I'm asking the question because there seems to be no shortage of differing opinions among those who follow the Astros online.

My assumption was that he had a full no-trade clause for the life of his contract, but now I think that's wrong. For one thing, Cot's indicates that the full no-trade clause is only from 2007-2010. (the complete no-trade idea is repeated here along with the claim that Lee has refused to waive his no-trade clause 3 times. However, there's no source referenced and the author isn't that reliable.)

I thought I read some posts in spring training that implied or claimed that Lee's full no-trade expires after this season, and he doesn't have any trade protection next season, but after the 2011 season he has 10-5 rights, so he can veto any trade. (See the Astros Fan Blog at the Chronicle for that opinion.) So the thought is that there would be a window where it might be possible to offload him. However, aside from the posts that mention that idea, I can't find anything to back it up.

I am now of the opinion that Lee will retain some kind of limited no-trade clause for next season and beyond. First, I did find this report by ESPN from 2006 when Lee signed with the Astros that states it. It doesn't describe the nature of the no-trade clause, but says that it exists. Second, it seems likely that if a player was concerned enough to negotiate a no-trade clause for the first four years, he wouldn't completely abandon that demand, especially in the later years of the contract.

I also found this link, from a site I haven't used very much, that says that before next season (2011), the Astros and Lee must agree to 12 teams that he cannot be traded to without his consent and those will serve as the limited no-trade clause for the final 2 seasons of the contract. What isn't clear is whether or not Lee will also be able to exercise his 10-5 rights in the final season of the contract. I don't know if that is a "right" a player can negotiate away in return for other terms, such as the limited no-trade clause in the 2011. I'd guess that he can contract to waive that right, but I don't have any way to confirm that.

Even the half hour I've wasted on this seems pointless. I have a hard time seeing how the Astros are going to be able to move Lee for much in the next couple of seasons. If he can really block a trade to 12 teams, then it seems it would be pretty easy for him to strategically choose the ones most likely to be willing to accept a player like him. In reality, as long as he is close to his offensive numbers of the past couple seasons, his contract isn't obscene, but merely distasteful. For me, his worst offenses are the perceived attitude of not really caring that much, the apparent lack of effort and the fact that he represents the worst of McLane's excesses. What can you say about a ballplayer who puts proximity to his ranch above playing for a winning team? It's Drayton's money and if he needs to suffer for wasting it on a half-assed ballplayer like Lee, so be it. I just wish I didn't have to watch him.

Continue reading this post »

Brocail back to Houston to have shoulder examined

In the linked article Footer reports that Brocail notified the team he was feeling discomfort similar to the tendinitis he reported back in Spring Training. Said he had trouble locating his pitches as a result during the game tonight.

""I had tendinitis in Spring Training, and the tendinitis went away and I thought it was all done and over with," Brocail said. "All of a sudden, it's back. Anytime I have to throw out of the windup to try to get on top of the ball, I'm in trouble. I'm a strike-thrower, and I couldn't find a release point to save my life."

 Astros.com

I don't know if this is a new feature or not, but I was alerted to it from a blog post on the MLBlogs network. The teams provide a link to the media information provided by teams on gameday. The info opens in a viewer on the web page and if you click the Print icon a PDF opens in a new window. 

The info provided is fairly trivial and available from various places, but there's info on upcoming starters for games, TV & radio broadcasts and other tidbits. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a RSS feed for it. 

You can click on the Gameday Press Pass to see links to all MLB teams. 

Astros Media Information

Link to Yahoo story

Charged for lying to Congress over steroids. Indications that there may be a plea deal arranged.

WASHINGTON (AP)—All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada has been charged with lying to Congress about steroids. Tejada is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday where he is expected to plead guilty.

The charges against Tejada, who currently plays for the Houston Astros, were outlined in documents filed in Washington federal court on Tuesday.

The documents indicate that a plea agreement has been reached with Tejada.

Messages left for his attorney, Mark Tuohey, were not immediately returned.

The documents were filed a day after superstar Alex Rodriguez admitted to past use of performance enhancing drugs.

Link

I dug into a story I wrote from last year's general meetings concerning the trade of Brad Lidge to the Phillies. You want to talk about luck playing a factor in a baseball season? Take this: The Phillies had a unique advantage in the Lidge sweepstakes, because the Astros' new GM, Ed Wade, ran the Phillies from 1998 through 2005. He knew outfielder Michael Bourn, and he valued him much more than anyone else did. Bourn OPSed a horrendous .588 for the Astros this past year.

The Mets were interested in Lidge at the time, as a setup man for Lidge's Astros buddy Billy Wagner, but Wade wanted a package headed by either Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez. The Mets couldn't do that, because they very likely knew at that point that Gomez would be needed to acquire Johan Santana, and they weren't going to give up Martinez for someone they perceived as a setup man; they wouldn't even trade Martinez for Santana. Even Gomez, somewhat of a disappointment for the Twins, OPSed .656.

So the Phillies received a circumstantial discount, influenced by something entirely out of their control: Astros owner Drayton McLane's decision to hire Wade.

Projected at least, by the same guy as before.

I haven't looked up his contract status. The web site linked has him a free agent with an option (don't know if it's a team or player option).

I'm not sure if the Astros would let Brocail go as a FA. If the rumors are true that we turned down a trade for him at the deadline and even after, and given our rush to the finish, Ed Wade probably thinks we're close.

This blog has spent some time reverse-engineering the Elias rankings, Detroit Tigers Thoughts. Based on his formula, Mark Loretta and Randy Wolf would qualify as Type B free agents, entitling the Astros to one extra compensation round draft pick if they are offered arbitration and sign elsewhere. Loretta was a type B free agent last year. (This is from memory, correct me if I'm wrong.)

I think that's the sum total of Astros possible free agents who would qualify for compensation.

Kyle Lohse somehow qualifies for type A status under these rankings, which means the Cardinals will get two picks for him if he leaves. Hopefully they'll sign him to a bad contract.

Ryan Dempster is a name I've heard thrown around as a possible Astros target, but I can't find his name on the list. Not sure if that's the result of an oversight, or what.

One, tossed off sentence in the latest column from Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News,

Mark Cuban's bid to buy the Cubs reportedly is $1.3 billion. Other franchises that are speculated to be available at the right price are St. Louis, Houston and Seattle.

I'm not very familiar with Ringolsby, but I think he's viewed as a credible reporter. My thought is that while it's probably not likely that the Astros are being shopped, McLane is probably willing to listen. Notice Ringolsby just says there's speculation that they may be available.

Drayton McLane's wikipedia page lists his age at 72 this year. He bought the team in 1992 for $115 million (NY Times article) and if I remember the last Forbes valuations correctly, the team could probably be sold for about four times that amount now. I'm not sure that I've ever read anything that talked about his family's involvement with the management of the team, so I don't know if there is an interest in continuing his ownership on a long-term basis. I wonder how the fact that the team will almost certainly finish this year having missed the playoffs for 3 years in a row will affect McLane?

My natural assumption is that the group that owns the Round Rock and Corpus Christi minor league franchises might be interested if there is a change to be made. I'm not sure how Nolan Ryan's current involvement with the Rangers might affect that possibility. If that's not practicable, there are plenty of wealthy folks out there who'd love to own a team. Maybe if Cuban gets rebuffed by the Cubs, he might look down the road to Houston?

Anyway, it's fun to speculate about baseless rumors. What else is the internet good for?

In his column debunking Miggy rumors, Ken Rosenthal has this to say,

The Astros have had "absolutely no (trade) dialogue about Miguel," one major-league source says, refuting an ESPN.com report that said the team was discussing a Tejada trade with the Red Sox.

The team's only discussions about Tejada, the source says, involve his long-term position. Tejada, 34, eventually will need to move to third base, but the Astros have a strong third-base prospect at Class AA, Chris Johnson.

Since this the first time I've read anyone call any Astros position prospect in the minors "strong," I'm curious. Who is Chris Johnson and does Ken Rosenthal smoke crack? Here's his stat line. Numbers look pretty decent, but I don't know what they're projected to translate into at the major league level. By my calculation he's 23 years old, which I think is a little old for a prospect at AA, but then again, all of our prospects are old it seems.

Anyone seen him, or heard of him before?

Also, what long-term plans for Tejada. Please don't tell me Ed Wade plans to re-sign him, assuming he doesn't request a trade in the off season.

(Updated link to stats)

Ken Rosenthal has an article detailing the Sox woes with Manny and includes the fact that they can't find a trade partner for him b/c of the problem of getting anything in return and Manny is crazy. Nobody has mentioned the Astros that I'm aware of, and they're not likely to, because we're so far out of contention.

Manny's contract expires after this season and there are consecutive one-year team options at $20M per season.

Carlos Lee, while not Manny's equivalent as a hitter is probably solidly in the next level down. He's signed for 4 more seasons after this one, at $18.5M per year (I think). Both are defensively challenged left fielders, but Manny is probably a better defender than Carlos.

Both Carlos and Manny would have to approve a trade. Carlos has a no-trade clause and Manny has 10-5 rights. Manny might require some kind of guarantee or extension.

Carlos would have to want to go somewhere if he's to be traded, but the defending World Series champs is probably the best baseball situation he could hope for.

What would it buy the Astros? We would regain payroll flexibility and control whether we want to spend roughly $20M over the next couple of years for a defensive liability. We would have to put up with Manny. I don't think the Red Sox would throw in anything else for us to take Manny, but perhaps we could send a major league player and get a minor league piece in return. (Boston is looking for help at SS; throw in Miggy and make it a blockbuster?)

This will almost certainly NOT happen. It would require the approval of two players, one of whom is crazy. It would require Drayton to admit he screwed up with his prized acquisition of Carlos Lee. The Astros would get Manny in return, which would fill the hole in the lineup for the next couple years, but would also get his temperament. You lose intangibles of clubhouse goodwill and fan approval.

Why I like it - Carlos Lee is a very good hitter, but he's overpaid relative to his production and that disparity will continue to get worse over the next four years. Say we guarantee Manny's remaining years, we trade 4 more years for 2 more years. Maybe that makes it easier to pursue 2 starting pitchers in the offseason.

What do you think?

Astros in serious talks about Padres lefty Wolf

The Houston Astros are engaged in serious discussions to acquire veteran left-hander Randy Wolf of the San Diego Padres.

Wolf, 31, is 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA this season. He began his career with the Philadelphia Phillies -- the former employer of Ed Wade, the current general manager for the Houston Astros.

Also, the Astros activated Humberto Quintero and option J.R. Towles back to AAA

Dave Borkowski was DFA'd

I'm sure most people around here are aware of BaseballProspectus.com, but I noticed that this week they're posting all their articles for free. One of the reasons I enjoy my subscription is for Will Carroll's injury updates. He has tons of sources and has spent a lot of time digging into the details of why injuries happen and how long it takes to rehabilitate them. Here's his take on Oswalt:

Roy Oswalt (30 DXL)
What the Astros are saying and what the medical information tells us about Oswalt are two different things. Oswalt was responsible for trying to pitch through what was thought to be just a mild hip strain, but beyond this muscle injury, Oswalt also has a disc problem in his lower back that's causing some radiating pain down into his leg. Cecil Cooper continues to give blank quotes about Oswalt getting on the mound, but this one is going to take longer than most are saying. Oswalt always pitches—and pitches well—through injury, but when he's shut down, that means that it's serious enough that the medical staff is, as one put it, "blocking the exits." Look for Oswalt to push to come back early, and with the Astros insisting that they're not out of the race, they'll probably let him. Considering how bad he looked in his last one-inning stint, that's not going to be pretty.

Fausto Carmona (60 DXL)
For some idea on how long just a hip adductor strain can keep someone out, the Astros need only look to Carmona. He's finally back on a mound after nearly two months on the shelf. Carmona had a mild setback along the way, though the Indians record has guided their pace as well. Carmona will throw on the side Monday in Anaheim in front of Eric Wedge and Lonnie Soloff after his rehab start went well over the weekend. He could be back in the rotation immediately, which would slot him in Friday, or given his performance at Double-A, they could elect to give him one more minor league start. One observer at that game in Akron said that Carmona didn't look to be pitching much, just trying to get in his work. We'll have a solid idea by this time tomorrow. Carmona likely won't get many wins, but he has a chance to put in 9-10 starts before the end of the season, returning some value to those that drafted him high.

Check out BP and the rest of the article.

Pence jumps back to the 2 spot and Tejada drops to 5. Berkman and Lee at 3 and 4 respectively.

http://blogs.chron.com/unofficialscorer/2008/06/astros_make_major_lineup_chang.html

Random manager quote generator-speak from Cecil Cooper regarding the change:

"I think they're all pretty much interchangeable," said Cecil Cooper, who pulls the trigger on the move following a stretch of scoring 40 runs in 13 games. "They've all hit 5, 4, 3. Except for Lance having a little bit higher on-base percentage; that's the only difference."

Following the last shake-up, the Astros embarked on a 25-game stretch of going 18-7 and hitting .280, averaging 5.7 runs per game.

"It was just a change; sometimes you have to change things," Cooper said.
"Maybe we'll get jump-started again."

one of two managers fined for slow game play ... not for poor managerial decisions.

I kid you not. This is kinda stupid in my opinion. Gardenhire of the Twins was also fined, which I think is a little strange, because I thought I read an article after these changes were pushed out saying that the Twins played some of the quickest games in the league.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-speedupfines&prov=ap&type=lgns

I was fortunate enough to snag some tickets to Friday night's game vs. that Yankees. We were in the upper deck, almost all the way to the top, directly behind home plate (section 417). Not a terrible view though. About the only thing that was really hard to see was whether pitches were high or low. We had a pretty good view of the plate.

Overall, home fans did a decent job (though I was puzzled at times). There were plenty of Yankees fans there tonight and several times they tried to get a Let's Go Yankees chant started, but the home folks managed to drown them out. After Jeter's HR in the 8th, there was plenty of cheering, but the boos overwhelmed them. So MMP wasn't overrun.

I was surprised at the level of vitriol directed against Derek Jeter and ARod. Both were booed at Carlos Beltran levels every time they stepped up to the plate. I guess I can understand people who view ARod as the culmination of everything wrong with baseball today (even though I don't share that opinion), but I didn't know people hated Jeter that much.

Jeter's HR was impressive to watch, even though it sucked.

It's hard to say for sure, but the home plate umpiring looked erratic tonight. A couple pitches in particular stand out, both called strikes: one a breaking pitch that curved way inside to Matsui and another to an Astros (maybe Lee) where Posada had to reach way up to the right to catch it and it was still a strike. He was inconsisent on the plate too. Also, I haven't seen the video on his balk call on Valverde, but it didn't look like there was anything different in his motion than on any other pitch. I think he called him for not coming to a full stop in the stretch. It seemed a really fine distinction from our vantage point.

Something that doesn't come through on TV: Valverde works SLOW! After every pitch he's stretching, or wandering around the mound or picking up dirt. The top of the 9th took forever. Maddening.

It was a cool surprise to have Rudy Guiliani throw out the first pitch. He got a big ovation. He also was out to the mound and back in about 5 seconds it seemed. Talk about a quick pitch.

Except for his first swing of the night, Pence looked bad, like he did to start the season.

Berkman getting caught stealing was dumb, but I see it more of an error of degree than kind. He was this close to having Chamberlain timed, and he just barely missed it. If things go the other way by a fraction of a second, Chamberlain delivers the pitch w/o checking on Berkman and he ends up on third w/o a throw. Tough play and that ended up really costing us.

No excuse for the later CS by Bourn and Wigginton though. I do have a question, and this goes to something that I've noticed about Bourn. He seems to lose focus when he's on the bases. There was a game last week where he got caught too far off second, and another instance where he didn't even try to score from 3rd base when a dropped third strike got away from the catcher. Tonight, when he stole 2nd base, he did so when the Yankees tried to pitch out. Instead the pitch got by Posada and ended up bouncing off the wall and back towards 3b. Bourn wasn't alert to that and dove headfirst into 2nd when there wasn't even a throw. I don't know how likely it was he could have made it to third, but b/c he was completely blind to the possibility he didn't even have a chance.

It was a fun ballgame to watch, even though we lost.

I had read some stuff on the internet that raised doubts about Lyles being a signability problem. Perhaps the high draft slot helped solve that problem. If nothing else this is a positive first step for the Astros' draft.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080606&content_id=2855000&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou&partnered=rss_hou

"The Astros' second pick, Jordan Lyles, agreed to terms with the Astros on Thursday night, and fifth-round pick David Duncan (No. 152 overall) signed with the team on Friday. They will both attend mini-camps prior to the start of the Minor League season, when Lyles will go to Greenville and Duncan will go to Tri-City."

Lyles was the compensation pick after the first round and David Duncan signed in the fifth.

Quick reaction around the 'nets seems to be that this was a stretch, possibly because he was the best rated catcher. Consensus that this was not the "best available" talent on the board.

We've drafted catchers in several of the last few drafts, and most of them haven't worked out well so far. I thought Towles was viewed as someone who would solidfy the position for the next few years. He has struggled obviously this year, but I'm surprised the team would give up on him.

I guess the optimistic view is that the Astros' brain trust thinks this guy can be an All Star at a premium position, or has a big enough bat that he can move to one of the corner IF positions w/ tolerable defense.

No idea about signability.

According to the story, it was over Pujols taking out Towles unnecessarily last night. Way to go Brandon.

TLR takes one of his characteristic cheap shots,

"I thought Albert did a fantastic job sliding to take his legs out," La Russa said. "The kid is not giving anybody room to slide, so that's what we teach. Slide in and take the legs out. He's going to get blasted one of these days."

It was clear from the replay that Towles wasn't blocking the plate. He was in a crouch right in front of the plate, but if Pujols had gone straight in he wouldn't have touched him.

 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5688255.html

Astros pitcher Brandon Backe and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols exchanged words on the field prior to tonight's game at Minute Maid Park and had to be separated by Astros manager Cecil Cooper.

The incident stemmed from a play in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game when Pujols slid into Astros catcher J.R. Towles at home plate, knocking him down. Pujols called the clubhouse 30 minutes following the Cardinals' 5-3 win and apologized for taking out the catcher.

As the Astros were leaving the field following batting pratice today, Pujols and Backe got into a confrontation.

"All there was to it was I just thought last night wasn't a very good play, and that's all there is to it," Backe said. "It's over with. Everything is said and done. He has apologized to Towles and everything's fine. He just talked to me today acting like I was pressing on about it. I don't understand where he's coming from."

Another report w/ some additional detail.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cardinals-astros-exchange&prov=ap&type=lgns

Towles said he thought Pujols slid into him instead of sliding into the plate, but that he accepted his apology and “it was over.”

Backe, a right-handed starter, said Pujols approached him and asked why he was “pressing on about it.” Pujols wouldn’t discuss it in detail, but said: “he had a problem with me calling over there.”

“You guys don’t need to make this bigger than it is,” an obviously annoyed Pujols said before walking off.

Backe had plenty to say about it though.

“I felt violated,” Backe said. “I felt like he confronted me at a wrong time. I don’t think it was very professional.”

Backe was still red-faced from the exchange several minutes after it ended.

“It’s apparent that we don’t like each other,” he said. “That’s OK. There’s plenty of other people I don’t like in this game. It doesn’t matter. The competition between he and I just escalated.”

Also, to see the play in question, follow this link and click the replay of Glaus' two-run double. The third replay near the end really shows that Pujols went out of his way to slide thru Towles, when he wasn't blocking the plate and there was no play there.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/multimedia/tp_archive.jsp?c_id=stl&ym=200804

According to NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2007/09/06/2007-09-06_ankiel_received_12month_supply_of_h gh_ne.html