Super Sunday Links 30 October 2011

Sign ALL of the washed-up players!

It’s worth noting that what the Astros can do in the off-season will depend on the ownership situation. So, I suppose that may mean that if Selig draws out the approval process, we can look forward to Michaels as the team’s free agent signing.

I probably would prefer to suffer through Sanchez rather than ruin Paredes’ career. Paredes should start the season in the minors if he is going to learn how to play shortstop. Paredes has only played 31 games at shortstop in his 5 years as a professional (and he committed 20 errors at shortstop in those 31 games). It doesn’t seem responsible to expect him to learn how to play shortstop at the ML level. That said, I didn’t get the impression that Wade really wants to convert Paredes to shortstop—I think Campbell is sort of playing it up for news value. Wade said that he doesn’t want to make Paredes convert to another position after Paredes spent so much work last year learning how to play 3d base. And Wade said that Paredes is his starting 3d baseman right now.

For what it’s worth, it appears that Paredes has been playing 2d base in the DWL. That’s not surprising if there are 3d baseman on that team’s roster.

I don’t put much faith in the asking price he gave Colorado in the summer. He usually starts off with a high asking price (e.g., Minor and Delgado in the Bourn trade), and then settles for a much lower trade price. The advantage of an off-season trade is that a GM can try to get a broad bidding war going. But will Wade do that…or will he just zero in one trading partner, which seems like his pattern?

Astros’ All Star In Action!