Astros And Picking Type A/B Free Agents

First, please accept my sincere apologies about no posts over the past week - I didn't realize that what I thought was posting actually WASN'T posting.

So here I go with rewrites.

sigh

Here is the list of current Type A and B FA (and remember that because the Astros ranked in the bottom half of MLB teams, we don't have to forfeit a draft pick to sign a FA.)

Type A free agents (with former team):
Jason Bay, OF, Boston
Rafael Betancourt, RP, Colorado*
Orlando Cabrera, IF, Minnesota
Johnny Damon, OF, Yankees
Octavio Dotel, RP, White Sox
Jermaine Dye, OF, White Sox*
Chone Figgins, IF, Angels
Mike Gonzalez, RP, Atlanta
John Grabow, RP, Cubs
Kevin Gregg, RP, Cubs
LaTroy Hawkins, RP, Houston
Matt Holliday, OF, St. Louis
Orlando Hudson, IF, Dodgers
John Lackey, SP, Angels
Bengie Molina, C, San Francisco
Darren Oliver, RP, Angels
Placido Polanco, IF, Detroit
Marco Scutaro, IF, Toronto
Rafael Soriano, RP, Atlanta
Miguel Tejada, IF, Houston
Jose Valverde, RP, Houston
Billy Wagner, RP, Boston
Randy Wolf, SP, Dodgers

Type B free agents (with former team):
Garret Anderson, OF, Atlanta
Rod Barajas, C, Toronto
Erik Bedard, SP, Seattle
Joe Beimel, RP, Colorado
Ronnie Belliard, IF, Dodgers
Adrian Beltre, IF, Seattle
Doug Brocail, RP, Houston
Marlon Byrd, OF, Texas
Kiko Calero, RP, Florida
Mike Cameron, OF, Milwaukee
Doug Davis, SP, Arizona
Carlos Delgado, 1B, Mets
Mark DeRosa, IF, St. Louis
Justin Duchscherer, SP, Oakland
Scott Eyre, RP, Philadelphia
Jon Garland, SP, Dodgers
Brian Giles, OF, San Diego
Troy Glaus, IF, St. Louis
Vladimir Guerrero, OF, Angels
Rich Harden, SP, Cubs
Ramon Hernandez, C, Cincinnati*
Bob Howry, RP, San Francisco
Nick Johnson, 1B, Florida
Randy Johnson, SP, San Francisco
Jason Kendall, C, Milwaukee
Adam LaRoche, 1B, Atlanta
Braden Looper, SP, Milwaukee*
Felipe Lopez, IF, Milwaukee
Brandon Lyon, RP, Detroit
Jason Marquis, SP, Colorado
Guillermo Mota, RP, Dodgers
Melvin Mora, IF, Baltimore
Xavier Nady, OF, Yankees
Will Ohman, RP, Dodgers*
Miguel Olivo, C, Kansas City*
Vicente Padilla, SP, Dodgers
Chan Ho Park, RP, Philadelphia
Carl Pavano, SP, Minnesota
Andy Pettitte, SP, Yankees
Joel Pineiro, SP, St. Louis
Fernando Rodney, RP, Detroit
Ivan Rodriguez, C, Texas
Brian Shouse, RP, Tampa Bay*
Russ Springer, RP, Tampa Bay
Fernando Tatis, IF, Mets
Yorvit Torrealba, C, Colorado*
Jason Varitek, C, Boston*
David Weathers, RP, Milwaukee*
Randy Winn, OF San Francisco
Gregg Zaun, C, Tampa Bay*

There you have it - an unprepossessing lot if ever I did see one. There are a couple of expensivo FA who will naturally be gobbled up by one of the Big 6, but the leftovers aren't much.

The Astros have 3 Type A FA - Valverde, Hawkins and Tejada. Drayton McLane apparently wants to re-sign Valverde and Hawkins, which will cost him a GOOD 14 mill in 2010 alone, and Valverde has said he wants a K-Rod contract (4 years, 13 mill a year.) You talk about a waste of money for a lousy team. With the 60 or so mill we will already have wrapped up in Pence, Wandy, Lee, Oswalt, Berkman, Matsui and Blum, it sure doesn't leave real too much left for any other holes.

Of course I know that the Astros blew more saves (games lost by the pen) than any other NL team not named the Nats, but Valverde and Hawkins were members of that losing bullpen.

Spending 12-15 mill on the 8th and 9th inning is, well, not the best use of money. I'd rather try Sammy Gervacio/Jeff Fulchino, or any other young guy and spend the money on a starter. I'd certainly offer arb to Valverde and Hawkins - Valverde would almost certainly decline and at the worst, we would re-sign Hawk and (hopefully) trade him at the deadline. I certainly would never offer arb to Tejada as he was paid 14.5 mill this year and I wouldn't want to pay him even 20% less than that. He would be a fool to turn it down. Of course, anyone who writes checks to his drug dealer ain't the sharpest tool in the shed...

but I digress...

As I understand it, Drayton has decided that Tommy Manzella IS going to play SS this year (YAYYYYYYYY) and even if his bat is as lousy as Adam Everett's was, his glove will certainly atone for it. Therefore, Miggy would have to play third and he doesn't have particularly good range to his left or a particularly accurate arm any more. I can't see paying Mr. GIDP 10+ mill for a fairly empty .300 BA.

We have already re-signed Blum to, uh, back-up (ahem) Chris Johnson - not sure how long a leash Johnson has, but I sure hope that Drayton isn't gonna start vomiting all that "we're gonna compete" crap. At least, not without signing a decent starting pitcher.

Which brings me to - FA pitchers. Lackey is going to get an AJ Burnett contract and he's really the only elite starting pitcher. Drayton blew his chance to get Randy Wolf last year, preferring cheap gambles who didn't pan out (and there was no back-up plan, naturally.) Harden is more fragile than a china doll, Duchscherer is recovering from surgery and depression, Bedard IS the nutcase everyone thinks Milton Bradley is, Padilla isn't particularly good in spite of his short run with the Dodgers, Pavano is not very good and Pettitte is staying with the Yankees. Garland had one good year - 2005, and the rest of the time, has been a 92 ERA+ starter who throws 200 lousy innings a year.

This leaves someone who gets very little notice - righty Doug Davis, who we all remember from his years with the Crew. Over the past 6 years, he has thrown at least 200 innings and his ERA+ have been 129/111/92/112/108/111. Only trouble is that he has lost every single start at the Box and his ERA here is 5.56 over 56.2 innings. But hey, small sample size, right? He is NAILS against the C*bs, has a 3.12 ERA at Miller Park, is OK vs the Cards amd does fine vs the Reds and Pirates.

Not sure how much he'd cost, but I'd sure rather spend some of that 15 mill which is appraently earmarked for 8th and 9th inning guys on a decent #3 guy instead of expecting Norris/Wesley Wright/Wilton Lopez to be up to the task. And I wouldn't mind having Ramon Hernandez sign a 1 year contract - he's less cooked than Pudge. I also wouldn't mind Miguel Olivo - not that he's any Piazza, mind, but he's had OPS+ of 87/72/90/103 over the past 4 years and he doesn't GIDP often - about 8/year with 430 ABs - a nice and welcome change. Only problem is that he wants a multi-year contract and I don't know for how many years.

Unlike many Astros fans, I doubt that Castro will be ready for the Bigs in June (magical mark to make sure that the ML team keeps the player for 7 years instead of 6) and on the other hand, I don't want him rotting in the minors ala Burkie-poo and Jason Lane past his expiration date.

As for all the talk about Ben Sheets, well, it would depend on his demands, as he's coming back from shoulder surgery and his ability to pitch is an unknown quantity. I think I'd rather try a minor league FA. Ed Wade found some useful parts on the scrap heap last year and the good thing about scrap heap guys is that unlike Kaz Matsui, you don't feel you HAVE to keep playing them because of their salary, regardless of their abilities.

And speaking of Kaz Matsui, I'd rather use him as a PH/PR/DR and play Maysonet instead. And the rest of the money saved from Valverde should be used buying decent bench players instead of Grit and Michaels. We already have MORE than enough Veteran Presence.