Astros release Rosario

They don't expect him to pitch next year and the roster spot was important apparently to have him take one up. He'll probably be resigned to a minor league deal after the rule V draft. The draft is why these moves were done. Right now the Astros have 38 on the 40 man roster so another free agent and a pick might fill out the roster.

 

whoa, that's completely shocking. i thought rosario was excellent in the minors and continued that for the 2 games he pitched last year. i can only believe his injury is career threatening but i hope not. i don't know why but i had some good expectations for him.

 

I don't expect him to get picked up by the Astros again unless, like someone else mentioned, his injury is a lot more serious than we all realized. The guy was lights out in the minors and pitched quite well in the majors before the injury. There's no reason some team won't pick him up before we can get him back (or maybe my understanding of all of this is flawed). I really, really, really hope we don't lose him, because he looked pretty damn good from what I saw of him pitch before the injury. Not a whole lot of velocity but a good bit of wicked movement on his pitches.

 

3.2 million is still significantly less than the two made last year. I'd be scared to see this pitching staff without Ausmus behind the plate, and Viz is a good backup/ spot starter. It's a good move.

 

If Ausmus had not reupped who would have signed him, and for how much? It just appears with the current baseball economics that $750,000 & $1,000,000 + incentives? would have been more than enough.

 

Perhaps no one would have signed him, but he also was only interested in, playing for Houston or SD OR retiring. A salary package that did not satisfy him would have resulted in that.

Supposedly the contract is for 1 million this year and 3 million next. I would assume it's higher next year because Biggio and Hidalgo come off the books next year and they can afford 3 million next year better than 2 million this year.

Between them Vizcaino an Ausmus made around 7.5 million in 2003. They have both been resigned for a total of 2.2 million for 2004. They have cut 5.3 million in payroll and retained two players.

 

Shh, that doesn't help in the McLane bashing.

 

Yeah, you're right. When he doesn't spend money, he's cheap. When he does, it's in the wrong place. When he let's popular players walk for nothing he's a jerk. When he keeps them around too long he's a jerk.

 

When Drayton McClane cries about losing money (without opening his books) and the team makes payroll decisions for the express purpose of "payroll flexibility", salary becomes a statistic just like hits, homers, and rbi. More important, really. So fans will debate and second-guess each and every dollar spent of the finite, limited budget, because those dollars spent today limit spending in the future. This isn't just the case with the Astros, it occurs in most major league cities. To assume that fans won't dissect baseball salaries in the same way they discuss OPS or ERA is naive. A team wins by purchasing the latter two commodities at a low price.

 

I don't diagree. People can discuss and complain all they want. The problem is the vast number of two-faced fans. The same ones complaining about Biggio the past couple of years are the same ones that would have had McLane's head had he not signed him when Biggio could have walked away. Same with Bagwell.

Folks call McLane cheap, but he signed both Hidalgo and Berkman to generous contracts well before they were due. He signed Wganer to an exhorbitant deal. Fans complained about Wagner's salary, yet when the Astros trade him, they complain that he was traded because of his salary.

Many fans want it both ways. They tend to complain in hindsight. Everyone welcomed the Biggio and Bagwell signings a few years ago. Now they complain.

With the exception of the Yankees, every team looks to dump salary. The Braves are supposed to get down to 80 million.

The Astros are slightly above the middle in salary. They win year in and year out. Baseball is the most difficult sport to reach the playoffs. The structure is such that, once in, the team with the best pitching over 15-19 games usually wins.

Fans need to not forget that if basketball had the same playoff setup as in baseball, the Rockets would never have won their 2nd championship.

I measure success for the teams I root for by the following criteria:

1. Effort
2. Behavior off field/on field
3. Competitiveness

If the above items are met, then, to me, the season was a success. Reaching and succeeding in the playoffs are additional benefits.

 

I'm happy to get Ausmus down to a reasonable contract, but Viz is the very definition of a replacement-level player at this stage in his career. Anything over $1 mil per year is already way too much for him. We could have just given the job to Bruntlett and saved even more money.

 

Perhaps, but Bruntlett is unproven and the Astros are a contender. Vizcaino can provide adequate to good defense at all infield positions. Vizcaino is a switch hitter. Apparently Vizcaino is also a source of veteran leadership to the Astros Latino players.

 

Your criteria work fine. To further define,
1. Effort - needs to include players, coaches, front office. Effort towards being a champion.

I just do not feel the steardship of this team is commensurate with the money spent, and I am sick and totally fed up with the owner spending so much energy talking money. Is that how he enters all discussions while on business for Baylor -- or, Heaven forbid, his grocery biz?

I want to feel the product being put out there is the best possible product. Heck, the way players are being dumped 'in this new economy' it appears if some owner decided to up the payroll a few % he could add lots of talent to his roster. Go for it. Raise your payroll 7%, increase your ticket sales by ?% + marketing contracts by another ?%. It might prove to be very good biz, a very good biz investment, indeed.

I don't hate either D-Mc or his owning the team, I am just not terrribly smit by him.

 

Fans & sports-radio types talk about his money about 100 times more than he does.

 

How do you feel about the Rocket's Jim Jackson's salary? Is he overpaid? I believe he makes around 1.9 million, yet he is 105th in scoring, 98th in rebounding and 75th in assists.

I use Jackson as an example. He brings a lot of other things to the table that aren't reflected in the 'glory' stats. Good defense and team leadership among them. Similar to the types of things that Ausmus does. Gold Glove winner in 2002. Better defensive stats than the 2003 winner. Allows pitchers to throw balls in the dirt, knowing he'll stop them.

Is it just a coincidence that the Astros staff threw less wild pitches than any team in the NL? Ausmus had far and away the best passed ball percentage of any catcher in the majors.

Ausmus is well worth the 1 million this year and 2 millon average over the next two years.

 

This is kind of off the subject, but when they released Brian Hunter, he was the last black player they had, with that big of a roster you would think it would be more diverse.

 

please, let's not start this conversation again