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Yesterday was relatively uneventful as the winter meetings began to wrap up for the Astros and all the other major league teams. The Astros left the winter meetings only acquiring Anthony Bass on the major league roster, but did make considerable effort in talking to other teams and agents and sending out offers. As McTaggart reports, the Astros had offers for several players as the meetings come to a close.
Jeff Luhnow said Astros have several offers out to free agents.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) December 12, 2013
Some of those offers were declined, such as the one made to Mike Morse, whom the Astros reportedly were very interested in signing. He signed with the Giants yesterday morning for a 1-year, $6M dollar contract, a price that was just too swiss chocolate for the Astros.
But the other players the Astros have had rumored interest in, like James Loney, Matt Thornton, J.P. Howell, Jose Veras, and Chad Gaudin, remain unsigned so far. Hopefully the Astros land at least one of the latter four guys. We will just have to wait and see, though.
Another rumor on the day came up in the form of a Shin-Soo Choo pimple, which had to be concealed with makeup very quickly:
One veteran GM believes that the #Astros will wind up to be the landing spot for Shin-Soo Choo
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 12, 2013
Yeah, and I told my parents I believe I'm getting a new car for Christmas.
Shin-Soo Choo shoe doesn't come in half-sizes. Either it's not big enough and won't fit, or it's too big and will flop around, becoming a nuisance to walk in. If there's any team willing to pay Choo, it won't be the Astros. End of story. Fire me if I'm wrong. But really, a Choo signing is just very, very unlikely.
Besides, the bullpen is a much more immediate need anyway. And a need that won't require long-term contracts.
