Headlines

  • Lucas Giolito Converts Club Option To Mutual Provision
  • Yordan Alvarez To Miss Time With “Pretty Significant” Ankle Sprain
  • Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge
  • Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen
  • Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut
  • Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Athletics
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Offseason Outlook: Houston Astros

By Cork Gaines | October 7, 2009 at 10:49am CDT

Next up in our Offseason Outlook series, the Astros.  Their likely commitments for 2010:

C – Humberto Quintero – $610K+
C – J.R. Towles – $402K
1B – Lance Berkman – $14.5MM
2B – Kaz Matsui – $5MM
SS – Tommy Manzella – $400K
3B – Chris Johnson – $400K
IF – Jeff Keppinger – $428K+
IF – Edwin Maysonet – $400K
LF – Carlos Lee – $18.5MM
CF – Michael Bourn – $435K+
RF – Hunter Pence – $439K+
OF –
? –

SP – Roy Oswalt – $15MM
SP – Wandy Rodriguez – $2.6MM+
SP – Brian Moehler – $3MM
SP – Bud Norris – $400K
SP – Felipe Paulino – $405K

RP – Tim Byrdak – $1MM+
RP – Chris Sampson – $449K+
RP – Wesley Wright – $425K
RP – Jeff Fulchino – $400K
RP – Alberto Arias – $402K
RP – Sammy Gervacio – $400K
RP – Yorman Bazardo – $400K 

Other commitments: Doug Brocail – $250K buyout

Non-tender candidates: Geoff Geary, Chris Coste, Sampson, Paronto

Assuming Brocail's option is declined, the Astros use rookies at the two open position player spots and on the left side of the infield, and Geary, Coste, and Paronto are non-tendered, they'd have $66.4MM committed before arbitration raises to Quintero, Keppinger, Bourn, Pence, Rodriguez, Byrdak, and Sampson.  Bourn and Pence are first-time arbitration players and Rodriguez had a stellar year, so the raises will be significant.  I'll put the Astros around $80MM committed.  GM Ed Wade on how the team's 2010 payroll will compare to 2009, courtesy of MLB.com's Brian McTaggart:

"Our payroll is in all likelihood going to be lower than it was this year.  It could be appreciably lower, but we don't know until we sit down and get the actual numbers."

If payroll is sliced to $90-95MM, Wade would have $10-15MM to spend.

Talk is that the Astros could use rookies Manzella (shortstop) and Johnson (third base) as starters in 2010.  Manzella hit .289/.339/.417 in 580 Triple A plate appearances after struggling at that level last year.  He is a defense-first player, likely an easy out at the plate.  Meanwhile Johnson hit .281/.323/.461 in 412 Triple A plate appearances at age 24.  Thrusting him into a big league role would be a huge gamble as well.  If contending in 2010 is the plan, the Astros need to upgrade the left side of their infield.  Tejada could return and play third base, but he'd presumably want at least $7-8MM a year.  The third base market has other interesting names such as Adrian Beltre, Mark DeRosa, Chone Figgins, Troy Glaus, and Juan Uribe.

With Moehler retained, the Astros' 2010 rotation could be set.  Paulino is not guaranteed a spot, but he deserves one.  Even with poor rotation depth, I think the Astros would be better-served spending most of their cash on a shortstop and/or third baseman.  They probably cannot afford to allocate more than a few million toward a veteran starter, similar to last year's Mike Hampton signing for $2MM.

Jose De Jesus Ortiz's latest article at the Houston Chronicle covers the Astros' unsettled bullpen situation.  Closer Jose Valverde is probably gone, and I can see the Astros preferring not to risk an arbitration offer.  They'd like to bring LaTroy Hawkins back, but after a 2.13 ERA season he'll want more than this year's $3.5MM base.  He also may be too pricey to sign and/or risk an arbitration offer.  Wade figures to sign a few free agent veteran relievers one way or another.

Despite the griping about Berkman, a .399 OBP and .509 SLG is a very good year.  Lee, Bourn, and Pence are solid hitters as well, but the contributions of these four could be nullified if Wade surrounds them with easy outs.  The rotation has sleeper potential, though it lacks depth.  The bullpen is a question mark.  This is an unfortunate time for the Astros to be cutting payroll, because they could contend with the right free agent additions.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Houston Astros Offseason Outlook

Free Agent Market: Lefty Relievers
Main
Brewers Sign Trevor Hoffman
View Comments (0)
Post a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Lucas Giolito Converts Club Option To Mutual Provision

    Yordan Alvarez To Miss Time With “Pretty Significant” Ankle Sprain

    Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge

    Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen

    Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut

    Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List

    Dipoto: Mariners Interested In Re-Signing Josh Naylor

    Anthony Volpe Playing Through Partial Labrum Tear

    Orioles Promoted Mike Elias Prior To 2025 Season

    Anthony Rizzo Retires

    Cubs Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List

    Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List

    Phillies Place Trea Turner, Alec Bohm On Injured List

    Sean Murphy To Undergo Hip Surgery

    Trea Turner To Undergo MRI Due To Hamstring Strain

    Davey Johnson Passes Away

    Mets Option Kodai Senga

    NPB’s Kazuma Okamoto, Tatsuya Imai Expected To Be Posted For MLB Teams

    Shelby Miller Likely Headed For Tommy John Surgery

    Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

    Recent

    Tigers Activate Paul Sewald, Release Codi Heuer

    Nationals Have Interviewed Red Sox’ AGM Eddie Romero

    Mets Place Reed Garrett On IL With Elbow Sprain, Designate Dom Hamel

    The Opener: Guardians, AL West, Pitchers’ Duel

    Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut

    MLB Mailbag: Cardinals, Orioles, Astros, Schwarber, Casas

    MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage

    MLB Abandons Plans For 2026 London Series

    Sandy Alcantara Is Finding His Old Form

    Royals To Place Ryan Bergert On Injured List With Forearm Tightness

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version