I'll admit, when i first heard of the rumor of a lee for omer asik swap i thought NO! His stats didn't look that great, and I don't remember him doing anything in any Bulls game that I have seen on TV. Then i checked out some youtube videos and I know, these videos are just a sampling of gameplay, but Asik does have skills and apparently likes to dunk it strong at the rim, which is always fun to watch! Click on the 2nd link for Asik's very nice help defense (i'd like some of that for the Rox plz and thank you) on tyson chandler; he really stuffs the tyson chicken man!

Check it out!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfrmULWL7WA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEFUhNUeCs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2oyja54bB4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

I was just checking some box scores when I came across the mavs raptors box score (link here: http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=301228006).  I didn't notice the actual score at first, but rather, I saw that Joey Dorsey started at center for Toronto. I was surprised to find that he only had 2 personal fouls and had a + - of +6. Then, I saw the score and was like wow, Toronto beat Dallas. Good job Raptors! And good to see Dorsey get a chance to play. I bet he had a couple of Gorilla dunks!

I recently found on Yahoo that the Dodgers

have been very aggressive in their pursuit of pitching,

and that

they [the Dodgers] continue to call on the Houston Astros on Roy Oswalt.

Here's the link

I know that the Dodgers are one of the top teams out there in terms of payroll, so they could take on Roy O's contract, but I would like the Astros to pay a portion of his contract if we could get better prospects.

SO to the prospects the Astros could potentially receive from the Dodgers:

I started out my search for these prospects by looking at the Dodgers SB Nation which is True Blue L.A.

I found some of my work already done for me in posts by regulars on that blog.

Here's the latest minor league report.

On a side note, I was surprised to find that former Stro Brad Ausmus was/is playing for LA's triple A club. I'm not sure if he is just on a rehab assignment, or he just accepted a minor league assignment.

So back to the prospects:

• Dee Gordon, SS: He is probably the Dodger prospect the Astros covet the most. According to John Sickels of Minor League Ball, Gordon was the Dodgers highest rated prospect at the beginning of the season (link). He has plus plus speed evident by his 36 steals in 368 at-bats. That's Michael Bourn speed. Bourn has stolen 28 bags in 335 at-bats, which is about the same rate.  Gordon also could potentially have better contact skill than Bourn because of his 22/52 BB to K ratio to Michael's 36/68 BB to K ratio. Gordon has less K's than Bourn in more at-bats. Also, Gordon is only 22 years old, has good bat speed, and could add to his lanky frame as seen in this video, so he could develop more power. To clear up some stuff, I don't mean to say bad things about Michael here. I like Bourn, and I feel that Gordon is similar to him, so I made the comparison. So, to Gordon's defensive skill, he is listed as having "outstanding range and a good arm at shortstop" via the scouting report that comes with the video link above. Overall, Gordon is an elite prospect who is good on both sides of the ball. Just think, potentially a better version of Bourn at Shortstop!
  

• John Ely, SP: now to a pitcher the Astros could acquire. He is a name you may have heard of because he has played at the major league level this season, and because the other guys here at TCB have mentioned Ely as a player that could be included in a deal to the Astros. From the start he had against the Astros some time ago in LA, I feel that he is a control pitcher who does not throw too hard. Fastball sits around 88-89 MPH, and he has good control of his secondary pitches especially a "dandy" of a changeup as Jimmy Deshiaes would say. He had great success early this year for Dodgers, but had some bad starts recently, so he was demoted to triple A. I see him as possibly a No. 4 starter at the major league level. Just throwing it out there, but maybe a Dave Bush type of player.
  
• Chris Withrow, SP: The Astros will probably demand this guy to be included in a potential trade. John Sickles from Minor League Ball says the Withrow has "excellent stuff," so I assumed he has a plus fastball and some other secondary pitch. His stats this year reflect his stuff (82 K's in 86 innings), but he has control problems. He has 44 BB's this year (link). Looking at his minor league stats, he has done worse this year than the previous. His ERA has increased and his K rate is lower this year. I was thinking that this was due to his promotion to a higher level thus there would be a higher level of competition, but he had 6 starts at double A last year where he did very well with a 3.95 ERA and allowed opponents to only hit .240. This year he is pitching in double A for all of this season so far and has a 5.09 ERA and has allowed opponents to hit .271. Maybe those six starts are not enough to say that he has dominated double A just yet. Besides, he's only 21 years old. He's got time to adjust to double A. In additon, in his last 10 starts he has a 4.14 ERA and has 52 K's in 50 innings of work. To give a comparison to another player, he looks like a Bud Norris type of guy with possibly better stuff with his secondary pitches which I cannot find, but assume he has some quality offerings. He has potential for top of the rotation material, but he does not look major league ready just yet. As he finds better control, he will have more success. With the Astros, he would be awesome coming up to the majors with Lyles as two potential aces.
• Trayvon Robinson, CF: He is the last prospect I will detail in this post. He is 22 yrs old, and is doing well at double A this year (link). He has 17 dbls and 8 hrs already in 324 at-bats, so he has power potential. He also has 29 steals, and again, that is right on par with Bourn's 28 steals in 335 at-bats. Robinson does strikeout more than Bourn with 89 K's, but has a decent amount of walks with 44 BB's. John Sickels lists him as a "toolsy outfielder" who did well in single A, and is now continuing that success at double A. So for the Astros, even though we have depth in the OF, we could always use a good prospect such as Robinson. His addition to the Astros down the line along with Bourn and maybe Gordon would give us 3 guys who could steal 40 bags a seaon EACH. That's how we'll generate runs, but Robinson could also develop into a 15-20 hr power guy.

JUST EDITED to add another potential pitcher to the mix:

• James McDonald, SP: I forgot about this guy, maybe because I did not find him on prospect lists, but this morning I saw on ESPN his start against the Giants. I thought I remember somewhere that he was a pitcher with a mid-90s fastball and with control problems, but the Espn highlight told a different story. I saw readings of what I think is his fastball to be around 91 mphs. I don't believe that is his changeup because I saw him throw an offspeed pitch at 83 mph that look like a changeup. Now this start/my observation simply from an espn highlight should be taken with a grain of salt. So I then went to find some more concrete evidence. I went to MLB.com's gameday for that Giants game. I found that McDonald actually threw his fastball at around 92-93 mph and sometimes dipped to 91 mph. The thing I found most interesting is the movement on his pitches. According to gameday, his fastball had 5 to 7" break. I think that is a ton of movement, so quite possibly, he is throwing with less velocity but with more movement and control. He could be throwing sinkers now. At 92-93 mph, he could have a very solid sinker.
  
• He also has some secondary pitches. According to gameday he threw curveballs and changeups. The curveball registered at around 79-81 mph and the changeup was actually pretty close to that velocity as well sitting at 80-83 mph. Now I believe that gameday could have confused some of McDonald's changeups as curveballs and vice versa. But nevertheless, his offspeed stuff had good movement with 7-8" break for his change and 10-12" break for his curveball. Looking at the final box score for that game, McDonald threw 90 pitches with 59 of them for strikes. That's not too bad, but also take into consideration how many hits he gave up in only 5 innings of work... 9 hits, and I believe that each of the pitches that were put in play and became a hit are a strike in his pitch count. He also walked two, which is not too bad either.
• I also found an article by Tot Holmes via dodgers.scout.com. Although it was written in 2008, the scouting report on McDonald seems accurate with what I found via gameday and the Espn highlight. McDonald is listed as being "consistently in the 90s" with his fastball and "hitting 95." Holmes also says that McDonald has a "superb changeup." His delivery has "deception," so that another positive. McDonald had some great minor league seasons including one at double A where he posted a "1.71 ERA and holding batters to a .218 mark. In all, he finished with a combined 13-9, 3.07 with 168 strikeouts (and only 37 walks) in 134 innings." That's elite prospect numbers, and I was surprised to find that he only walked 37 in 134 innings, so maybe he doesn't have much control issues. Overall, I think McDonald could develop into a No. 3 pitcher, with potential to be a No. 2 if he has better control, as in not laying the pitch over the middle of the plate (a potential problem evident from the 9 hits he gave up yesterday to the Giants).  
  

In conclusion, the Astros will probably ask for some combination of Dee Gordon and one of the pitching prospects. The best deal I see is Oswalt and possibly money to Dodgers for Gordon, Ely, and maybe Robinson. I would be happy with that trade. Also, if the Dodgers need a 2nd baseman of utility guy than we could also give them Keppinger. Future MI with Gordon at SS and Altuve at 2B... probably the speediest MI ever!

UPDATED conclusion: I believe McDonald also could be in the trade mix. After seeing what OremLK said about the Dodgers possibly deeming Gordon as "untouchable"  and me thinking about more likely and logical trade scenarios, I believe Mcdonald could become a likelier trade chip along with some of the other prospects listed above.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AvTL1JfFJ6LAgavCxP.AxBU5nYcB?slug=ys-mockdraft1round062110

Interesting that Cousins is actually falling down in the draft according to this mock draft. Maybe that would make it easier for Morey to trade for that pick by not having to give up as much. In any case, I trust Morey with whatever he does (swindling another team lol!)

I need more words so I'm going to type more stuff. I like it how Yahoo used the Rockets old logo (the actual Rocket logo). Go USA in the World Cup! Beat Algeria and we move on to the next round!

I just read this off of the Astros website. It's a good sign that the Astros are signing their draft picks. I'm very excited that we were able to sign Folty because he looks like he is going to be a solid maybe even star pitcher for the Astros.

Continue reading this post »

I recently visited Rockets.com and found this video of awesome plays throughout last season. After seeing it, I'm all excited again for the upcoming year of basketball. I just can't wait to see Yao back in action with Martin, Brooks, and hopefully Luis. At least I have the draft to look forward to and the fifa world cup. USA! USA! Down them Brits!

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/2010/04/26/0910PlaysOfYear2Mbcopymov-1301471/index.html

I was going through MLB.com again looking at the draft. I scrolled though the Astros draft picks and click on the draftees who had scouting videos on them and found some interesting looking prospects. My thinking is that if MLB took time to make a video for a prospect, then there might be something good going with that draftee. Also, I am not David Coleman, so my post with not be as awesome as David's posts (props to you David!), but I hope you find my post helpful and interesting.

12th Round: James Robinson, RHP, Georgia Tech

• My analysis is based fully on the video, but from what I saw, he looks like he has okay stuff. Throws 88-91 MPH on the fastball. His 2 Seam Fastball has some good movement that could get some groundballs, but I didn't see any secondary pitches in the video.  
• Being a college pitcher, he probably is more developed than most pitchers and probably has good control, but that is all hypothetical. In conclusion, I believe he'll be a bullpen guy for the Astros with his average stuff and lack of projectability (as far as I can tell from his body). Whether or not he has any success as a pitcher depends on the development of his secondary pitche(s), which I'm sure he has some.
• Here's the link

32nd Round: William Chrismon, RHP, Menchville HS (Virginia)

• Now this pitcher looks like a big guy for a high schooler. Most of the top picks in the draft obviously have a ton of projectability due to their length and lack of muscle growth, but Chrismon looks to have already filled out his body, so there's little room for improvement there.
• On the other hand, he could grow more or develop more arm strength which would up a few ticks on his fastball, which, according to the video, sits around 88 MPH. Chrismon also shows a breaking pitche in what appears to be an okay curve.
• What does all this mean? I believe he will be another bullpen guy for the Astros who could help in long relief like a Brian Moehler or if he develops a little better stuff, he could be a Jeff Fulchino (big, durable relievers). The thing that caught my eye is how Chrismon looks a little like Roger Clemens. His stocky stature, his looks (as far as I can tell from the video), and lastly his pitching motion is similar to the Rocket, especially at the side view of the high schooler. Well, I think I have just forgotten the last factor in projection... ROIDS! If Chrismon starts using those, then he is a sure shot to becoming a reincarnation of the Rocket!...... JK, guys! I don't condone taking steroids or any other type of performance-enhancing drugs i.e. cheating the game. And I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Chrismon if he takes any insult to my purely hypothetical analysis.
• Check out his pitching motion: 

33rd Round: Michael Ness, RHP, Duke

• He's a Dukie! I'm not sure how competitive the ACC is in baseball, but I do know that UNC is a good program in that division. Surely, Ness has faced the Tarheels, so he has had some good competition. I actually found some stats on this guy from the Duke website. He is a relief pitcher who threw 44.1 innings, striking out 38 and walking 11 in 2009 (via Duke website). I find some of his accolades in high school much more interesting:

High School

• Two-year letterwinner at Seton Hall Prep
• Earned all-state and all-county honors as a senior after going 11-2 with a 1.89 ERA and 111 strikeouts
• Captained the team as a senior
• Named National Pitcher of the Week by USA Today on June 21, 2006
• Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America selection as a senior
• Led Seton Hall Prep to state titles during his junior and senior seasons
• Went 8-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 75 strikeouts as a junior to earn all-county and all-area accolades
• National Honor Society member

• My thoughts on his success so far including his gaudy numbers at Seton Hall Prep, is due to his ability to command his pitches. Ness features a good 2 seam fastball and what looks like a solid breaking pitch (slider?) He also has a changeup (possibly a straight changeup). From the video, I could see him as a control pitcher who commands both sides of the plate with his 2seam fastball to the outside corner for lefties and his slider that runs in for lefties and vice versa for righties. And his straight change works well against lefties and possibly righties. He has a simple delivery where he hesitates a little, which could through off a batter's timing. He's also a 6-foot-4 guy, so he has good height. He could develop more stuff by adding muscle strength through professional training.
• In conclusion, I feel that Ness could be a back end starter for that Astros down the line. With his control and sharp slider, he could be an innings-eater who gets a lot of groundballs. Or he could just end up in the bullpen as he has at Duke and as many pitchers are projected when drafted this late.
• MLB Video:

Round 44: Thomas Pecoraro, RHP, Half Hollow West HS (New York)

• This pitcher appears to me as the one who has the most potential out of all the the prospects I have listed here. Apparently he's on the High School 92 MPH Plus Club.
• There's not much else I could find on the guy, but I guess being on this list of high school pitchers is not a bad thing. Just think, he's included in a "select" group with Jameson Taillon!
• So anyway, looking at the video multiple times, I gleaned that he is a lanky pitcher (where have we heard that before?). Also, it looks like he has a short-arm delivery that creates some deception to his fastball. The ball appears to have some late life. There was no evidence of any secondary pitches, but I'm sure he has one or two.
• So what does this all mean? I think with his lanky frame, little polish because he is a high school pitcher, and with some muscle growth and refinement of his delivery, Pecoraro could surprise and be a back end starter. His stuff should get better, and he has some deception with his delivery. Another scenario could be that he is a set up man in the bullpen. He might find success pitching to a batting order only once with his short armed delivery and sneaky fastball.
• MLB Video: 

 Thanks for reading my post, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment.

Hi fellow Rockets fans! Henry here posting for the first time. Here it goes...So the Suns have lost to the Lakers after 6 games. I thought I would be feeling sad right now because I was cheering for the Suns all the way. I don't like the Lakers (hint, hint the title above), but their victory over the Suns got me thinking about the Rockets' epic series with the purple and gold last year. We came into the series down a star player in... wait, who was that guy again?..... oh yeah, TMac. Then the Rox even lost Yao midway through the series. But of course, we played our hearts out and rallied to have some pretty awesome double-digit, might i say DOMINATING victories at Toyota Center. Ahh, before I conclude let me relish in the great moments in last year's battle: Brooks alley oop from HALFCOURT, Carl's POSTER of Odom. Crazy Fisher """"accidentally""" elbowing Luis (I wish Luis had given Fisher an """accidental""" elbow, but Luis and the Rockets are better than that).We have class.

So anyway, I believe the Rockets are the best team behind the Fakers up to this point because they (the Rockets) were the only ones to take Kobe's squad to 7, count em SEVEN games in the playoffs. Orlando DIDN'T in the Finals last year, Utah (don't get me started, did they even win a game?), and the Suns lost in 6. Now let's see what the C's do this year against the Fakers. I know Kobe is looking for some revenge for the last time these two teams met in the finals. Again, I don't know who to REALLY cheer for in the finals, but if the Lakers win in 6 or less....

NEW COMMENT BY ME: I would like to add that I only wrote this post because I noticed the lone achievement by the Rockets in taking the Lakers to seven games in a playoff series, and I was merely giving our Rockets props for grinding out the series. I KNOW the Rockets WEREN'T the 2nd best team last year, but next season they could and should be one of the top teams in the LEAGUE. And I think I'm cheering for the Celtics now because I think Rondo is a beast, and I like KryptoNate (that's how you spell the green rock superman succumbs to right?).

Thanks for reading and please comment! :)