Happy New Year, folks. Hope you had an excellent celebration and are recovering well from whatever you did (really, I don’t want to know).
Just wanted to take a moment to welcome Houston Astros outfielder Hunter Pence to the b5media sports channel. He will be blogging for us at Inside the Ballpark, offering a first-person view of the big-league baseball experience.
I’m looking forward to following Hunter throughout the 2008 season, and I’ve even resolved to cheer for the Astros when they’re not playing my Padres. Anyway, be sure to stop by Hunter’s digs and say hello. Should be fun…

The Arizona Diamondbacks made two big trades on Friday. Both involved high-profile pitchers.
Prospects for Haren
In the first, they sent a boatload of minor leaguers to Oakland for right-hander Dan Haren and change.
The linked article provides detailed information on the prospects involved. Suffice to say, they aren’t scrubs. Arizona has a very deep farm system and some terrific young talent at the big-league level. When you’re in that position, you can go out and get a guy like Haren.
Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez is the centerpiece of the package headed to the A’s. First baseman Chris Carter, acquired a couple weeks ago from …read more

The Baltimore Orioles have traded shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros for outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate, and third baseman Michael Costanzo.
Headed to Houston
Tejada is coming off a .296/.357/.442 campaign, which is low by his standards but still pretty darned good. The downside is that he turns 32 in May and, thanks to that whole consecutive-games streak thing, has a lot of wear-and-tear on his 5′10″, 170-lb frame. Also, the Astros have an otherworldly defender at short in Adam Everett, so if Tejada moves to third base, how will that affect his value? …read more

The Houston Astros have signed second baseman Kaz Matsui to a three-year deal worth $16.5 million. Matsui hit .288/.342/.405 with the Colorado Rockies in 2007, and before that spent time with the New York Mets.
In his four-year career, the 32-year-old Matsui owns a .272/.325/.387 batting line. He also has never played more than 114 games in a season, so the question remains, why did the Astros feel compelled to lock him up to a long-term deal?
Pros:

Good defender
Great in postseason (too bad the Astros went 73-89 last year and don’t figure to improve by a lot)

Cons:

On the wrong side of 30
Not …read more

The Houston Astros have re-signed veteran catcher Brad Ausmus to a 1-year deal worth $2 million plus incentives. Ausmus batted .235/.318/.324 in 2007, and hasn’t had a decent offensive season since the 20th century. The good news is he turns 39 in April, so you know that’s going to change.
Here is the best part of the press release:
He recorded his 100th career stolen base on July 27th, becoming the 21st catcher all-time to reach the 100-steal plateau.
Also, Ausmus is 24 home runs shy of 100. At his current pace, he’ll reach that milestone in 2013, at age 44. I look …read more

With the season winding down, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the bigger surprises this year. In no particular order, here are nine things that have blown my mind:

The Houston Astros have fired (hat tip to Baseball Musings) manager Phil Garner and GM Tim Purpura. Garner is replaced on an interim basis by bench coach Cecil Cooper, while speculation abounds on who will be the new GM.
A reader points out that Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle has mentioned Padres GM Kevin Towers as a possible replacement. Although I have no doubt that Towers would do a world of good in Houston, I’m not sure what the incentive would be for him to leave San Diego and an organization that is on the rise.
Whatever the Astros end up …read more

Two huge milestones in one day? Believe it. First Frank Thomas knocks his 500th homer, and now Craig Biggio collects the 3000th hit of his career.
Biggio hasn’t been an elite player since the late-’90s, but there’s no denying he’s had a brilliant career. It’s easy to forget that he first reached the big leagues as a catcher and in fact became an All-Star at that position.
Biggio’s stretch from 1993 to 1998 was just sick. Over a stretch of 894 games, he hit .304/.399/.476 and stole 209 bases at a 79% success rate. He also won four Gold Glove awards at …read more

After watching Brad Lidge struggle during the first week of the season, Houston Astros manager Phil Garner has removed Lidge from the closer role. In his place steps right-hander Dan Wheeler.
Wheeler has been one of the better relievers in the National League the past couple years, and I’m sure he’ll do a fine job closing games for Houston. That said, folks who are writing off Lidge might want to bear this quote from Garner in mind:
Two games in this season is not a sample to say he’s done as the closer. I don’t feel like that at all. What I …read more