Monday Morning Hot Links

Good morning everyone and happy Monday to you all. Let's talk sports. The Astros beat the Angels again yesterday afternoon 3-1 and continued to stay up 1.5 games on Oakland. Correa and Marwin brought in our only runs as Framber Valdez was dominant again allowing 1 run in 5 innings with Peacock, Rondon, and Osuna doing their job as well. Jack Baer has your full recap here.

Astros-A's tonight. One team will want it. One team will not. Springer will be back in the lineup tomorrow, despite some incorrect rumors swirling about the Internet. The Crawfish Boxes has your series preview here.

ESPN Senior Writer Tim Keown spent ten days inside the Astros clubhouse. It is very good and is the link you should read if you only have time to read one.

I know this was touched on yesterday's Hot Links, but this dang Verlander receipt makes me angry simply because $10.00 Cranberry Juice should be absolutely illegal.

A.J. Hinch is the Coach.

We!

Got!

More!

Stares! (just not in chronological order)

I also suggest watching everyone else's dugout stare on Twitter. And if you want EVEN more Dugout Stare content, I am working on a side project involving this viral movement that I hope (fingers crossed) I can get out by the end of the week. Stay tuned.

Somebody made a big 'ol Astros cornmaze.

Fresno clinched a playoff birth on Saturday night, which is the first time the team clinched at home.

Speaking of Fresno, Kyle Tucker did it again.

Brian McCann hit a home run in Corpus Christi yesterday.

Apparently Yankees bloggers believe they match up well against the Astros.

A lady got out of a ticket because she wrote the heck out of this poem.

Most vanilla ice cream doesn't have vanilla, cream, or milk in it but I truly do not care because it tastes good.

On This Day In Baseball History

In 1982, Rickey Henderson broke the single-season stolen base record with his 118th stolen base.

In 1999, Vladimir Guerrero's 31 game hitting streak ended, the Expos franchise record.

In 2007, Drayton McLane fired manager Phil Garner and GM Tim Purpura.

In 2015, the White Sox wore really bad collared jerseys. Like, really bad.

"The single biggest commitment in the history of the Houston Astros"

When the 2006 season ended, the Astros were coming off an 82-80 record, and a final two-month stretch where they went 33-24. On September 28, 2006 Roy Oswalt beat Tom Gorzelanny and the Pirates, 3-0, to close the Cardinals' division lead to half a game. Roger Clemens lost a 4-1 game to the Braves' Chuck James (while the Cardinals beat Milwaukee, 10-5) to push the Astros back to 1.5GB, the final deficit of the season.

But the Astros, at least on paper, had reason to feel good. They were a year removed from a World Series appearance, and had been 1st or 2nd in the division for six straight seasons (and twelve of the previous thirteen seasons from 1994-2006). If you didn't really look at the minor-league system, the Astros had put together as dynastic a franchise as you could find in the NL Central.

Sure, the average age of the position players was 30.5 (and pitchers 29.8), but the Astros were going to do what they had always done - and that was compete. The Astros didn't rebuild. And they had money to spend. Roger Clemens ($12.2m) and Andy Pettitte ($16.4m) were coming off the books for 2007. Oswalt, Adam Everett, Morgan Ensberg, etc, would be getting raises, but nothing approaching the $28m available for free agents.

In 2006, the Astros were last in batting average (.255), next-to-last in slugging (.409), and were in the lower half of OBP (.332), resulting in a .741 OPS, ever-so-slightly higher than the Cubs, and only better than the Pirates. Preston Wilson was the primary LF in 2006, hitting .269/.309/.405 until he got released on August 12 (and signed with the Cardinals six days later), and the Astros could look at possible replacements.

28-year old Luke Scott got 249 PAs, and hit .336/.426/.661 (including 50 games at LF, where he hit .340/.426/.612). Would they give him a chance to be the everyday left fielder?

When free agency opened, there were some big fish out there. Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, and Aramis Ramirez (who opted out of his deal with the Cubs) were the prime position players in addition to Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, and a Japanese pitcher named Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The name that stood out to most Astros fans was Carlos Lee. Lee was traded midway through the 2006 season by the Brewers (when they realized they weren't going to be able to re-sign him to a long-term deal) to the Rangers on July 28, who were 2.5GB of the Angels, and 2GB of the A's. But the Rangers weren't interested in re-signing Lee.

During 2003-2006, Lee hit .290/.344/.513 (119 OPS+), with 131 homers, 329K:206BB, for (according to FanGraphs) a 14.1 WAR over those four seasons. Also, Lee had a cattle ranch in Wharton. Surely he would be interested in Houston, with its short left field?

But Houston wasn't the only team looking to spend the owner's money. Nick Cafardo listed the Cubs, Red Sox, Orioles, and Astros as the four major players in the 2006 free agent market. The Cubs were interested in Soriano and Lee, as were the Orioles, the Dodgers, and the Phillies.

Phillies' GM Pat Gillick, on Lee:
"He's a nice looking player, someone who would definitely draw some interest," Gillick said, adding he has spoken to Lee's representatives...Lee is listed at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds and there have been questions about him being out of shape, but Gillick said his size isn't a concern. "Lee is a heck of an athlete," Gillick said.

Baltimore VP Jim Duquette, on Lee:
"We're in the mix, definitely,"

And the Astros were working on signing one of the two - Soriano, or Lee. And then the Cubs signed Soriano to an 8-year, $136 million deal, surprising all of baseball, and surprising Tim Purpura:
"If it's to the numbers that are being reported, we've certainly not been involved to that level. We've certainly been involved to a high level. But to the terms and the dollars (reported for Soriano in Chicago) we haven't been involved that high."

With Soriano off the board to the Cubs (who allegedly outbid the Angels by $50m), those other teams might be persuaded to step up their pursuit of Lee. Meanwhile, Purpura knew he was in a balancing act:
"It's not just about today, it's about tomorrow and on to the future. You don't have the record we've had over 14 years by being shortsighted. It's a real balancing act. You've got to take care of today as well as tomorrow."

The cost of Carlos Lee was getting out of control. On November 21, Justice labeled it an "understatement" to say that the bidding was "far beyond" what the Astros expected.

The Associated Press began free agency predicting that the winning team on Lee would need to go to four years, and $50 million to sign him. But that was before the Soriano deal rocked the market, which meant anyone who wanted Carlos Lee was going to have to fly past the 4yr/$50m mark. Richard Justice said on November 19 that it was down to the Orioles, Phillies, and Astros. And the Orioles were offering six years at $80-90 million, which which Justice suggested the Astros should pass on.

They didn't.

Tim Purpura:
When we met this offseason to plot our strategy, we set up our goals for what we wanted to accomplish in the offseason market in the free-agent market and the trade market. Our first priority was to increase our offensive production in the outfield."

Carlos Lee:
"I know this is a team where I have a good chance to win a championship. I've always liked this team, they're always very good, and I like this ballpark. I like a lot about Houston. That's why I told my agent this was one of the places I'd like to play."

Was it too much money for too many years? Everyone seemed to think so, but it was worth it - at least for now.

Justice:
Drayton McLane overpaid to get Carlos Lee, but he did get him. And because he got him, the Astros didn’t just get better Friday. They got way better. That six-year, $100-million deal is considerably more than the Astros thought they’d have to spend, but the market took a dramatic turn upward with Alfonso’s Soriano’s $136-million deal.

There were concerns about his fielding ability, but the Astros had two power bats in the lineup for the first time since Bagwell left.

Tim Purpura:
"This is a historic commitment to winning,"

Phil Garner:
Carlos will fit very nicely in the middle of that lineup -- oh, my goodness, that's going to be nice. I'm sure that Berkman is over there enjoying his turkey dinner a lot better right now, knowing there's just no way now they're going to get around him. By adding these two guys we'll be definitely better."

Even The Crawfish Boxes (or at least StrosBro) were fired up:
I think we overpaid for Lee, but I think we should have. I'm ecstatic on both of these signings.

Drayton:
"I remember watching Carlos with the White Sox and with the Brewers and he broke our hearts a few times. His statistics are as good as they get...This is by far the biggest single commitment in the history of the Houston Astros."

Ultimately, the Astros made too long of a commitment at too high a price. But that's what we know now. Sure, there was the pre-diarrhea feeling that things were going to go badly, but at the time, from a major-league standpoint, Lee made the Astros better. And after the run the Astros had since 1994, standing pat would upset the fan base.

The deal worked out exactly as it was supposed to, except the Astros weren't ready for it. And the point of the whole preceding Whatever is to show that Lee was highly sought-after, his salary was inflated by the obscene Soriano contract, and the Astros weren't in a position (from your casual "Hey-let's-go-to-the-game-tonight" fan) to start rebuilding one season removed from the World Series.

If you look at the guys around him, Morgan Ensberg dipped from a .283/.388/.557 line in 2005 to a .235/.396/.463 (still enough for an .858 OPS, but propped up by 101 walks in 495 PAs) line in 2006. He made it through 85 games of weakened numbers in 2007 before getting cut. Biggio was gunning for Hit #3000. Berkman was coming off a 1.041 OPS year. We criticize the Astros for not blowing it up earlier, but the Astros wouldn't be really interested in letting Biggio try to get his 3000th hit in an empty stadium.

It's easy to criticize the Carlos Lee deal now that he's going to take up about a third of the Astros payroll in 2012, the final year of his contract. But the context is important.

Bill Geivett interviewing today

Rockies Assistant GM Bill Geivett flew into Houston this morning to interview for the GM position.

Meanwhile, Tim Purpura ended up getting the Rangers' farm director spot.

And in other GM news, Jon Heyman sez that the Astros will do whatever it takes to sign him but his friends say they think it's a long shot.

So the Astros might get a Rangers exec, and the Rangers might get Purpura

The Astros have asked the Rangers for permission to interview Assistant GM Thad Levine (and, as Sullivan reports, possibly A.J. Preller) for the vacant GM position in Houston.

And in a related note, the Rangers have interviewed Tim Purpura for their own vacant farm team director position.

In the best example of "Telling Half the Story" we've seen in a long time, we turn to T.R. Sullivan:
Purpura was the Astros' assistant general manager from 1997-2004 under Gerry Hunsicker and also served for seven seasons in the dual role of farm director. The Astros were named the Major League Organization of the Year in 2001 by four different entities. From 1997-2005, the Astros went to the playoffs in six of nine years, including 2005 in Purpura's first year as general manager.

Ed Wade understands why you hate Carlos Lee

Here's a remarkably open piece by Steve Campbell about Carlos Lee and his public perception.

Wade:
“A lot of the stuff right now is a little bit of the same-old, same-old stuff about Carlos with the defense and the size and that nature. Some of that is probably magnified by the two trades we made of players who were very popular and known for their athleticism. People want to turn around and somehow shine a negative light on Carlos. I don’t think it’s justified or warranted, but it’s the nature of the public game that we play.”

Campbell points out a lot of statistics in Lee's favor, but it's basically a reminder that, if you boo Carlos Lee, you're really booing Tim Purpura.

Want to hear a Purpura story?

Here's a piece in Sports Illustrated about a July 2006 deadline that would have gone as follows:

Houston sends Roy Oswalt, Morgan Ensberg, and Adam Everett to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada.

Baltimore sends Oswalt to (a) the Mets for Lastings Milledge and Aaron Heilman, (b) Rangers for John Danks and Thomas Diamond.

So however you feel about Ed Wade, he's not Tim Purpura.

Tim Purpura got himself an award!

Baseball America says that Tim Purpura was given the Arizona Fall League's 2010 Roland Hemond award prior to the Rising Stars game at Surprise Stadium on Saturday.

No confirmation yet on Purpura's signing Hemond to a 6-year deal...

John Royal: Forget Purpura, this is Wade's team

John Royal has a new column up over at Houston Press, and it challenges the notion that this isn't Ed Wade's team:

At the conclusion of Sunday's game with the Padres, 16 of the 25 players on the Astros major league roster were players brought on board by Ed Wade. This includes Michael Bourn, Pedro Feliz, Matt Lindstrom, Brandon Lyon, and Brett Myers. It also includes Casey Daigle, Jeff Keppinger, Jason Michaels, Humberto Quintero, Angel Sanchez, Oswaldo Navarro, Jason Castro, Gustavo Chacin, Wilton Lopez, and Tim Byrdak. So for some guy who hasn't had much time to shape the roster, it sure looks like he's been doing some shaping.

It's a good point. But what about all those contracts?

Sure Wade has to deal with the stupid contract that McLane handed out to Carlos Lee, and the Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman contracts were handed out before he took the GM job. But anybody who has followed Wade's career, or knows how to Google, knows that Wade gave out stupid and unexplainable contracts to the likes of Jim Thome, Pat Burrell, and David Bell.So while he might not have been the one who signed Lee as a free agent, there is precedent to show that Wade would likely have been on board with that deal were he able to do it himself.

It's depressing in nature, and well worth a read. I've thought that Ed Wade had a perfect job, mainly because he can deflect poor decisions on to Tim Purpura and Drayton. I think most of us can agree that whatever happens with Roy will be Ed Wade's defining moment. What if he does nothing?

Ed Wade: Doin' Work

In Tyler Kepner's blog post for the New York Times (!) has a quote from Ed Wade, regarding the Astros' approach to rebuilding:

"The eventual goal is to make sure that our core nucleus is coming from within, because that provides not only the strength from a competitive standpoint but also long-term stability. That gives you the opportunity then to supplement or augment what you’ve already got. There’s no magic to this. It’s dogged, determined scouting, and it’s the commitment Drayton has made to allow us to strengthen our scouting budget and do things on the player-development side that we need to do."

So, Keith Law, try not to put the sins of Tim Purpura on Ed Wade's shoulders.

The $100 million men: A breakdown (literally)

Hey, remember when Carlos Beltran almost single-handedly propelled the Astros to World Series in 2004 (I will always contend that the 2004 team was better than the 2005 team)? Of course 2004 was a contract year, and Beltran hit eight home runs and hit .980 (approximately) in the 2004 post-season. This resulted in the Astros offering Beltran six years and $102 million, which Scott Boras then scampered off to New York, and got Omar Minaya to give him seven years and $119 million (which, interestingly enough, Beltran would have made more money in Texas due to the lack of a state income tax. Did this matter to Boras? Does a rat care where his cheese comes from? Hell and no, it doesn't.)

This turn of events led Tim Purpura to decide, "Well, we have to give $100 million to somebody!" And that man was Carlos Lee, one season later.

Let's see how the investment has stacked up, comparing the same years (2005-2009). Of course, Lee's numbers will include one season with the Brewers and half a season with the Rangers, but still...

Player	Games	BA/OBP/SLG	K:BB	XBH-RBI	OPS+
Beltran	677	.281/.368/.505	445:359	306-466	127
Lee	760	.295/.348/.520	315:246	341-551	123

Cases can be made for the ridiculousness of both contracts: Beltran's horrific face plant into Mike Cameron, 2009's injury-plagued season, the fact that he has an arthritic knee, and just had a surgery that could keep him out of the lineup until May, possibly against the wishes of his team. But when he's in the lineup, at least he can play defense - something that Lee is sketchy at doing, at best. But looking at the numbers, and the fact that in the same amount of time, Lee has played in 83 more games and put up similar numbers...maybe we should thank Scott Boras for running off to New York.

Purpura drops some knowledge on Lidge

Scott Lauber, of Delaware Online, is worried about Brad Lidge. So naturally, who do you ask? Tim Purpura.

Here's the verdict:
"When he throws his slider for strikes, it's tough to hit him. Watching him from a distance, it seems like goofy things have happened. A bloop, a flare, a double down the line, and now, that changes the pressure gradient. Now, instead of throwing the slider down and away, it ends up over the heart of the plate."

Interesting. So, throwing your breaking ball for strikes. That's the key. Who knew?

Jason Jennings has a very strange idea of what we find heartening

In the Dallas Morning-News' blog this morning, we're told that Jason Jennings "finally feels healthy again."

From Jennings:
"I wanted to show those fans something because they never got to see me really pitch well because of the injuries. I wasn't able to do my job. Now I am."

So...yay. Good for him. I guess Tim Purpura pulled that trigger two years too early.

This kind of hurts

From Peter Gammons' column:

Rays manager Joe Maddon maintains Ben Zobrist has blossomed into "one of the most valuable players in the game. I have no fear of playing him at seven positions; he's a switch-hitter and he has power. He's an amazing weapon."

Remember Ben Zobrist? He was traded by Tim Purpura for Aubrey Huff in July 2006.