Rumors for Houston Astros
Houston Astros sign Livan Hernandez
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The Houston Astros have signed veteran pitcher Livan Hernandez to a Minor League deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports.
Hernandez went 8-13 with a 4.47 era for the Nationals in 2011. In 2001 with the Giants, Hernandez hit .296 in 81 at-bats, totalling 24 hits (4 doubles, 1 home run).
Image by ensign_beedrill under the Creative Commons License.
Astros sign Zach Duke
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The Houston Astros announced that they have signed Zach Duke to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
Last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Duke went 3-4 with a 4.93 era while averaging 3.8 k/9, his worst since 2007 with the Pirates(3.4 k/9).
The Diamondbacks acquired Duke from the Pirates in November of 2010.
Image taken by randomduck and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.
Astros sign Jack Cust
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The Houston Astros have signed Jack Cust to a one-year deal with a club option for 2013, Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports.
Cust who was released by the Mariners in August last season, hit .213 with only 3 home runs while making $2.5mm.
Cust made a quick stop in Philadelphia at the end last season as he provided Phillies organizational depth and was a possible September call up but was eventually released. Cust lasted only eight days while hitting .250 at Triple-A in 23 plate appearances.
Cust who averaged 28 home runs from 2007-09 will look to re-establish his offense prior to the Astros moving to the AL in 2013 where he could then take over the full-time DH duties.
Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.
PRO Rumors Android app version 1.0 is available
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Hello PRO Rumors fans,
We are proud to announce that our PRO Rumors Android app version 1.0 is available on the Android Market. We spent a lot of time on the app’s design and functionality, and we are sure that you’ll love it. To download the app for an introductory price of $2.99 you can click here.
Here are a few features:
– Push Notifications to get the latest news and rumors for your favorite MLB team
– Pulse-like view of articles – it’s beautiful
– Real-time scoreboard
– Real-time box scores of in-game action
We’re working hard to add more features, so if you have any questions or feature requests, please send an email to support@prorumors.com. We promise to write you back.
Allan
Happy Holidays from the PRO Rumors team
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From all of us at PRO Rumors, we’d like to wish you all a Happy Holidays! We hope that all of your holiday wishes (and your baseball wishes) have come true!
Red Sox trade Lowrie and Weiland to the Astros for Melancon
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The Boston Red Sox have traded right handed pitcher Kyle Weiland and short stop Jed Lowrie to the Houston Astros for Mark Melancon according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.
Weiland went 0-3 with a 7.66 ERA in 24.2 innings and Lowrie hit .252/.303/.382 with 6 HR’s and 36 RBI’s with the Red Sox in 2011. Melancon went 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA in 17.1 innings with the Astros in 2011.
Image by BeGreen90 under the Creative Commons License.
Red Sox interested in John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Gio Gonzalez and Wandy Rodriguez
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The Boston Red Sox are definitely looking to improve their starting rotation for 2012 and according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald they are interest in pitchers John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Gio Gonzalez and Wandy Rodriguez.
All of those pitchers are available for trades. Floyd, Danks and Gonzalez would probably cost the Red Sox top prospects, but to land Rodriguez, the team would probably have to eat most of his salary.
Danks went 8-12 with a 4.33 ERA in 170.1 innings and Floyd went 12-13 with a 4.37 ERA in 193.2 innings with the White Sox in 2011. Gonzalez went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA in 202.0 innings with the A’s in 2011. Rodriguez went 11-11 with a 3.49 ERA in 191.0 innings with the Astros in 2011.
Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.
Hot Stove rumors Friday: Twins interested in Jeff Francis and Edwin Jackson
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Here’s a running list of hot stove rumors around the Major Leagues:
– The Minnesota Twins are interested in Jeff Francis according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports. A source close to him says the team already had initial talks with Francis’ agent, and the sides will probably have further discussions at the winter meetings in Dallas next week. The team is also interested in right handed pitcher Edwin Jackson according to Morosi.
– The Nationals, Rangers, Indians and Pirates have all spoke to free agent infielder Mark DeRosa. (Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports)
– According to Tom Haudricourt of the Journal-sentinel, the Milwaukee Brewers and third baseman Aramis Ramirez have mutual interest. “He has expressed interest in us, too,” GM, Doug Melvin said. “That’s something I always like to hear.”
– Short stop Alex Gonzalez has been drawing interest from the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers according to Jon Heyman of Sprots Illustrated (via Francisco Zambrano of LiderEnDeportes)
– Jorge Posada, who owns a house in Miami, says he still wants to play if he finds the right job reports Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. He adds that Posada would like to join the Marlins if they consider him.
– The Houston Astros are apparently shopping not only Wandy Rodriguez, but Brett Myers and Carlos Lee too says Heyman.
– The Rockies, who are willing to trade Ian Stewart, say that they are interested in Cubs’ infielder Blake DeWitt according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
– The Minnesota Twins are interested in left handed pitcher Chris Capuano according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
– Infielder Eric Chavez wants to play in 2012 and according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, there are several teams interested in signing him. She adds that the Yankees might be one of them.
Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.
PRO Rumors financial efficiency report- Introduction
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We at PRO Rumors have decided to give you a new feature called the “financial efficiency report.” If you have read the book “Moneyball” you would have an idea of what are we trying to do here. If you haven’t read it,then put it on your Christmas list. Here is an explanation of what the financial efficiency report will be all about.
In the book’s preface, the author quotes work done by a Manhattan lawyer named Doug Pappas. Pappas, says that a team with only minimum wage players, both on the Major League roster and the rest of the 40-man, would still probably win 49 out of the 162 games played.
In 2011, the minimum wage for a player on the 25-man roster was $414,500. The minimum wage for a player on the 40-man roster, with at least one day of MLB service time or had been on the 40-man roster for a year was $67,300.
The minimum that a team could spend on their 40-man roster in 2011 was: $11,397,000. That’s $10,387,500 for their 25-man roster and $1,009,500 for the rest of their 40-man roster. If a team could get approximately 49 wins with a $11,397,000 payroll, that means that if you divide the total wins a team got above their 49th win by the total dollars they paid over the minimum, you get the “price” each team paid for each win they got.
After this brief introduction of the “marginal win” formula, I’m going to say what this report is all about. I’m going to analyze the “price” for each win a team got in 2011 so we can determine which teams were the most cost effective. Besides that, I’m going to list the top 5 paid players on each team and give you their performance line, to see how much they actually contributed to their team.
I’ll also list each team’s OBP, runs and SLG totals so we can see for ourselves how related these stats are at the moment of scoring runs and winning games. So get ready to experience a thoughtful analysis of every 2011 Major league team.
The team’s payroll was taken from USA Today and the individuals salaries from About.com.
Image by dherrera_96 Under the Creative Commons License.
Houston Astros dismiss GM Ed Wade
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In a press release by the Houston Astros, the team announced that they have dismissed general manager Ed Wade and president of baseball operations, Tal Smith.
The press release continues:
“The search for a new General Manager begins immediately. We are searching for a candidate who has the knowledge, skills and experience to build a winner and a strong commitment to player development in order to sustain success. Our goal is to consistently compete for a championship, and we know the first step towards that goal is to develop one of the top farm systems in baseball. We will hire the best candidate available to achieve our goal.
“Our Assistant General Manager Dave Gottfried will serve as Interim General Manager until the new General Manager is hired. Dave is not a candidate for the permanent position.”
Image by markhodgins under the Creative Commons License.
