Thursday, July 13, 2006
Astros Make First Move
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.
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.
# posted by Bevo @ 11:12 AM 
