Monday, December 12, 2005

Jon Daniels, the Rangers' new GM, acquired Vicente Padilla from the Phillies for a PTBN, who most likely will be Ricardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a young reliever who might be good someday but probably won't. Padilla, as Jack and I have said before, has the talent to put up very good numbers. He'll make $4 to $5 million in arbitration, and he might only pitch half a season, but he's the type of player who can win games under the radar. He'll never have impressive stats, but he'll give the team a chance to win whenever he pitches. Yes, the Rangers are going to eat their hats if Padilla's arm falls off. But at least they're doing something. Standing pat won't work.

I've heard rumors of as Astros blockbuster. Everyone has Lidge being traded away for a slugger. I think we need to hold onto Lidge for at least another year. He won't cost more than $4 million, and his arm is not going to fall off next year (Eventually... maybe.) But a proven closer is always nice to have. I think Qualls or Wheeler would be okay in that role, but I wouldn't like to see Russ Springer pitching important eighth innings. Anyway, Lidge is a great commodity for $3 to $4 million. Trade him next offseason.

3 comments:

Jack said...

And the Astros re-sign Mike Lamb: 1 year, 1.7 million. I don't really like it. Lamb is not a bad player, but he's ugly with the glove and he put up a .703 OPS last year playing mostly at 1B. That is quite bad. It's not a terrible move; neither is the Orlando Palmeiro signing. But they both continue to show me that Purpura is unwilling (hell, maybe even incapable) of coming up with creative solutions to problems. Erubiel Durazo? Travis Lee? Mark Sweeney? Nah. We'll take the proven mediocrity that is Mike Lamb. It's kind of like ordering the same meal every time you go to a restaurant. Yeah, it's ok, I guess, but there might be something better out there. Bad analogy, but a kinda bad move.

Jack said...

Rotoworld tells you all you need to know:

Lamb, who won't be eligible for free agency for the first time until after 2007, gets a $400,000 raise for hitting .236/.284/.419 line in 322 at-bats last season.

Ugh.

Andy said...

Thank you, Kenny Banya. I think I'll just have soup this time. Yeah, I'll get my dinner some other time.