I had a little chat with JT last night, and we both came to the following conclusion...

ASTROS SIGN BELTRAN!

If you read my article from yesterday, you will see that I decided we did not have enough money to spend on Beltran. And that is partially true. But there might be a way to do it...by trading Jeff Bagwell to the Boston Red Sox.

Why does this work?

1. Bagwell is from the Boston area. He grew up cheering for the Red Sox. He has said that he dreams about playing in Fenway Park. He wants to do it.

2. Bagwell can DH in the AL, and he can still dominate at the plate. His main fault now is his fielding, where he can not throw the ball from first to home. He can still put up a 900 OPS in his sleep.

Bagwell is set to absolutely rake in the dough the next few years, so I am sure we will have to take on some of his salary, or take on an expensive Red Sox player, but most of their players are up for free agency next year anyway. So maybe we keep paying Bagwell 7 million a year, find some cheap 1B or shift Berkman to 1B and find some cheap LF, either position is easy to find a cheap decent hitter, and then we have at least 15 million a year to spend EVEN AFTER signing Berkman and Oswalt....so we call up Scott Boras and offer Beltran a 5 year 75 million dollar contract....CMON BELTRAN, MORE THAN VLADI!!!! He has to do it. He must do it. This must happen...am I dreaming? Oh sweet Beltran....come to me...

2005 Astros

CF Carlos Beltran
3B Morgan Ensberg
LF Lance Berkman
RF Jason Lane
1B Travis Lee, Jeremy Giambi, Jay Gibbons, Brad Wilkerson, Adam Dunn, Xavier Nady, Matt Stairs
C John Buck
2B Chris Burke
SS Adam Everett

Cmon, JT, you gotta admit, that would be beast. I am bringing it.