Well good news for my Cardinals = bad news for the Astros. The Cardinals outbid the Astros for Mike Leake. 5 years 80m with a no trade clause too rich for the still somewhat frugal Astros. Astros may now consider Kazmir, even though he was hardly a success last year.
My personal opinion is that the Astros didn't lose much on Leake. He had a good year with the Reds but pretty much tanked when he was traded. We'll see how that one works out for the Cards.
I think he'll be a good number three starter for the Cards. Plus St Louis is a much better pitchers park than Cincinnati's.
Good points, PJ. He would be well positioned as a #3 starter. I guess I thought they rated him higher. The money they're paying these days boggles my mind.
Interesting and easy to read list. Thanks, AJ. There were a lot of names I've never heard of. Guess I'm not as up to date on MLB platyers as I used to be.
Terry, I didn't know anything about him, so I looked up his record on baseball-reference.com. I've posted the link below. He looks like a very good acquisition with a strong upside. He's 25 years old. Check out his 2015 SO per 9 innings pitched, ERA, SO/W ratio, #HR (2) over 70 IP. Good move by the Astros to bolster the bullpen. He had 15 saves last season. He may be your 2016 closer or at the very least an effective 2-3 inning setup guy. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gileske01.shtml
Dodgers pick up Scott Kazmir. Good luck to him, but if his time with the Astros is any indication... He hasn't got much left in the tank. Solid teammate though.
:idea: We're expecting nothing out of Kazmir here. He's only guaranteed one year and this management team spends money like a drunken sailor. Several times in the last year they traded for a player or obtained a player only to release him the NEXT DAY and eat his contract without ever seeing him play. Guys like Kazmir are cannon fodder. They explode and the team simply loads another round...
Astros are the anti-Dodgers/Yankees/RedSox....very tight fisted with the dollar. Hot stove league talk is that it will be difficult for the Astros to make it back to the playoffs. Rangers are going to be really good next year, A's are going to be very good and the Angels should still be a good team. They can't all make the playoffs, Astros might be as good or better but not not make it.
Awaiting the HOF results. I hope Bags gets in this year, Jr. is a lock. I also hope Billy Wagner gets a lot of support, doubt if he gets in but good ballot sets him up to start moving up.
Bags got into the 70's..everybody says that's a good sign that he'll make it next year. Rajah...still way down the list.
I wonder who were the 3 idiots who didn't have Jr on their ballot? I'd like them to explain why they thought there were 10 other guys more deserving than Jr? They really should make these guys have to defend their ballots to the public by publishing them.