Houston Astros

Boy do I miss my childhood days of being paraded into the good ole Astrodome to watch the Houston Astros.

Walking up those long, wide ramps and your feet sticking to the ground with every step; the smell of beer, popcorn, and hotdogs; the long lines to the bathroom to stand over a urinal that looked more like something you’d see in a jail over a baseball stadium.

But wow, those are some of my best memories from my childhood.

The offseason is not even close to over, yet two general managers already stand out, albeit for vastly different reasons.  Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has, in under two years, turned the Mariners from the punchline in a Bill Bavasi joke to a legitimate contender for the AL West.  Meanwhile, Houston Astros GM Ed Wade keeps digging a deeper grave for his team. 

These GMs are important because they represent two different modes of managing—one that values rational, informed decision making, and one that does not.

Jack Zduriencik

If you're a regular reader of "Here's a Thought," you probably know that I don't like to use ERA very much.

Instead, I prefer FIP, tRA, and xFIP when discussing pitchers. The statistics are just luck-adjusted ERAs, so they slot in nicely to ERA's "traditional" statistical role.

In an offseason where mediocre catchers have received some fairly sizable contracts (Jason Kendall and Ivan Rodriguez, just to name two), there are some teams who could be looking from within to fill their voids. 

While everyone’s mind instantly jumps to Buster Posey, the Astros have their own catching prospect who could emerge before 2009 comes to a close.

If you're a Houston Astros fan who would love to see hard-throwing lefthanded Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman wearing an Astros uniform, you'll most likely be very disappointed.

Right now, it looks like Jose Valverde has a far better chance of re-signing with the Astros (something he almost certainly won't do) than the 'Stros do of acquiring the defecting Cuban pitcher.

There are a few things to like about Aroldis Chapman, the pitcher who defected from Cuba and is looking for an MLB team to pitch for.

First, he thumbed his nose at Fidel Castro and all those whiny, Castro-loving celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Oliver Stone by defecting. (Granted, his reason for defecting may stem from the prospect of millions of American dollars rather than a thirst for political freedom).

The Houston Astros signed Jason Michaels to a one-year deal on Monday, inking the outfielder for $800,000 with a club option for 2011.

With Michaels’ signing, the Astros are now at their max in terms of their 40-man roster and will spend the rest of the off-season searching for players the club can ink to minor league contracts.

“It’s nice to return to a place you are familiar,” Michaels told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (Houston’s beat writer). “Not just with the guys on the team, but with the surroundings and stuff like that. I’m glad it was able to be worked out.”

LaTroy Hawkins is gone, having left the Houston Astros for the Milwaukee Brewers. Jose Valverde's all but gone; any day now, I expect to hear of some other team signing him. He won't be back in Houston, simply because the Astros feel he's too expensive and too much of an investment.

So to replace these two pitchers, the Astros have acquired to new pitchers.

The latest breaking news coming out of baseball’s winter meetings and the Houston Astros centers on the signing of third baseman Pedro Feliz.

That signing became official this afternoon, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and confirmed by Astros senior director of digital media Alyson Footer; Houston inked a one-year contract with Feliz worth $4.5 million.

There’s more news coming out of the Astros camp at the winter meetings and the latest word surfacing has Houston garnering two new bullpen additions.

First, the Astros landed Matt Lindstrom in a trade with the Florida Marlins, sending a pair of minor league players (pitcher Robert Bono and infielder Luis Bryan) plus Jorge Jimenez (a minor league infielder picked up in Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft) in exchange for the right-handed reliever.