't sit right with him.
 
Jeez, that got a better reaction than I expected! I get the feeling that some of you aren't fans of Sheehan?
biggrin.gif


Sheehan's main point isn't a new one -- there's no point in constructing a team that's average. You either go for it or rebuild. Do any of you really disagree with that point?
 
Hell yes I disagree- you do the best that you can with what you have.

The astros have 4 players that would maybe fetch good value- 3 of them have no trade clauses and the fourth is young and would be a part of any rebuild. The 3 guys w/ the no trade are pretty freaking awesome- it's hard for the team to be too bad when Roy, Lee and Lance are performing to the best of their ability. If average is the best you can be then so be it.

Now- I'm not saying trade young assets to be average.
 
so you're actually saying that the astros should've gotten rid of roy / lance / whomever and gotten whatever they could, to start the rebuild?

you're saying the choices they made, to fill some gaps to try and contend, choices that as we speak have us 4 back and in 2nd place in the wildcard and have kept the fans interested well into september, were the wrong choices? the fact that we've had significant injuries, and are still playing exciting, winning baseball means nothing to some people.

bottom line, is that lots of people will think that adding a #2 starter to this bunch, and locking down what needs locking down, will make the astros a contender next year. and with sheets, burnett, and many others available, it's a real possibility.

i'm in favor of that. and anyone who has been arguing otherwise, looks foolish right now.
 
You rebuild by dumping salary when you're either a cheap owner or are in the red and can't (or won't) sustain it. Dumping to rebuild is a bottom line/$ issue, not a route to getting better soon or even EVER. You'll never get value for a Roy/Berkman. Tejada is on the back end, and you'll get value - which is a couple mid-level prospect and maybe AAAA player like a Luke Scott or Jason Lane.

Rarely do you get several major contributors like Seattle got from us for Randy. Even then, thought, the motivation wasn't to rebuild, it was rather the fact that Johnson was NEVER going to re-sign with the Mariners.

Who on the 'stros is going to leave at year's end anyway, and could get prospects in return? Nobody.

Dumping to rebuild is for small market teams, and I'm tickled pink McLane doesn't think we're small market. When there's a guy out there (Clemens for example) worth spending big money for, Drayton will do it. He was purportedly willing to take us into the top-5 in salary last year if Clemens would agree to return. As it turned out, he wouldn't have helped much, but that shows Drayton's POV.

We're a franchise that can rebuild AND keep our big guns in the meantime. The volume has to come from drafting guys who will sign and signing them - oh, and the scouts have to have good eyes for talent as well.

If we sign Sheets, and Wade does what he did this past year to a lesser degree, yea, we won't be much better, but we'll be one year closer to a rebuilt farm system.

If we had dumped one or two guys, we'd definitely be worse next year, have no motivation to sign Sheets since we're not winning anyway, and the salary would need to shrink to match the size of the Juice Box's average crowd, and we'd get maybe one guy who morel likely than not will get a cup a joe in the league, and that's it. Bravo. No more Roy/Berkman, and instead we have a slightly more robust farm system. Exciting.

Dumping salary is sold as rebuilding because fans buy that moronic PR nonsense. That a writer for BP buys into it is baffling. That the most of the rest of the media do also reflects the fact that they know where their bread is buttered - you don't expose one set of billionaires' dirty laundry and remain the employee of another set.
 
this is such a funny argument. are we lucky, or just streaky? does the run differential matter for next year, just because it did for seattle and arizona?

lots of talk about luck, and i don't see this as a lucky team. roy is finally pitching like roy. we've had plenty of injuries. some of our new guys have been inconsistant, and are stepping up nicely now. of course there are also plenty of guys (hawkins, newhan, wolf) who weren't even with the team early on, so it's hard to make the season long run differential mean something. ****, we're still suffering for run-elvis hernandez's sins.

funny when i think about trades, dumping, prospects, i think about the rangers, who seem to be constantly loaded in the minors, and always bringing up stud hitters, and even more studs that they've traded, and they can't even sniff .500 yet again.

you don't win the lottery and then give back half the money because it came too easy. i'll take where my team is. thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top