MONDAY: Wade confirmed today via press release that Michaels' option will be exercised and Blum's will be declined.
SUNDAY: The Astros informed Geoff Blum they will not be exercising his $1.65MM option for 2011, the infielder explained to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. The Astros will instead pay a $150K buyout. They will exercise Jason Michaels' option for $900K, according to McTaggart's source.
Astros GM Ed Wade told McTaggart he's leaving the door open to re-signing Blum anyway. However, Blum's comments suggest he'll move on:
"I do know that I will not be here. I'll miss being here, trust me. I've had several conversations with people within the organization and my services are not going to be needed here."
Blum, 37, hit .267/.321/.356 in 218 plate appearances this year while playing all infield positions aside from catcher. He battled elbow and neck injuries.
Michaels, 34, convinced the Astros to retain him by hitting .254/.312/.470 in 202 PAs and playing all three outfield positions.
I guess they kept Michaels because he’s cheap, no surprise on Blum, the team still needs to get younger.
Hmm, let’s see. Blum gave the Astros almost exactly what they should have expected. They signed him to a contract and he fulfilled it. They still want to bring him back, indicating they don’t have a built in replacement ready to take over. Yet they’re not picking up his option? Either the Astros expectations were too high or…… wait for it…… Ed Wade made a mistake signing Blum to the contract in the first place. Or, more likely, both. I guess the only thing newsworthy here is that Ed Wade realized he made a mistake. Maybe he’s making progress. If he keeps at it he may just be a descent GM in a few centuries.
Yeah, maybe he’ll build a team that can go to the World Series a couple of times. Oh, wait. He did that in Philadelphia.
That was Gillick’s team, not Wade’s.
Thats BS, Utley, Howard, Hamels, Victorino, Bourn(who was turned into brad Lidge) were all Wade’s picks
The Geoff Blum Era is over? Well, damn. I always kind of liked him.
they would of had to decide on his option within 3 days after the World Series with the new rules. They wanted to see if there is anything else out there before they committed to him. I am not sure if anyone on the free agent market is all that impressive this year for utility infielder, but I guess there is always waivers and trades too. Unless they can find an everyday 2nd basemen and move Keppinger back to Utility, they need more power. To bad Cantu doesn’t play 2nd base, that would give some power.
They made the mistake of resigning Moehler last year right away to 2 million dollars, I am sure they would of never of done that had they know they would get Myers a couple of months later. They are just covering themselves instead of making the same mistake.
Not that impressive, but there’s a decent chance Adam Kennedy could get bought about the Nationals. They seem to like Danny Espinosa a bunch.