Let's get Kurt Russell to throw out the first pitch next game...

First movie I think of is Escape from New York, after that this great movie,

and I confess, two movies he made are sort of Saturday afternoon type movies that I think are pretty funny, Overboard and Captain Ron.

But seriously, after the 4, there is Valverde and what else? Nobody will take Carlos.

— Trade Miggie, Lee, and/or Pudge for whatever you can get. Lee and Tejada would be dangerous DH players in the AL for a team looking to make the next step and Pudge would be a good veteran backstop player for either league. Trade them and get what you can for them because they only have a couple of years left anyway.

Tejada – on the last year of his contract, so you’re not going to get much anyways. And there’s a pretty good chance that his production down the stretch is nowhere close to what it is now.
Pudge – on the last year of his contract. At this point, he’d be a few months of average catching.
Lee – untradeable. He’s got that clause he has said he won’t waive, and his bloated salary would make a good trade unlikely, anyways.

- Bring up Chris Johnson to start playing 3B consistently as he can’t be any worse than Blum. Get him some quality playing time for next season.

Actually, he could do much worse than Blum. And if the organization doesn’t think he’s ready to contribute at the major-league level, then he probably isn’t.

— The Four Horsemen – No matter what anyone tells you, you have to keep Pence, Berkman, Oswalt, and Wandy. Roy is a below market priced ace, Wandy is your best #2 or #3 pitcher option on a shallow pitching staff, & Pence/Berkman give you a core IF and OF player to build around. Anyone else on the MLB squad is fair game.

Really? These are the Astros’ only real trading assets. Pence is still in club-controlled years, so he’s VERY valuable. Oswalt’s having problems now, but he’ll probably rebound. Same goes for Lance. Wandy is in a weird situation: he’s having a great season, but this is his last arbitration year. But, really, if you want to rebuild the team, these are the guys you have to trade. And Valverde.

— Houston has never had a clearance sale, but then again, we have never gotten less out of more before. Times have certainly changed.

And you’re not advocating that. You want the Astros to dump their older, less consistent players (and Lee’s horrible contract) but keep their only trading pieces. (As an aside, we HAVE had fire sales, but it was a long time ago).

— Fire Cooper – Nice guy, but right now heads need to roll if you want to get any ounce of motivation squeezed out of the players right now. They need to know that the next few months will be a period of new faces coming thru the clubhouse. If you want to be able to see them, start playing better!

Honestly, he’s really not killing the club. He’s not helping, but he’s not destroying Paulino’s arm or anything. I don’t really have a problem with him, so long as the Astros aren’t in a pennant race.

The Astros are in no position to be picky. Again, other than Pence, Berkman, Oswalt, and Wandy, you trade what you can and get what you can.

-Tejada could be an everyday player or a DH in a flash. Believe me, the AL race is going to be very tight this year and I think Tejada could be a bat a team looking to make a move would make.
-As far as Lee, his contract stinks. I think you still trade him and pay some of the salary to offset the burden he would become financially to another team for the quality ABs he would provide
-Concerning Pudge, I’d say keep him for another year until Castro is ready, but again, no reasonable offer denied!
-With Valverde, I’d trade him in a heartbeat, but his injury will cause people to not offer near as much as him healthy next season.

And as for those saying let’s keep the team competitive, exactly what games have you been watching? Yeah, we caught fire after the All-Star break last year only to finish third in the Central. What did that get us? Nothing. Not to take a page out of Ricky Bobby’s self-help book, but “If you ain’t first, you’re last!”. I would be willing to bet whatever that the team as-is would finish no better than 3rd in the Central for the next three years. Attendance is down already so make the moves while it won’t hurt as much. Bring up all the young guys who are still young enough to recover from major league jitters and let’s see what they can do.