Originally Posted on 12/12/07Well, Ed Wade has struck again... is the new GM of the Astros trying to ruin the franchise? Actually, I do like the addition of Miguel Tejada to their team but I think the price the Astros paid to acquire the former MVP was too high!
With two years remaining on Tejada's contract and a total of $26 million left to pay him, I thought teams would be able to trade for him without giving up a surplus of talent. But that's just what the Astros did. Houston sent Baltimore OF, Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfare and recently acquired 3b prospect, Michael Costanzo. Five for one seems pretty steep considering the Astros received an aging middle of the order bat with declining defensive skills. Heck, Tejada has been declining offensively too.
The move does allow the Astros to push the incumbent starting shortstop Adam Everett (great defender, bad at the plate) on the trading block or on the bench. The offense is improved overall but by how much? The Astros who struggled to score runs in 2007 will benefit from Tejada who can now bat fifth behind Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee, not to mention the young star Hunter Pence but in looking at Tejada's recent numbers, are they that much better than Luke Scott and his potential? I guess one important fact is Scott didn't have a position with Pence swifting to RF for the new speedster Michael Bourn. But look at the numbers from last year;
Miguel Tejada: 514 AB / 72 runs / 152 hits (only 38 for xtra bases) / 18 HR / 81 RBI's and a batting average of .296 with OPS of .799 (by far his worst offensive season)
Luke Scott: 369 AB / 49 runs / 94 hits (51 for extra bases, more than half) / 18 HR / 64 RBI's with a batting average of .255 and OPS of .855
Now you throw in two promising young arms in Matt Albers and Troy Patton (who was expected to start for Houston) and you have to ask yourself, did the Astros give up too much? I think they did... this team needs pitching and now they'll have to sign some free agents to make up for loss of these two young arms. Good trade for the rebuilding Baltimore Orioles, I'm sure they're not done as they now look to move anyone not named Nick Markakis, including starter Erik Bedard.
Houston, you're problems aren't solved yet... good luck finding pitching.
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