The Astros off-season needs per ESPN

http://thebiglead.com/2013/12/11/espn-offers-up-harsh-yet-fair-assessment-of-astros-offseason-needs/

Lazy reporting. Anyone who follows baseball knows that we need all of those things

Acquired 25 year old Anthony Bass for San Diego

Amazing year in 2011. Then hurt his shoulder and hasn't been great the past 2 years. Lost a little velocity.

Sounds like we swapped picks with the Padres in the Rule 5 draft as part of the Bass trade.

Morse ends up in San Fran.

What's the story on this Morse fellow?? From what little I've read on him it sounds like Chris Carter v2.0.

And anyone have anything on this Bass kid we just acquired? All I got is young pitcher who performed well but has been injured recently.

Morse showed some power while with the Nats. He had some injuries while with Seattle last year. Struck out a lot. He could have been a decent addition that could be traded at the deadline if he ended up showing some success....but it's not a big loss.

I think bass throws fastball slider. 92-94 mph fastball.

He can start but he will most likely be in our bullpen if we have our rotation sured up

Why???? He's old and extremely overpriced

The numbers thrown around for Choo are absurd. I hope he ends up somewhere else.

Astros are said to be out of the Choo sweepstakes due to the draft pick they would've given up. Still in the market for a first baseman.

Would've liked to see Loney but price was way too high.

Pass on Shoo

Apparently interested in Nationals 1B/OF Tyler Moore. Would have to trade to get him.

Cant wait until we actually get in the market for some players with a little talent. Having another winter where we try to suck just a little less sure doesn't get me excited for spring.

Really need some of these young guys to play well quickly so we can become a destination for some meaningful free agents.

Just signed Matt Albers

quote:

---

Just signed Matt Albers

---

**** yeah!

quote:

---

Just signed Matt Albers

---

This is turning into a god damned n2005 reunion. Reminds me of something Drayton would do

quote:

---

This is turning into a god damned n2005 reunion

---

What's wrong with that?

quote:

---

quote:

---

This is turning into a god damned n2005 reunion

---

What's wrong with that?

---

Umm because beltran, biggio, berkman, Oswalt, Andy and rocket aren't there. I don't want the scrubs from that team

Let's bring Chris Holt and Tim Redding out of retirement. What's Brandon Duckworth up to?

Just signed chad Qualls. Bringing everybody back

Berkman is available

Signing guys with a Houston connection has allowed the Astros to improve the bullpen without having to pay the futility premium. Teams that have been losing 100+ games per season usually have to overpay to get free agents...even average relief pitchers. While these signings aren't flashy, they bolster a bullpen that was awful last year and do so without wasting money.

Any bullpen signings have to be better than what we had last year. Albers has actually looked good the past few years, and Qualls put up good numbers last year for the first time in a long time.

If they both pitched identical seasons as they did last year, they would probably double the effectiveness of our bullpen, which had something like 32 LOSSES last year. Of our top 6 relievers in numbers of appearances, their respective ERAs were 2.93 (Veras, the closer), 3.92 (Wright), 4.97 (Fields), 5.70 (Ambriz), 4.89 (Blackley), and 5.40 (Clemens, though he did start a few games. We only had two starters with an ERA under 5, only one under 4 (and just barely)....

I'll take the spares from 05 over the spares from 2013 any day of the week. They addressed the biggest weakness on the team without really spending like crazy. Everyone knows the young guys are going to have to produce, but no one is expecting a playoff run or anything this year. But not losing 100 games would be a step. I don't see how a decent bullpen and the young guys can't get us a 15 game W/L swing from last year.

quote:

---

I'll take the spares from 05 over the spares from 2013 any day of the week.

---

That was my point.

Spares from a WS team > > > > > > > > Spares from the second worse team of all time

Wow. I hope we arent doing anything that is going to bite us in the ass in 3-4 years.

quote:

---

Umm because beltran, biggio, berkman, Oswalt, Andy and rocket aren't there. I don't want the scrubs from that team

---

Beltran wasn't on the 2005 team, he was on the 2004 team. The 2005 team was a terrible offensive team, but the reason we made it to the WS that year was because of our outstanding pitching.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Shin-Soo Choo rejected a seven-year, $140 million contract offer from the Yankees, reports Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan.

Choo's agent Scott Boras countered that he was looking for "Ellsbury money," according to the report. New York signed Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year, $148 million contract earlier this month. Passan reports that the Astros are one team with an offer on the table to Choo. If Houston can pull off the stealthy signing, they could field an impressive outfield of Dexter Fowler, George Springer and Choo in 2014. Choo, 31, hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 154 games this past season for the Reds.

---

sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--shin-soo-choo-remains-the-riddle-of-the-free-agent-market-165809610.html

---

So Boras lost a 7 year/$140 million contract over $8 million? Wow.

And I'll be pissed if we lock ourselves into 5-7 years at $20+ million/year while also forfeiting our 2nd round pick to sign Choo

quote:

---

The 2005 team was a terrible offensive team, but the reason we made it to the WS that year was because of our outstanding pitching.

---

Lidge was awesome that year...until Pujols destroyed his mojo by depositing a baseball that hasn't returned from orbit.

This potential deal for Choo has Carlos Lee written all over it. The main difference, however, is that Fat Carlos was brought in to try to extend the window of contention, while Choo would be coming in before the window of contention. That's the main reason I'm not completely against going after him.

From mlbtraderumors:

The Astros have claimed right-hander Collin McHugh off waivers from the Rockies, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link). The Rockies designated the 26-year-old McHugh for assignment earlier in the week to make room on the 40-man roster for lefty Boone Logan.

Acquired from the Mets over the summer in exchange for Eric Young Jr., McHugh didn't pan out in Colorado any more than he had in his previous auditions in New York. He allowed four homers and 21 earned runs in 19 innings for the Rockies, bringing his ERA on the season to 10.04. McHugh has allowed 47 earned runs in 47 1/3 career innings at the big league level.
However, McHugh has a strong 3.58 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 173 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. The Astros appear to be betting on that upside with this claim.