LaTroy Hawkins, Miguel Tejada, Jose Valverde: Houston Astros Bid Farewell

It appears as though the Houston Astros will be losing their two-year closer, as well as likely parting ways with a key shortstop they hoped to convert to a third baseman.

With Jose Valverde declining the Astros' arbitration late Monday, Houston general manager Ed Wade also all but ruled out Miguel Tejada’s return.

Houston then turned their focus to LaTroy Hawkins in a hope to at least salvage some of the talent from last year’s success.

However, that flicker of hope was quickly doused earlier today when news was announced that Hawkins had signed with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Word has recently surfaced that the Astros may be pursuing a trade to get Rafael Soriano from the Atlanta Braves in an attempt to bolster the back end of their bullpen.

Not to say that Houston is completely out of the race to attain the services of Valverde and Tejada; it’s just likely those two will be playing elsewhere next year.

With the Hawkins news just recently breaking, it’s also become apparent that Houston may be looking at Florida Marlins reliever Matt Lindstrom as an option.

Parting ways is just part of baseball and sports in general; I understand that. So what the Astros now need to do is capitalize on what they’ve got and aggressively pursue their needs, especially in terms of pitching.

But I do believe Wade knows what he is doing, and I think the Astros have a solid new skipper in Brad Mills, who prides himself on personal relationships with the coaches and players on his team.

That’s just what Houston needs right now.

Let’s hope that Wade, Mills, and company can close out some deals here in the coming days and make the Astros contenders once again in the National League Central and beyond…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]