Well, the Astros did indeed make a move today to shore up one of the major concerns I blogged about in yesterday's post, obtaining Jason Jennings from the Colorado Rockies. The Astros gave Willy Taveras, Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz in this exchange. Out of these three, I'm somewhat saddened in seeing Hirsh go. Buchholz, while having better stuff than Hirsh, was not impressive for the most part in his '06 campaign. Hirsh was valued by the Astros organization as their top pitching prospect, and I would have liked to see him give a full year's performance on the big stage. Ah well, I wish these two men the best of luck; Being a MLB pitcher in Coors Field is a rough thing indeed.
Taveras was also packaged in the deal, and a lot of people are upset in this aspect of the trade. Taveras, while an above average CF defensively, was not a very good offensive player. He had a 30 game hit streak in 2006. This is true, but most of these were bunt singles often in the first inning. Taveras had a hard time getting on base consistently, nearly striking out 3 times as many times as he walked. This move allows Chris Burke to seemly have the inside track in being the Opening Day center fielder. Burke is an offensive upgrade to Willy in center, while being a defensive downgrade. However, as is often the case, you often have to give up defense for offense.
Jason Lane has been training to be a CF as well. Many fans' opinion of Lane has soured some what (myself included) after his terrible '06 season, but he should be able to plug in on the days where Burke replaces Biggio in the lineup at 2nd base. Purpura also said that we should see Hunter Pence's major league debut sometime this next season. He tore the cover off the ball in AA ball, and fans have been wanting to see him since.
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