The Bvich Report

Going into the MLB trade deadline at 3:00 PM CST Monday, the Astros were mentioned in numerous trade rumors.

In the morning, they were supposed to be among the top bidders for Miguel Tejada and Alfonso Soriano. San Diego reliever Scott Linebrink was also mentioned as a possible addition. According to ESPN, Astros' owner Drayton McLane "ordered" GM Tim Purpura to trade Brad Lidge, and 30 minutes later the same source said that Lidge was "not being traded" (which makes you wonder about the credibility of ESPN's sources.) Starting pitcher Roy Oswalt was also rumored to have been included in a possible deal.

But, when 3:00 PM came around, the Astros had not pulled a trigger on a single deal, and that was the best decision made by the front office all year.

Face it Astros fans, but this season is over. It hurts me to say it just as much as it hurts you to read it, but the Astros need to start thinking about 2007 at this instant. If you were watching the disastrous weekend series against Arizona, you will probably agree with me. This team just does not have the heart or the talent to do it. The Astros are worse at the fundamentals then almost any other baseball team I have ever seen. Too many veterans that were key members of last year's World Series team have underachieved.

Getting Soriano for two or three prospects would not have helped. His contract would be up at the end of this season, and with Soriano having no roots in Houston, not to mention the fact that the Astros are never the highest bidder, the chances of him helping in the long run were small.

Miguel Tejada would have had a better chance of helping, but still would have been a shot in the dark. Although he has two seasons remaining on his contract, Tejada has been in the league long enough to where he could demand a trade at the end of this season if he wanted out of Houston. I can not say whether he would demand it or not, but the possibility tells you not to shell out top prospects for what could be a two-month stay on a team that will not be competing in September.

What the Astros need to do is say that next year is here. They need to start working on fixing the problems of this year. We must know what is going on in Brad Lidge's head. Maybe the leak of demanding he be traded will give him a clue that a 5.74 ERA has not; that he needs to get his act together. Morgan Ensberg also has had a disappointing season just one year removed from being named team MVP. The Astros need to make sure he is not a one-hit wonder.

The Astros need to look at some of their younger talent. Starting pitcher Jason Hirsch is 12-2 with a 2.03 ERA at AAA Round Rock. Outfielder Hunter Pence is hitting .296 with 24 home runs, 24 doubles and 79 RBIs. These two prospects need to be brought up and put into Major League games. They could be the future stars of this team. We need to know if they are for real.

The Astros also must sign at least one, if not two, free agent sluggers this offseason. The offense has been anemic the last two seasons. Improvement is needed. Plus, they will most likely be without Roger Clemens', Jeff Bagwell's and Andy Pettitte's contracts after this season. That should leave enough room to make a big splash in the free agent market, maybe for a catcher who can hit his weight or a left fielder who can play a caram off of a wall and not strike out 93 times in 100 games.

It feels weird to say it because it is not something we have had to say about the Astros very much, but the Astros should be playing for 2007. If the 'Stros get some kinks worked out with the rest of this season and make one or two key additions, next season will be a great one.

Chorizo, a tasty Mexican sausage, will join fellow meaty friends Hot Dog, Bratwurst, Polish and Italian as the newest member of the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages team at Miller Park.

Chorizo, who will be adorned with a sombrero and decked out in red, green and white, will be formally introduced on Thursday at a press conference at Miller Park.

Latino community leaders had lobbied the Brewers and Klement's to add a Mexican mascot. The unveiling is in conjunction with Cerveceros Day, set for Saturday night at Miller Park.

The addition of a 5th Klement's Racing Sausage should provide Klement's and the Brewers with new marketing and promotional opportunities, especially in the growing Latino community.

In the heat of the pennant race, I like this move for the Brewers. Nothing makes my hangover better than some chorizo migas, and it is good for this sausage that is highly popular in Texas but not well known around the rest of our nation to get some recognition as a fine pork product.

Last season, Chicago White Sox General Manager Ken Williams stood pat at the trading deadline. His patience led to the Sox' first World Series title in over 80 years.

This season, Williams is shaking things up for Chicago's quest for two in a row, as the White Sox made one move Monday and are reportedly close to acquiring possibly the best hitter on the trading block.

The White Sox traded with the Kansas City Royals Monday for relief pitcher Mike MacDougal in exchange for minor league pitchers Tyler Lumsden and Daniel Cortes.

MacDougal was activated off the 60-day disabled list following the All-Star break after missing the first half of the season with a strained right shoulder.

In four games for the Royals this year, the 29-year-old right-hander had allowed two hits in four scoreless innings with one save. He has 50 career saves with a record of 10-14 and a 3.88 earned run average in six seasons. MacDougal will likely become the setup man for White Sox closer Bobby Jenks.

In addition, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported that the White Sox are "extremely close" to making a deal with the Washington Nationals for outfielder Alfonso Soriano. The Nationals reportedly have interest in White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy.

Soriano joined Washington last offseason in a trade from Texas, and the Nationals shifted him from second base to left field. Soriano is batting .288 with 31 homers, 62 RBI and 25 steals.

Soriano, who is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season, said Sunday he wanted to remain in Washington but doubted he and the Nationals could agree to a contract extension before the deadline.

The five-time All-Star said he spoke with incoming Nationals president Stan Kasten on Thursday, but they did not discuss contract details. Soriano added that he does not think his agent, Diego Bentz, has discussed numbers with the Nationals either.

The main thing keeping Soriano from resigning with the Nationals is a no-trade clause. Soriano wants one included in his contract, but Kasten said that he refused to included them in other contracts that he has negotiated in recent years as an executive with the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Thrashers.

According to Yahoo Sports' Jason Cole, NFL sources have said that the New Orleans Saints' first round selection Reggie Bush not only will hold out of training camp, but he will consider sitting out the 2006 season and entering the 2007 draft if he does not get his price.

According to the Yahoo! story, Bush would not have a problem sitting out should he decided to do so. He reportedly has $5 million in the bank from several endorsement deals that he has done since leaving the University of Southern California after his junior year.

This would be a boneheaded decision for Bush to make, and would certainly mean disaster to the New Orleans Saints.

Bush, who has been offered a contract worth around $26 million, would go through a public relations nightmare should he sit on the couch in 2006. When the Saints drafted him in the 2006 draft, Bush stated that he wanted to "help rebuild New Orleans."

Saints fans responded, buying 15,000 season tickets in the weeks after he was selected, bringing the total sold to over 55,000 for 2006. That number is the highest number of season tickets ever sold in New Orleans, which just ten months ago was completely ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Should Bush not sign with the Saints, the situation will be a disaster that the Saints will never recover from in New Orleans. Saints' owner Tom Benson is already not very well liked in the City amidst constant threats to move the team if a new stadium is not built. It is no secret that both he and the NFL would like the team to move to either Los Angeles or San Antonio. After Katrina, New Orleans residents have had very little to cheer about, and are looking forward to the Saints bringing the city back together after the horrific disaster, and Bush has been advertised as the face of the franchise.

If Benson does not sign Bush, there is no doubt that the city will be against him almost 100 percent.

On second thought, I have never been much of a conspiracy theorist, but could Benson purposely not sign Bush in order to have more of a reason to bolt for a market that would be deemed more lucrative?

Even if Bush does end up signing with the Saints, he will be quite a bit less popular. Hundreds of thousands of people that were left with nothing in the aftermath of Katrina might find it somewhat hard to root for someone who thought that $26 million was not enough.

Either way, this is looking to be a bad situation in the Crescent City. Bush needs to get this settled as soon as possible so as to avoid any possible ill will with his future fans.

Bush may think he is making a good decision, but this is definitely not a Heisman winning decision. This is a lateral in the Rose Bowl decision.

BREAKING NEWS

The Washington Nationals began what could be an interesting youth movement Thursday when they made an eight player deal, acquiring outfielder Austin Kearns, shortstop Felipe Lopez and right-hander Ryan Wagner from the Reds in exchange for relievers Gary Majewski, Bill Bray and Daryl Thompson, infielder Brendan Harris and shortstop Royce Clayton.

For the Nationals, Kearns and Lopez will report with the team in Pittsburg on Friday, while Wagner will be sent to AAA New Orleans. For the Reds, Majewski, Clayton and Bray are expected to report to Cincinnati for tomorrow's game against the Colorado Rockies. Harris will report to Class AAA Louisville and Thompson to Sarasota in the Gulf Coast League.

This deal should benefit the Nationals in the long run. Lopez was the man they wanted, and they were willing to shell out some great prospects for him. In addition, Austin Kearns was a great pickup as well. A change of scenery should help him, as he has always been lost in the shadows of the crowded Reds outfield that includes Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. Wagner will also have a new opportunity to fix up his career which has gone awry since a spectacular debut campaign in 2004.

This is a deal that should work out well for the Reds. Majewski and Bray have both been solid pitchers out of the bullpen and both have ERAs under 4.00. This should help shore up a bullpen that has an ERA of 5.32 and has blown 13 saves this season. Because Lopez was who the Nationals wanted and Juan Castro has been struggling this year, Clayton will take over at shorstop for the Reds. The prospects recieved were among the best in the Nationals system, with Harris, Bray and Thompson being the 5th, 6th and 7th ranked Nationals' prospects according to Baseball America.

This deal definitely improves both teams. The Nationals have acquired a couple of fairly young players that have put up good seasons that they can build around for next season. The Reds have picked up some very effective help for the biggest hole on their team, the bullpen. With Majewski and Bray, the Reds should be holding on to more leads in the second half of the season. If they keep bashing the ball, they will be players in the NL Central race until the final days.

BREAKING NEWS

The Houston Astros today fired hitting coach Gary Gaetti and hired former Astro Sean Berry to take his place on an interim basis.

Gaetti, who has been in the Astros organization since 2002, looks to be the main man to take the blame for the team's lack of offensive production the past two seasons. In addition to being 24th in MLB in runs scored in 2005, the Astros this season are tied for last in the NL with a .256 team batting average, are 23rd in MLB with 408 runs scored and are 19th in MLB with 391 RBIs.

It is hard to say whether Berry will have any kind of impact on the Astros' offense, but Gaetti definitely was not getting the job done. Yes, it does fall on the players to perform, but with 2005 team MVP Morgan Ensberg slumping at .236, Jason Lane hitting a paltry .205 and Willy Taveras coming down with Willy Mays Hayes syndrome and hitting the ball in the air too often, there is no doubt that the hitting coach bears some responsibility for the lack of punch in the Astros' offense.

If this deal does anything, this move, as well as the trade for Aubrey Huff and the demotion of Lane to AAA Round Rock, tells Astros hitters that they need to shape up soon or more changes will be made.

"After getting the deal done for Huff, we thought it would make a strong statement," Astos GM Tim Purpura said. "How do we drive it home with our hitters? We can't wait for Aubrey Huff to just come in and save the day. We need to make a change here, and put players on notice that there is expectation here. We want a fresh perspecitve, a changing of the guard."

"We need a fresh perspective, a new point of view."

That fresh perspective, according to Purpura, is Berry, one of the original Killer B's from the mid nineties. Berry hit .283 with 39 home runs and 190 RBIs during three seasons at third base for the Astros from 1996-98 and helped the Astros win division titles in 1997 and 1998. Berry posted his best season with Houston in 1996, when he hit .281 with 17 home runs and 95 RBIs.

It is July, which means that the race for the few good players on the ten or so teams not in contention will begin to heat up.

The first team to make a move is the Houston Astros. They announced Wednesday that they had acquired Aubrey Huff and about $1.6 million from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for two minor league prospects; pitcher Mitch Talbot and infielder Ben Zobrist.

This move should turn out to be wonderful for the Astros. They get a proven left-handed bat that is a career .287 hitter and has a career OPS of .810.

Huff has been hot lately. Since June 1, Huff has increased his average from .189 to .283 and his OBP from .293 to .348. He is hitting .433 with 5 HR and 15 RBI in his last 23 games. This gives the Astros three hot left handed bats in their order with Lance Berkman and Mike Lamb also tearing the cover off of the ball at the moment. Huff should give heavy hitter Berkman some protection in the lineup, but three left handed batters in a row in a lineup means that teams will have to use their "left handed specialist," who is usually a subpar pitcher, against these three late in the game, instead of having a right hander intentionally walk Berkman.

Also, Huff's upward swing should continue as he has been a second half player his entire career. in 2005, he hit .320 in July and .283 in August, in 2004 he hit .289 in July, .385 in August and .310 in September, and in 2003 he hit .294 in July, .359 in August and .302 in September after putting up lesser numbers in the first half of all three seasons. His career stats look like this:

AVG OBP SLG OPS
Pre All Star .273 .335 .442 .777
Post All-Star .303 .351 .515 .866

This should line up well with the Astros, who never seem to start playing good baseball until halfway through July.

Huff is also versatile. He can play 3B, 1B, LF and RF. This means that the Astros can play Huff in RF which keeps Mike Lamb's bat in the lineup at 3B and puts Berkman at 1B, which is where he should be after undergoing knee surgery 20 months ago. This should also be a slap in the face to 3B Morgan Ensberg, the 2005 team MVP who is currently hitting .236 and, after hitting .329 in April, hit .216 in May, .145 in June and is currently hitting .200 in July.

The move has forced the Astros to send RF Jason Lane to AAA Round Rock. Lane, who is batting .205 in 2006, has been the poster boy of the Astros' offensive struggles this season.

The Astros also did not have go give up an arm and a leg. According to Baseball America, Zobrist is ranked as the Astros' 16th best prospect and Talbot is ranked as the 26th best. The Astros were able to add a solid bat to the lineup without compromising the team's future by trading away top prospects.

However, probably the most exciting thing is what Astros General Manager Tim Purpura said at the press conference announcing the trade. Purpura said getting Huff was a "great first step" in making a push during the second half of the season. This means that the Astros are not yet done with any midseason acquisitions.

Who will it be? Names being thrown around are Miguel Tejada, Scott Linebrink, Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. Any of these players, or possibly any other solid bullpen arm, can and probably will be enough to turn this slumping team around and push them into the postseason.

The next month should be exciting for Astros fans.

On Sunday, one billion people worldwide were supposed to tune in to the final game of the 2006 World Cup. That is one out of every six people on this entire planet. That is an astounding number of people to be watching one single event at one time.

I made sure that I would be one of those one billion people watching.

I had watched quite a few games in this World Cup, and over this year's tournament I became a bigger fan of the event. I did the same thing in 2002, when I set my alarm for 3 AM the summer before my senior year of high school to watch the US make their surprising run to the quarterfinals. Being in Europe during the World Cup in 1998 also gave me an interesting perspective of the game.

I am officially a US Soccer fan. I just ordered my US jersey on eBay (which saved me 35 bucks to get it there as opposed to buying at a store.) I might also become a Houston Dynamo fan. I have not decided on that one yet.

For the first time in my life, this World Cup has actually introduced me to a little bit of the strategy of the game. Plus, the fans in the stands are as passionate or possibly more passionate than fans of big-time college football programs.

Additionally, you have to love a game when you can tell your wife that you will take out the trash at the next commercial break and still be legitimately avoiding your chores 40 minutes later.

All of this said, however, there is just something about soccer that just does not sit right with me. And this one reason alone keeps soccer from becoming one of my favorite sports.

Soccer players are the biggest pansies I have ever seen in my entire life.

Soccer is nicknamed "The Beautiful Game," however there is absolutely nothing beautiful about some long-haired Italian falling to the ground crying and writhing in pain like he had just torn his ACL, cracked a couple of ribs and been kicked in the testicles all at the same time, then getting up five seconds later like nothing had happened.

The sad thing is, it is not like they even got the wind knocked out of them. They are just faking the injury to get a foul called.

It is about as low as a human being can get in my opinion. It shows a lack of sportsmanship and a lack of respect for the game.

You do not see anything like this in other sports. In football, baseball, basketball, hockey or any other sport, if you are down then you are in pain. You are hurt. Your fellow athletes in any of these sports would not respect anyone who fakes an injury for any reason. The only equivalent is flopping for a charge in basketball, and players like Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili who have reputations for flopping also have reputations of being weak players and whiners.

However, in the Italy vs. US game, numerous Italy players rolled around on the field like their careers were over. The stretcher came out for Italians three times. One of these times, you can see at the bottom of the screen the Italian player climb off of the stretcher, grab a swig of water and jog back onto the field without a limp.

It seems to be done better on this side of the pond, however. In the same game, US star Brian McBride took a cheap elbow to the face from Daniele De Rossi and began to spout blood like the black knight in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. However, not one complaint was made and not one tear was shed. McBride got stitches on the sideline and toughed it out the rest of the game.

FIFA should do something about this problem. If a player is carried off of the field on the stretcher, he should have to sit for five or ten minutes. If it hurts their team, a player will be less likely to fake or overexaggerate an injury.

FIFA could even create a pink card to give to a player who faces an injury. Not only would they have to miss the next match, but this would also keep track of who are the biggest actors. League leaders in pink cards would have reputations as the biggest pansies in soccer.

Soccer seems like it is a great game, but if I am watching a sport, I want to watch real men play hard and act like gentlemen to try to win the game legitimately. If something were to be done about flopping in soccer, the sport would undoubtedly have one more big fan right here.

Unfortunately, I cannot find real men on the pitch. I will have to keep looking to the gridiron, the diamond and the hockey rink.

Definitely have not seen this anytime recently.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=457540

To me it is just interesting to see that the Brewers will be trying to make a move to acquire a veteran before the trade deadline. Until this year, the Brewers had been one of those teams that was unloading their veterans at the trade deadline for prospects.

Now the Brewers, who are only 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central, are looking to grab a veteran to make a push for the playoffs.

Will this move work out for them if it goes through?

Probably not. The Brewers do not have the offense to make a serious run at the playoffs. They are in the bottom half of the league in batting average, RBIs and runs scored.

Plus, the competition is too good. The St. Louis Cardinals will finish the season strong. The Cards still have the most potent offense in the division. The Cincinnati Reds' surprise run has shown no signs of slowing down, and the Houston Astros, even though they have not looked impressive since April, have come back and won the Wild Card the last two seasons, and can be counted on to finish strong. Even with Maddux, the Brewers are looking at no better than a third place finish.

Howdy Folks!!!!!

Not sure there are many of you folks out there, but this is the Bvich Report, one of those neat blog thingies where I will comment on the sports world, although it may be very Longhorns and Astros centered, as my first post will be. I hope y'all enjoy!! Now it is time for business.

My first post ever will be about this:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/scorecard/07/05/truth.rumors.mlb/index.html

At first, I thought this was just Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls just spouting rumors out of his butt, because it was the only mention I had heard of the Astros being interested in Willis. But something about this rumor showing up on CNN/SI makes one think that it would indeed be credible.

The deal seems far fetched, however.

It would be a great deal for the Astros. Imagine this for a starting rotation: Roy Oswalt, Dontrelle Willis, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte (who would have ever thought of Pettitte as a fourth starter) and Brandon Backe (assuming he returns soon after the All-Star break as has been speculated.) That would be an amazing rotation.

The Astros should probably look to improve the bullpen before the starting rotation, but this would help the bullpen in two ways. First of all, this pushes Fernando Nieve and Taylor Buchholz from the rotation and the bullpen, which would improve the pen. Also, adding Willis to the rotation would eat more innings and hopefully not force the Astros to use the bullpen as much. Willis is currently averaging more innings per start (6.83) than all but one Houston pitcher, Roy Oswalt.

At the same time, however, it seems like the Marlins would be asking for more than the players they have asked. Wandy Rodriguez will be a fine Major League pitcher, but he does not appear to have the stuff to one day be dominating, and Charlton Jimerson, while a decent hitter, has struck out 124 times in 320 ABs this season, and may never sniff the Major Leagues because of his tendency to swing at just about every pitch.

Of course, the reasons that this is far fetched are the reasons that Astros GM Tim Purpura should have made this deal yesterday if it is sitting on the table. The Astros would not be giving up great players, and Willis would improve the team as stated above.

More than likely, however, the Marlins would probably want the Astros to put one or both of AA outfielder Hunter Pence or AAA starting pitcher Jason Hirsh.