Chron: Astros not ruling out trades for center fielder, pitching

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3085361

Astros have a few things to settle in next 3 weeks
Purpura won't rule out trades for center fielder, pitching help
By BRIAN MCTAGGART
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

QUESTION MARKS

Second base
• Craig Biggio will start somewhere. If it's left field, Chris Burke will play here.

Fifth starter
• Six pitchers in camp are still in the running.

Andy Pettitte
• Scheduled to start second game of season, he'll make first spring appearance vs. Dodgers on Thursday.


KISSIMMEE, FLA. - Roughly halfway through spring training, the Astros have yet to find many answers to the major question marks they had entering camp.

They don't know what position Craig Biggio is going to play, they don't know who will be the No. 5 starter in the pitching rotation, and there are still some uncertainties in the bullpen and on offense.

Also, lefthander Andy Pettitte has yet to make an appearance in a game following season-ending elbow surgery last summer, and there's still no timetable on when outfielder Lance Berkman will be cleared to play following offseason knee surgery.

All this doesn't come as a surprise to general manager Tim Purpura, who is confident everything will fall into place in time for opening day in three weeks.

"Most of our question marks are still out there, and I thought they would be," said Purpura, who spent Monday checking with other general managers about possible trades. "I didn't think we'd get to this point and have all the answers we were going to have."

Purpura would still like to add a true center fielder via a trade, but he doesn't believe the team is in a "desperate situation by any stretch." He would also like to add another arm to the bullpen and perhaps even find an end-of-the-rotation starter.

Working the phones

"We've had our conference calls with our scouts the last few days, and now we're starting to move into motion a little bit contacting other clubs to see how they feel about their club and any changes they might make," Purpura said. "We're in that process right now. Some situations that were out there before have been eliminated, and others may open up.

"We're still in flux, and we knew we would be. I think I've said all along I didn't think that our club would really come together until the last week of the (exhibition) season."

The Astros (3-7) have struggled to hit the ball this spring, batting .251 as a team. But the pitching has started to come around in recent days.

"We're not scoring runs like I'd like to see," manager Phil Garner said. "I'd like to see us swing the bats better and bunch some runs together. The fifth-starter guys have started throwing the ball better, and I'd like to translate that into wins."

Dave Burba threw four scoreless innings Sunday, joining rotation hopefuls Carlos Hernandez, Brandon Duckworth, Tim Redding, Ezequiel Astacio and Pete Munro in having strong outings in their most recent starts.

With three days off in the first two weeks of the season, the Astros won't need a fifth starter until April 17. But because Duckworth, Munro and Redding are out of options, their fate will likely be known by the opener on April 5.

"I do like the way the pitching has come around the last several days," Purpura said. "I think guys are now in a good, competitive mode. They're throwing strikes and competing better."

Biggio, who played the outfield in 2003 and 2004 after 11 seasons at second base, has been playing at second during games and has been taking fly balls in the outfield in workouts.

Biggio will either be the opening-day starter at second or in left field, where the Astros have some depth problems because of the departure of Carlos Beltran and Berkman's injury.

"I think Bidge has played pretty well at second base," Purpura said. "For a guy who hadn't played there in two years, that's been a positive to see that his actions and reactions out there are still good, and he definitely is a viable candidate for us out there."

Leg of Lamb a factor

Burke and infielder Mike Lamb have been taking fly balls in the outfield but have yet to play there during a game. Lamb was going to see time in the outfield last weekend, but he strained his hamstring and has been sidelined.

"That has kind of put us in a little bit of a tough spot in that we'd hoped to see (Lamb) for four, five, six, seven days in the outfield to see if he could be an option for us," Purpura said. "That's going to put us behind in that endeavor."

Purpura thinks the Astros are likely to carry 12 pitchers into the season, though he hasn't discussed it with Garner.

Pettitte, who hasn't pitched in a game since Aug. 12, was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday after spraining his ankle. He will throw a bullpen session today and, if all goes well, will start Thursday against the Dodgers in Vero Beach, Fla.

brian.mctaggart@chron.com

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Astros Summary

Harville frets

Reliever Chad Harville wasn't happy with his performance in the spring training game against the New York Yankees.

In his first outing in a week because of Wednesday's rainout, Harville allowed three hits, two walks and three earned runs in one inning on Sunday.

"I felt really good in the bullpen and got out there and got two quick outs and started leaving balls up," Harville said. "There's no excuse for leaving balls up. I was kind of feeling for stuff, but I'm leaving every pitch thigh high. My last outing was an experiment, and this one wasn't. I used all my pitches, and to have almost the same result, I'm not very happy with it."

No surprise

Astros general manager Tim Purpura wasn't surprised to hear Boston Red Sox righthander Wade Miller will miss the first month of the season because of a shoulder injury he sustained last year while with the Astros.

Miller went 7-7 with a 3.35 ERA last year but didn't pitch after June 25 because of a frayed rotator cuff. He made $3.4 million last year, and the Astros weren't willing to take the risk of bring him back.

"Our doctors did not think he'd pitch the whole season healthy and that he'd either start the season on the DL, (or) if you could get him started, he would miss significant time throughout the year," Purpura said.

Free day

The Astros enjoyed Monday's time off in different ways.

Most players stayed in the Orlando area with their famil-
ies, but with a night game today, some took advantage of extra time to go home, including Craig Biggio and John Franco. Manager Phil Garner was planning to take his family to Disney World.

Coming up

In their first home night game of the spring, the Astros will meet the Nationals at 6:05 p.m. today. Brandon Backe will face John Patterson, a product of Port Neches-Groves and a Houston resident.

-- BRIAN McTAGGART