The Trade Thread

[barzilla]

Okay folks, it is clear that this is going to be a dog fight with the Cubs (although I think the Reds will drop off eventually) so this is the thread where you list your wish list for the Astros as time goes on.

Needs

1.A Reliable Closer

My belief is that Octavio Dotel and Brad Lidge are not quite ready for prime time. Who knows who will be available by the time the July deadline comes around but here is a list of names that would be better than what we currently have (asterisk next to names that plausibly would be available)

John Smoltz
Billy Wagner
Armando Benitez* (if the Marlins are out of the race)
Danny Graves* (if the Reds are out of the race)
Jose Mesa*
Danny Kolb*
Eric Gagne
Mariano Rivera
Keith Foulke
Eddie Guardado
Troy Percivial* (if the Angels are out of the race)
Francisco Cordero*

2. Offensive help

This will depend on how each our position players are doing at the time.

[Toy Cannon]

I will assume you're sense of humor has gotten the better of you by mentioning the names Graves and Mesa as being better than Dotel. I would think that you would be the last person I know to look strictly at *glory* numbers ( I refer to Graves save totals) as a yardstick. How many saves has Danny blown? 4...5? And Mesa, come on Scott, look at his history. Do you really want Joe Table closing games for you in a stretch run? Not me.

After the All-Star break might be a more appropriate time to think about this. :wink:

[barzilla]

TC,

You have a good point with those two although I put them in different categories. Graves falls into the overrated closer category because of the reasons you mentioned. What bothers me more than anything is the contract because it includes multiple seasons. Jose Mesa strikes me as more of the journeyman closer a la Mike Williams of a few seasons ago. I agree that I wouldn't trust Mesa over the long haul, but he has a career track record of being really good for one or two seasons after two or three seasons of malaise. He would be the kind of guy I brought in for just this year and dumped after the season was over. You're right about waiting on him though to see if they first two months are a fluke.