Houston Astros Baseball

ASTROS SIGN MATSUI

Written by Baqqs on 9:48 PM

Barring some unforeseen developments, the Astros will sign free-agent second baseman Kazuo Matsui.

The Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies, his current team, also have coveted Matsui.

Without addressing Matsui, new Astros general manager Ed Wade stuck to his policy of not commenting on specific players until a contract is done.

"We don't have a deal done with anyone," said Wade. "As has been the case all offseason, when we get a deal done with someone we'll announce it."

Nonetheless, it has been no secret that the Astros have prized Matsui to the point that Wade actually flew down to Los Angeles last week to meet with Matsui's agent, Arn Tellem.

Tellem has not returned numerous phone calls from the Chronicle in recent weeks.

Matsui, 32, has a .272 career batting average over four seasons in the majors since leaving the Japanese League.

He spent his first 2½ seasons in the majors with the New York Mets before being traded to the Colorado Rockies on June 9, 2006.

Helping the Rockies win the National League pennant and reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history, Matsui hit .288 with four home runs, six triples, 37 RBIs and 32 stolen bases this past season.

With Matsui, the Astros will get a veteran second baseman to replace the hole left by franchise icon Craig Biggio, who retired this year after 20 seasons with the club.

Free agent Mark Loretta and Chris Burke were the club's other options at second base.
(Houston chronicle)

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Baseball America Top Prospects

Written by Baqqs on 12:08 PM

Astros Top Ten Prospects

1. J.R. Towles, c
2. Felipe Paulino, rhp
3. Troy Patton, lhp
4. Juan Gutierrez, rhp
5. Michael Bourn, of
6. Mike Costanzo, 3b
7. Bud Norris, rhp
8. Brad James, rhp
9. Chad Reineke, rhp
10. Eli Iorg, of

Best Tools

Best Hitter for Average (Jonny Ash)
Best Power Hitter (Mike Costanzo)
Best Strike-Zone Discipline (Jonny Ash)
Fastest Baserunner (Michael Bourn)
Best Athlete (Devon Torrence)
Best Fastball (Felipe Paulino)
Best Curveball (Bud Norris)
Best Slider (Char Reineke)
Best Changeup (Samuel Gervacio)
Best Control (Troy Patton)
Best Defensive Catcher (J.R. Towles)
Best Defensive Infielder (Tommy Manzella)
Best Infield Arm (Mike Constanzo)
Best Defensive Outfielder (Michael Bourn)
Best Outfield Arm (Jordan Parraz)

-Personal Note:
I have a very strong feeling that J.R. Towles is going to be something special.

-2006 Top Ten Prospects
Click Here

-Great Older Article About Towles
Click Here

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Bill James 2008 Projections

Written by Baqqs on 11:57 AM

Bourn ..............276/.350/.358/.708

-Matsui.............294/.350/.435/.785
-Iguchi.............287/.365/.444/.810
-Burke..............258/.327/.398/.725

Pence...............306/.357/.538/.895
Berkman.............290/.408/.546/.954
Lee.................291/.342/.512/.866
Wiggy...............269/.332/.454/.786
Towles..............293/.355/.462/.817
Everett.............246/.295/.348/.656

Scott...............277/.365/.526/.891

Oswalt..............14/9-3.51-210IP
Backe...............4/8-4.88-120IP
Wandy...............9/12-4.72-185IP
Patton..............N/A
Woody...............7/8-4.37-140IP

Sampson.............4/4-4.03-67IP
Qualls..............5/4-3.83-80IP
Sarfate.............N/A
Villareal...........4/3-4.02-65IP
Geary...............4/4-4.14-74IP
Brocail.............5/4-3.75-84IP

Lidge...............5/3-3.44-68IP (24sv)
Gagne...............4/2-3.00-54IP (32sv)
Cordero.............4/2-3.54-61IP (44sv)
Nathan..............5/3-2.70-70IP (40sv)
Linebrink...........5/3-3.60-70IP
Wood................4/3-3.75-60IP
Percival............4/2-3.26-52IP

Wolf................5/6-4.32-100IP
Dontrelle W.........12/11-4.22-209IP
Jennings............7/10-4.86-150IP
Lieber..............10/8-4.04-167IP

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Poll Results (Nov. 27)

Written by Baqqs on 11:50 AM

Who Should Be 2B ?

Matsui....3
Iguchi....5
Burke.....2
Loretta...1

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Sign Gagne Already !!!

Written by Baqqs on 12:49 AM

With the closer market collapsing in front of our eyes, the acquisition of a quality closer seems very near. Eric Gagne was my favorite if Cordero was unavailable or too expensive, in this case both. Gagne, wasn’t spectacular in Boston which will prove to only help us or any team interested in Eric. Although Gagne’s meltdown in Boston was seen by the entire country I believe that he is MUCH better than his numbers for The Red Sox would indicate. First, lets put this all into context. Eric Gagne was traded to his boyhood favorite team in the heat of a pennant race and placed in a set up role, not as closer. With the pressure of the 2nd largest market team and the addition of a playoff race I believe that Gagne was poorly represented. This of course, serves all of those looking to sign him as a good thing. Even though his agent, Scott Boras is one of the most hated agents in baseball, and Drayton wouldn’t want to deal with Boras, this deal could help both sides and should be examined. His value has undoubtedly declined which would indicate that he should receive around a 2 year 10-11ish Million dollar deal. All this for a closer who currently hold the HIGHEST save percentage in history. I have written all about Gagne and compared him to the current market competition, and to me Dotel, Wood, and Percival all seem like bigger risks to me. If you look at Gagne’s 2007 season and break down the numbers you will see that his stats look similar to a power hitters slump. His bread and butter, the strikeout, hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, with Boston Gagne had a better K/9 ratio that his career avg. at 10.61K/9IP. His HR/9 were down as well. Gagne faltered because of an inflated WHIP. If you are unfamiliar, WHIP basically holds a pitcher responsible for all batters that reach base with a hit, hit-by-pitch, or walk. For Eric, his WHIP in Boston was FAR greater than his career avg. Some have attributed this to loose command in response to the pressure and expectations of Boston. You test this against a low market team, like The Rangers and you can see how he pitches when he is on.

2007 (W/ Rangers) 2.16 ERA/ 1.05WHIP/ 7.8K/9 /3.2BB/9 - 16/17Saves

It’s crazy to think that he actually struck more people per 9IP when he was with the Red Sox. In my opinion, by bringing Gagne to both the NL and a low market team, he will have the perfect setting to stage his comeback. Gagne will have a chance to show the world why he was one of the only closers to ever win a Cy Young award.

To read more about his career and comparable stats to other available closers check out some older posts.

http://houstonstros.blogspot.com/2007/11/closer-to-closer.html

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Reds Ink Cordero

Written by Baqqs on 11:32 PM

CINCINNATI -- The Reds made a huge move to improve the National League's lowest-ranked bullpen on Friday by agreeing to a four-year, $46 million contract with former Brewers closer Francisco Cordero.

A source familiar with the negotiations confirmed the deal with MLB.com. It comes with a $12 million club option for the 2012 season and a $1 million buyout. The signing is pending a physical next week.

In terms of guaranteed money, Cordero's contract would be the largest ever for a reliever.

Cordero is at his home in the Dominican Republic and isn't expected to come to Cincinnati until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Reached Friday evening, Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky would not confirm that his team landed Cordero.

"There's no deal," Krivsky said. "We've had conversations, I can tell you that. There's nothing to announce. That's where it stands."

But Brewers GM Doug Melvin said that agent Bean Stringfellow informed him on Thursday that Cordero had chosen Cincinnati. Milwaukee offered $42 million over four years with a $13 million option for a fifth year, but apparently came up short.

"It's about setting the bar. Now they have a new bar for relief pitchers," Melvin said. "Francisco is a very good pitcher, and it's definitely going to help Cincinnati and hurt us. ... We thought that we made him a very solid offer. A million dollars a year more, who knows? With these high salaries this year, who knows what is enough. If we would have been at $44 [million] or $45 [million], would he have chosen us? I don't know. We never got the opportunity top go there. [Stringfellow] never came to us and said, 'Will you go there? We had people who thought we were bidding against ourselves last week."

Cordero, 32, was one of the top closers available on the market this winter. In 66 appearances for Milwaukee this past season, he was 0-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 44 saves in 51 chances. He is a two-time All-Star, including in 2007.

According to the source, the Astros were also vying for Cordero's services against Cincinnati and Milwaukee.

A nine-year veteran of the Tigers, Rangers and Brewers, Cordero has 177 career saves and a 3.29 lifetime ERA. He had a career high of 49 saves with Texas in 2004.

Assuming Cordero passes his physical and joins Cincinnati, current closer David Weathers would likely move back into a setup role. Weathers had 33 saves for the Reds in 2007. The club's back end of the bullpen is also bolstered with right-hander Jared Burton, a rookie who emerged as a strong eighth-inning option.

Fixing the bullpen was one of the Reds' top priorities during this offseason. Last season, Cincinnati relievers posted a 23-31 record, a league-high 5.13 ERA and converted 34 of 61 saves.

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Closer Importance

Written by Baqqs on 4:32 PM

The Houston Astros GM Ed Wade has made it clear that he is “bullpen crazy.” Crazy in a good way of course. He loves to offer our starters support and security in the form of a reliable bullpen. Sounds good right? Well it is, in 2007 The Astros had 25 Blown Saves. This is outrageous considering we only had 63 save opportunities. That leaves the Astros ranked 25th out of 30 with a save percentage of 60. This is significant because the better teams are teams with good bullpens. Example, guess who had the highest save percentage? The Red Sox had a save percentage of 80 leading all of baseball and won the World Series. Now, you may say well they won because of their potent lineup. This is a valid argument, however The New York Yankees with their extremely potent lineup barely made it into the post season and where quickly disposed of by a much younger and cheaper Indians. My point? The Yankees ranked 23rd of all teams in save percentage, where as the Indians ranked 2nd, with 78%.

Out of the top ten teams in save percentage all of them seem expected except one. The Texas Rangers ranked 6th in all of baseball with only 14 total blown saves over the 2007 season. This largely because of the success of their former closer Eric Gagne. Gagne leads all closers ever with a save percentage of 96.6%. His supremacy continued the first half of the 2007 season with The Rangers by converting 16 of 17 saves. I bring this up because at the same time Brad Lidge was with the Astros blowing 8 of 27 save opportunities. Where as Gagne has only blown 10 saves in the last 187 save opportunities.

For all of those like me who really, really like Roy Oswalt and feel bad that he has never been awarded a Cy Young award, think about this. What if Gagne was with the Astros in ‘07. If you take Gagne’s 2007 save percentage and applied it to the Astros 2007 save opportunities (63), over that whole span he would have blown only 4 saves. I understand at the same time that Gagne most likely would not have been in line for all those saves because of days rest or any other reasons, however my point is pretty clear. How many more games do you think Oswalt would have won this year if Lidge converted 95% of his save opportunities? Now some of you will also argue that Gagne stunk once he was traded to The Red Sox, and he did. However, Gagne wasn’t their closer and was thrown into the bright lights of Boston with very high expectations in a different role in the heat of a playoff race.

Should Gagne be our closer? I don’t know, I am not trying to persuade anyone that Gagne is some super hero who will fix our team. I am just trying to point out the important of a strong back end of a bullpen. Regardless of who Wade decides to be our new closer, I am confident that not only will we win more games, but our starters will be less likely to pitch longer into games, lessening the chances of injury and shortening games. Which will be extremely important with pitchers like Sampson and Patton in the mix. Just think, we were only 12 games out of 1st place this year, what if we only blew half as many saves. We would have made the playoffs!

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Infield Almost Set

Written by Baqqs on 10:22 AM

Over the past week rumors have been swirling about who will be replacing Biggio as The Astros 2 bagger. From where I've read, it seems like Castillo was number one on the Astros wish list. That ship sailed when Castillo resigned with The Mets in a 4 year deal. That may work out to The Astros benefit. Four years looks to be a little long for the aging burner. This leaves Asian imports Iguchi and Matsui. Both of these 2B had respectable years in 2007, Iguchi with both the White Sox and Phillies. However, with the recent rumors regarding a Matsui signing one must ask would Matsui really be an upgrade? It is clearly evident that Matsui was a better hitter at Coors field than on the road, but was that just luck? Or did the hitters park really justify a very large home/road spilt? If Matsui was signed, Wade would most likely try and package Burke with Scott and maybe a young arm to grab a solid #2 pitcher. If this is the case, then signing Matusi can be thought of as signing a #2 pitcher who wasn't available on the free agent market. The problem with this is no on but Wade knows. If Ken Rosentahl is right, as he believes Matusi will end up with either The Rockies or Cubs, then Wade should push full steam ahead for Iguchi who would be a very underrated improvement over both Burke and Matsui and at a cheaper price than Matsui. Iguchi would be the smart signing now, but has drawn interest from Brewers, Padres, Angels, and Rockies. A 2008 lineup with Iguchi batting #2 would solidify the Astros offense and would add some needed speed and on-base percentage.

*Astros sign Geoff Blum to a one year deal. He will be the new Bruntlett.

Possible 2008 Batting Order

Bourn
Iguchi/ Matsui/ Burke
Pence
Berkman
Lee
Wigginton
Towles
Everett
P