Internet Flotsam & Jetsam

Kaz Matsui was a good offensive player in his first year in Houston, and we can only hope that he repeats the his 08 performance next year. I don’t know if he will or not; but it’s possible.

My feeling in 09 was that Kaz’s back problem was affecting his swing. An odd result for Kaz in the 09 season is that he posted an approximate 130 point OPS advantage vs. LHP. Career-wise he doesn’t have much of a platoon split, and if anything he usually hits RHPs better. His poor performance vs. RHPs this year may reflect some kind of injury effect which affects one side of the plate.

Perhaps the back exercise regime which doctors told him to follow this year will improve his hitting too. In Sept./Oct. Kaz had a .756 OPS and 4 HRs. Optimistically, perhaps that indicates how his offiense may improve when his back is OK.

As far a managerial candidates, I wouldn’t advise any of them to tell McLane that this team isn’t a champion—-at least if they want to be a manager for the Astros. I think McLane equates unbounded optimism about “becoming a champion” with a positive attitude.

"He and I have been talking on the phone a lot," McLane said of Wade. "I’ve been in Washington at a military conference, but we’ve talked about this on the phone a lot.

It is often mentioned that Drayton made serious money in the grocery business. But one look at his McLane Advanced Technologies page makes me think he’s a more complex guy than folks like McTaggart, Justice, and JdJO let on.

They’re going to release the names of managerial candidates 24 hours before they’re interviewed and keep the list secret until then, but they’re dropping some interesting hints about who might be on their list:

"We’ll probably reach out to about 10," Wade said. "Don’t hold me to that number, but we’ll probably reach out to about 10.

This probably means that a number of guys on the list have not yet expressed interest in the job or agreed to interviews.

Because some of the candidates are working for clubs in the postseason, there is a chance Astros officials will travel to interviews

"We’d like to do the bulk of the interviews here. If possible we’ll do some flying if the candidate is in the postseason. We are going to reach out to a couple of guys involved in the postseason. There is more than one person involved in the postseason, yes."

Interesting names who fit this description:
- Tim Bogar (1B coach, Red Sox, former Astro)
- Larry Bowa (won Manager of the Year for Ed Wade’s Phillies in 2001 by getting within 2 games of the division title one year after being in last place)
- Brad Mills (bench coach, Red Sox, former 1B coach for Phillies under Wade)
- Ron Roenicke (current bench coach for Angels under Scioscia, former 1B coach under Joe Maddon)

There’s a mix of what you would refer to as veterans along with young managerial candidates.

Manny Acta and Tim Bogar both fit the “young” end of the spectrum, and guys like Bowa and Fregosi would certainly fit the veteran description.

Any more candidate ideas?