Astros Offseason Upgrades
January 2, 2008 by Kori Ellis
Filed under Baseball
Hunter mentioned in his blog post about the new players that were acquired by the Houston Astros this offseason. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest news, here’s a rundown of the Astros’ offseason acquisitions.
Coming off of a disappointing 73-89 campaign in 2007, the Astros and new general manager Ed Wade decided to shake things up. While the legendary Craig Biggio decided to hang up his cleats following the 2007 season, many other players were brought on board to hopefully get Houston back to the playoffs.
Miguel Tejada
Tejada is a slugging shortstop who won the AL MVP in 2002. Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, Tejada is a player who will play everyday and provide the Astros with some power in the middle of their lineup.
Jose Valverde
With the Arizona Diamondbacks, Valverde led the major leagues in saves last season with 47. The Astros acquired him to serve as the team’s new closer. Valverde, who was an All-Star in 2007, will be a huge upgrade for the Astros in 2008.
Kazuo Matsui
The Astros wanted to add some speed to their lineup. To do so, Matsui was brought in to play second base. Matsui had a breakout season last year for the Colorado Rockies and signed with the Astros as a free agent.
Michael Bourn
Another speedster, Bourn was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies and is slated to become the team’s centerfielder in 2008. The 25-year-old Bourn doesn’t have much big league experience but has already shown the ability to steal bases.
This was really helpful because I haven’t kept up with the Astros’ offseason upgrades! Tejada should be a great addition and, along with the other new players, it sounds like the Astros have been hard at work trying to bulk up their team!