Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.After hanging in contention until early August, the Astros bottomed out with a 23-36 finish in the season's final two months. That culminated in Cecil Cooper's firing and Brad Mills' hiring. The squad Mills inherits is full of both veteran players and holes that will make it hard for him to returnthe team to where owner Drayton McLane thinks it belongs -- the top of the NL Central.
That's because the Astros are currently caught in Ed Wade Purgatory. He can do just enough to keep his veteran squad in pseudo-contention, but probably not quite enough to get them into a real playoff race. That won't stop him from trying, though.
Who Might Leave
Miguel Tejada, SS; Darin Erstad, OF; Jose Valverde, CL; LaTroy Hawkins, RHP; Jason Michaels, OF; Doug Brocail, RHP; Mike Hampton, SP; Aaron Boone, INF
Shopping List
Looking at the free agents above and considering their roster, the Astros could currently use help at shortstop, third base (where Geoff Blum plays), second base (Kaz Matsui is coming off of an awful season), their starting rotation (there's not much there behind Wandy Rodriguez and Roy Oswalt except the young and unproven Bud Norris), in the bullpen, and maybe center field (depending on what you think of Michael Bourn) and catcher.
That's probably being a bit harsh, so if we consider Matusui will probably bounce back a little bit this year, that Bourn's minor-league record indicates that he can probably keep an OBP of around .350, and that Norris was impressive in his major league debut last year and showed flashes of getting his control problems in line, that means the Astros should probably focus on shortstop, third base, and the bullpen.
Money Matters
Tim Byrdak, Wandy Rodriguez, Jeff Keppinger, Humberto Quintero, Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, and Chris Sampson are all arbitration eligible. Rodriguez, Bourn, Pence, and Quintero are all starters and so they'll be tendered contracts and neither Byrdak nor Sampson should be terribly expensive. With their current payroll at about $54 million (via Cot's MLB Contracts), the Astros shouldn't have problem tendering contracts to all of the arbitration eligibles, should they want to go that route. The bigger looming question is that of Lance Berkman's free agency. His contract is up after this season, which means that the Astros need to decide whether to re-sign their soon-to-be 34-year-old star first baseman, or auction him off during the season to try and restock the farm system. The second approach seems pretty unlikely since Berkman is the face of the franchise, even if he had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2009 (though in one of his worst seasons, he still had a .907 OPS and 25 home runs)
Offseason Goals
The Astros only scored 643 runs last season so if they're going to forgo a rebuild for an improbable run at the NL Central next year, that's what they need to work on. Last year they had three regulars with OPS+ below 80 -- Ivan Rodriguez, Matsui, and Blum. Rodriguez is gone, but Quintero and J.R. Towles probably won't provide a huge offensive boost. Blum is what he is and Matsui is aging and not very durable (his 132 games played last year was a career high). Throw in the hole created by Tejada's free agency, and the Astros are going to have to open up the checkbooks for some offense if they're going to make 2010 any different than 2009. They might have the room on the payroll, but those are a lot of holes to fill through free agency in one winter.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Were you watching a movie with your girl when you wrote this... The team is bad, but having a shopping list that has centerfield "depending on what you think of him" At least pay the reader some respect and know what you are talking about. He was the team MVP after a pathetic rookie season, oh he may be the best CF glove in the game. Cmon guy! PS 60 stolen bases aint bad either..