Andy Marte Clears Waivers

This guy was supposed to be huge, the next great 3B. Now he's the latest bust? What happened?

Wow, he's definitely done. There are worse players to have been claimed off waivers, and teams decide to pass on him? Of course, I think Marte had to be part of the 40-man roster, and perhaps teams didn't have any space for him. I think he needs to go to a team with a good hitting coach.

Apparently Marte's lost his strike zone judgement, which has led to his downfall. He's been trying to hit homers every at-bat, even if the count was 0-2. I think he needs to get his head on straight, as he could still become a decent hitter, but obviously nowhere close to his original projections.

jadarm- does the name Adam Wainright ring a bell?

I'm surprised a team with no apparent third baseman(Detroit stands out in my mind) didn't take a chance on the guy. He used to be an uber-prospect, what's the harm in trying him out for a little while and if he doesn't work out just put him back on waivers.

Not even the Giants?

jadarm- does the name Adam Wainright ring a bell?

Posted by: registereduser | February 25, 2009 at 01:49 PM

Hmm, maybe I missed one. I am curious if people might know others that I might have missed.

According to Rotoworld, he's been assigned to AAA

Not even the Athletics, with Eric Chavez manning 3B?

I can't believe a team isn't willing to take a flyer on him? All it would cost the organization is an exercised option on one of their players so he could get a long hard look in Spring Training. If he doesn't look like he has the potential cut him. The cost is next to nothing, which is surprising when teams are looking for bargains in this hellish economy.

Yeah, you'd think some team would bring in him as a backup at least.

Maybe he turns into a good player, like Willy Aybar did in Tampa playing in place of Longoria.

Where the hell are the ASTROS in this? Here's a guy with huge upside that they could have landed practically for free, but they'd rather have Aaron Boone and Geoff Blum duke it out for mediocrity.

Teams like the Giants, White Sox, Athletics, Tigers, and Brewers shouldve considered it.

@jadarm

He hasn't proven himself completely, but Kyle Davies had a helluva second half last year.

"You're surprised that no team is willing to take a "flyer" on a guy who OBP'ed .322 and .309 his last two seasons in Triple A?"

Sure. Considering he had seasons slugging .492,.469,.525, .506, and .451. Seems worth a flyer even if it has been awhile since that production level.

Marte has had two subpar offseasons in a row in AAA and has been terrible at playing in a part time role in the majors so far (career 56 OPS+) and can only play one position and not a skilled one (3B). He doesn't bring much to the table. I'm not very surprised he cleared waivers.

Seems to be a good fit with the Giants or maybe some high school team.

I was hoping the Phillies might get him, cause Feliz might be out for some time, and with Dobbs at third for the time being, we could use another bench player (assuming Nomar signs with the A's or retires) or a platoon at third until Feliz returns. Long Shot though.

lol FAT ELVIS "ANDRUWS"

Crud, does he suck that much?

I was just being tough on him,
Ed Wade brought in Darin Erstad who is an above average 4th outfielder because of his solid d, versatility and plate discipline. Wade drafted Wesley Wright in the Rule 5 draft. Wesley wasn't anything special but he was decent against lefties last year. The Latroy Hawkins trade wasn't too shabby. He did pitch 20 plus scoreless innings before giving up a run. I didnt like the Matsui signing in hindsight, but Kaz can be consistent when he isn't sidelined. So far Ed Wade hasn't done anything destructive enough to warrant me hating him. The pot is boiling is all I was saying. Remember when he traded Brandon Duckworth and some others for Billy Wagner. He riped us good. Ironic how thats the only trade worth a damn that I recall him making.

"I was just being tough on him, Ed Wade brought in Darin Erstad who is an above average 4th outfielder because of his solid d, versatility and plate discipline. Wade drafted Wesley Wright in the Rule 5 draft. Wesley wasn't anything special but he was decent against lefties last year. The Latroy Hawkins trade wasn't too shabby. He did pitch 20 plus scoreless innings before giving up a run. I didnt like the Matsui signing in hindsight, but Kaz can be consistent when he isn't sidelined. So far Ed Wade hasn't done anything destructive enough to warrant me hating him. The pot is boiling is all I was saying."

So what you're saying is that you're fine with Wade as a GM because he hasn't made any HORRIBLE moves?

Have you ever thought about the fact that Wade hasn't gotten the Astros any closer to contending short term, and outside of the 2008 draft he hasn't helped long term either.

I'm just really confused as to how you, as an Astros fan, can be so tolerable of Wade's mediocrity.

If I was an Astros fan I'd be calling for Wade to rebuild that team, so I can see a legit contender within the next five years, rather than watch Wade continually build teams that win like 80-85 games.

Wade has only been the GM for a year. Cut the guy some slack. Its not like Houston had a decent farm system before Wade became GM. They just took the shorter route instead of trading the great players for prospects who might or might not pan out. Do you really think that I can ride up on my horse to Minute Maid park and demand these things? I'm not Sam Houston, I'm just from Houston. In no way am I defending Uncle D here. Wade has a job. That job is to try to win every year through low risk signings until he can eventually can build up his farm system. I really do like the idea of adding a Masterson/Bowden/Anderson/Buchholz package of two of them plus some low minor leaguers for Oswalt. I want to rebuild, but I don't find what the Astros are doing as a mockery of management or anything. It feels nice to know from time to time that my team always has a chance to win. We were only 3 games out of the wild card when Ike hit last year. We surged in the Second half without Carlos Lee. Sure Wigginton was "the guy" then, because of Berkman's .259 average after the break, but we can still very well be a contender this year. I've seen crazier things happen. Scribble, if the economy keeps going according to plan, your "advice" may end up coming to fruition.

"Speaking of Marte, who do you think "won" the Sox/Indians trade...?

The Indians by a landslide I'd say. Shoppach looks to be the best player in that deal, and it's not close. I'm pretty sure the Sox would love to have Shoppach right now...