Winter Meetings Wrapup

The Winter Meetings are the most exciting time of year for most baseball fans. After all, a majority of fans know their team likely won’t contend for the playoffs next year. I suppose you could argue that 15-16 teams will compete next year, but the Winter Meetings are for everyone. You can imagine the Pirates fans sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for Bubba Crosby news.

Ed Wade had a busy day yesterday and the pace of web posting just couldn’t keep up. I never thought I would hear myself say this, but thank God for Twitter. I thought I would let the dust settle before analyzing the three major moves on the part of the Astros and Ed Wade. As usual, these things were a mixed bag. I will go in chronological order.

Astros acquire Matt Lindstrom for three minor leaguers.

This was a solid move because it gives the Astros a power arm for three years of club control. Trading two A ball players and a rule V pick is worth that. Lindstrom has had arm trouble in the past, but his problems last year were due to the WBC. Chalk up the WBC as one of Selig’s legacies that will be attached to his all-star shrug statue in Cooperstown.

Lindstrom’s bigger issue is control. However, he throws 100 MPH and you always want to take chances on guys like that. On the grand scheme of things, the Astros aren’t taking that big a chance on him in terms of dollars and players. If we had to slap a grade on this one we would have to say it was a B.

Astros sign Brandon Lyon to a three year fifteen million dollar deal.

To get an accurate look at my reaction to this deal you had to start in real time. Twitter is great for short spurts of information, but short on details. So, I found out we got Lyon right after pundits said we were in on Rafael Soriano. My first gut reaction was positive because I knew we would be getting Lyon at a savings. This much is true since Soriano agreed to a one year seven million dollar deal. I thought it was going to be a bigger savings.

My reaction changed when I heard it was three years and fifteen million dollars. Five million for a setup man/mediocre closer is one thing. Lyon has been the primary closer in the part of one season and a good setup man in another. Most of the time he has masqueraded as a good middle reliever. I thought the Jeff Fulchino experience would have taught Wade that decent relievers aren’t that hard to find.

A lot has been made by national media types (Rob Neyer and Dave Pinto) of Lyon’s mediocrity. Neyer posted that his average FIP was 4.23. That’s hardly fair considering that his rookie FIP was 5.50. He has posted a sub 4.00 FIP in every year since. His ERAs have been all over the place (under 3.00 in two out of the last three seasons), but his FIPs have ranged between 3.39 and 3.86. Three of those seasons were between 3.81 and 3.86. That tells you what kind of pitcher he is. He is above average. That’s not as bad as those pundits make him out to be, but you don’t give above average relievers three year contracts. You just don’t do it. This one is D.

Astros sign Pedro Feliz to a one year 4.5 million dollar deal

Dave Pinto and I would be having words right now if he met. He dissed the Astros on this signing and I couldn’t disagree with him more. Listen, I don’t know anyone in baseball that would tell you Feliz is a good hitter with a straight face. I haven’t met Ed Wade recently, but if he tried to tell me that I would probably laugh. This is where some pundits get themselves in trouble. There is selling moves to the casual fans and selling moves to the rest of us. The casual fan loves to hear how he drove in 82 runs last season. The rest of us know better.

We know three things. First, Pedro Feliz has never had even an average season with the glove. At his very worst he has been above average. Pinto admitted as much, but said he is now merely good. Apparently, he didn’t watch a whole lot of Astros baseball last year because he would know that a good fielder was worth his money if that was ALL he did. Blum and Keppinger combined to throw out a -18 rating at third base last season. Silly me, but Feliz’s +5 looks awfully good by comparison. That’s assuming he doesn’t improve to San Francisco numbers.

Outside of having Alex Rodriguez, David Wright, or Ryan Zimmerman at third base, it didn’t matter who we brought in to play that position. We are going to suck offensively. I’m sorry to break it to you Astros fans, it’s the truth. Still, next year looks to be an improved year with the gloves, so don’t be surprised if we see a fairly significant drop in runs allowed next season. I don’t know if it will be enough to make up for the dwindling offensive production, but it doesn’t matter. This team won’t be going to the playoffs anyway. They bought themselves a season of good fielding and passable hitting when no other player on the roster or in the minors would give them that.