C'mon In! New Owner, New Menu!

So as long as MLB approves the owner and Uncle Drayton approves the deal, we have a new guy at the top.  I am not gong to go on about whether Ed Wade or Brad Mills or the guy in the Orbit costume will be around next year (do they still do Orbit?  No?  Bummer.) but I will say this.  There is a large number of free agents next year, pitching in particular, that will be available most likely.  The Astros have a small group of players that are worth keeping around if a new owner, should choose to go the route of putting together a good team.  Most of this group is young.

My thing this season is this.  Trade anyone who gets hot that does not fit in with plans for next season.  Wandy gets hot, trade him.  Myers gets hot, trade him.  Pence, Bourn, Norris, Wallace, Happ, those type of guys, they stay.  Everything else must go, trade for lower A prospects or whatever the best yield would bring, and include in that trade strategy, chunks of players at AAA.  There are guys at AA Corpus who seem to make up better than what is in Oklahoma.  I would promote them soon, and move the dead weight place holders out.  I am sick of the coddling attitude-bring them up and see what happens.  Yeah, if they struggle, that happens.  Long time solidified vets struggle too.  I would rather see someone named Paredes fail than someone named Hall, both of whom play second base.  

I would trade any veterans and marginal performers like Sanchez, Michaels, and the like basically, cut and trade.  The reason I say lower prospects is higher long term upside, maybe. 

The potential free agent class next year will represent an odd and often stupid decision time for the new owner.  There is deep starting and relief pitching that may be available.  There are a number of old contract options that were signed a few years ago that now are overvalued all around not desirable.  There are a number of veteran sluggers and good position players available, some of which have not yet met that magic age of decline of 30.  If one were to build on some of the younger players the Astros have, and be willing to spend a decent amount of money for a group for say a one to three year period and give the minors time to produce, then well, all hope is not lost.  I'm not talking about Russ Ortiz or Kaz Matsui, but Brandon Phillips and guys with the names of Oswalt and Buehrle and Garland and Carpenter or if you will, Berkman, Infante, Hardy, or Swisher.  Bell, Broxton, Capps, Cordero, Papelbon, Valverde.  Or Kubel, or Donner, on Dancer....

There are a number of possibilities, and frankly, since the 2007 season, Uncle Drayton has not provided a good club and has hamstrung his GM, who in turn, did not help things much with guys like Pedro Feliz and a few others.  At the end of the day, I'm an Ed Wade fan mainly because he has tried to turn the Astros around more from the ground up.  At the top, he probably could not trade Roy and Lance-period-until it became obvious it was up to the owner.  Uncle Drayton rode the nostalgia car until it ran out of leaded gas.  If anything, Tal Smith needs to go, and Wade should get to stick around or at least be given a promotion of sorts.  Not for the Astros we see playing now, but those we will hopefully be seeing in a couple of seasons.  Uncle Drayton, after getting burned with Carlos Lee, Woody Williams, Jason Jennings, (okay, Purpura) wasn't spending shit.  Uncle Drayton only slapped that scoreboard up for the same reason one gets a car repainted before it is sold or a roof is replaced on a house before it is put on the market.  

The Uncle Drayton era is looking at sunset.  The next owner can spend some money, evaluate some of the in house, MLB-ish ready talent, and put a competitive team on the field that can score and pitch.  I see constant references to "lack of power" on various clubs by the sports media, the national types in particular.  Got news for you-those people are living in the past or are Yankees fans.  Power hitting now relies on the Braun's and Werth's, that have sweet swings, or the Adam Dunn's and Prince Fielder's that are well, big dudes that can smack a ball.  Speed, defense, pitching, plate discipline, timely hitting, situational hitting, that is as potent sometimes as two guys on and swollen 270 pound guy at the plate.  Those guys will be fewer and farther between until MLB teams learn to recruit young athletes better.  Averages are down.  That 36 year old just cannot catch up with fastballs like he could ten years ago, because he's not using PED's (or as much).   Check out the free agent types for next season.  A resourceful GM could probably put together a potentially good team, by fitting available free agent types to the young nucleus of pitchers and position players, that the Astros sort of have.  If I owned the team, that's what I would do, and with the market shift, as it were, not doing that if you aim to field a good team would just be stupid, especially when considering that the free agent depth will likely be nice. 

I would not make off season trades with the little minor league talent available that did not yield an impact player.  Not that the Astros are in a position to do that.  I'm just saying.  It looks to me that if the new owner wants to make his mark, it must be with two starters, a closer, and three or so hitters that are expected to be impact hitters.  If that does not happen over the next year, the Crane Era will open with a fizzle.  Out.