The Houston Chronicle fishwrap is reporting that the Houston Astros are exercising their option on Craig Biggio, and have declined to exercise their option on Jeff Kent. More details to follow......
Thats alot of power out of that lineup with Kent gone. Burke is a nice player but I see him having an A. Everett type of season. 8 homers and bat around .250
Way off topic but damn Yasser Arafat looks like crap in that pic on chron.com. I have very mixed feelings on letting Kent go. That bat is gonna be hard to replace. If we keep Beltran and can have more production from bottom of our order I see us being ok. Ensberg and Ausmus ARE NOT going to cut it though. They are almost automatic outs.
Kent may not be gone. He was due $9 million this year. I could see him back at a more reasonable price.
Not a chance. He was clubhouse poison, according to sources I have that are involved with the team. Kent will retire.
i've heard the same. i think we talked about that over lunch, right? beyond that...just way too much money. wanna sign beltran?? can't do it by paying kent anywhere close to that kind of money.
Retire? I don't know about that: http://www.khou.com/sports/astros/stories/khou041028_mh_kentstatement.5b1e2d.html His statement seems to leave things open - especially the bit about "next years spring training." Same thing happened with Ausmus last year. I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if he's back.
Good move by the 'Stros. Sorry to see Kent go, but that $9M can be better spent elsewhere. Does create a hole in the lineup, but better production from 3rd is the key. C'MON MIKE LOWELL - the Fish expect to lose Pavano, Wade Miller & Ensberg might be tempting (and relatively cheap) replacements. Stros don't have much else of worth to offer in a trade.
This is step one in the Beltran process. Bidge moves into 2nd...Lane to left...and we have 9 million to put in the kitty for Carlos
I dont thin Kent was a piece of the puzzle Carlos wanted to see stay...i think he wants to make sure Berkman, Oswalt, and Lidge will be there.
Bigg as a platoon OF/2b guy fine. Full time at either spot? Uggghhh. 610 just reported that the Astros are gonna try to work out a deal with Kent at a lower rate... Don;t think the money will be there for a Lowell type guy unless they renegotiate with Baggie and trade a guy or two (Ensberg?).
Yep. Options are Biggio to 2nd, Lane in LF, or Biggio in LF, and Burke to 2nd. More likely to see Biggio to 2nd to bring another run producer into the lineup (Lane) vs. a setup guy (Burke). By bringing back Biggio, I think this means that we're gonna take another stab at a deep playoff run. If we lose out on Beltran, we absolutely must nab a guy like Lowell or Magglio Ordonez.
