Jennings dealt to Houston

[bigheadache]

Taveras is developing into a very good all around player. He will never give you much power, but he has great speed and a cannon for an arm. I'd say he is already better than Pierre defensively. Pierre is definitely a better base runner and probably a better hitter at this point. Taveras is only now turning 25. Taveras skipped AAA and moved directly to the big club in 2005. He got better as the season progressed in 2005 and repeated the same thing in 2006. I think you guys will be pleased with his performance.

As fro the pitchers, both Hirsch and Buchholz have great breaking sutff combined with decent fastballs. Neither is going to blow people away with their fastball. Everyone knows how hard it is to pitch in Colorado. Potentially, these 2 guys can be very good, solid major league pitchers. We'll have to see how well they adapt to altitude pitching.

[sg8335aa]

When it comes to Buchholz.....I mentioned this over at Purple Row. I think he's ultimate destination is the bullpen, where he looks remarkably similar to a RH version of Jeremy Affeldt (intriguing upside, crazy good curveball, extremely inconsistant).

[BigRapidsJackass]

It's been kind of fun sitting out this thread so far (I've been real busy).

Seems like everyone but Newman likes the trade.

I'm shocked.

I'll start with Roxpert's take:

Comparable player analogies:

Jason Hirsh = Scott Elarton (pre-injury)

Willy Taveras = Darren Lewis (ugh)

Taylor Buchholz = Poor man's Darryl Kile with (past) shoulder issues.

That's not bad for one guy who is a league-average inning's eater in Jason Jennings. BTW, my analogy for Jennings is a "poor man's Rick Reuschel".

My comps would be:

Hirsh = Chris Young. Very tall, good but not outstanding stuff, good control, able to use his height to give hitters that tough trajectory that they can't adjust to. Interesting comment this morning from Renck this morning on 560 AM. He says Hirsh told him that his main adjustment problem coming to the big leagues was that he was able to consistently get away with low fastball strikes in AAA, only to find out the MLB hitters often feasted on the same. I look for him to learn (like Chris Young did) that for a tall pitcher the high fastball is your meal ticket. Is Chris Young an ace? Most people say no, but I'd take Chris Young's '06 season ...

Tavares = Juan Pierre. No, I don't like him. I can't get past that abysmal OBP/OPS. But let's face facts. Juan Pierre on the free agent market is "worth" $9 million a year. Willy Taveras will be paid about $400,000. I know a bargain when I see it even when I'm not interested in buying it myself. I really hope this means Choo is gone (no need for a platoon partner for Sullivan anymore) and that Hurdle keeps Sully and uses him in the right pitching matchups. A 65% Willy 35% Cory platoon could be productive enough to make me finally shut up about Dave Roberts.

Buchholz = Aaron Sele. In other words, Darryl Kile is reaching a bit too high. But Sele was awfully good out of the gate, and has been able to build a 15 year MLB career out of a great curve. I actually like Buchholz a lot. I watched one of the games he pitched last year, and was impressed with his stuff overall. I don't think this is a throw-in; in fact, he could turn out to be better than Hirsh. Bottom line is this: Chances are very good that EITHER he OR Hirsh becomes at least a Jennings-like pitcher within a year or three. It's something of a longshot that BOTH of them reach that level, but it's certainly possible.

You guys know I trust John Sickels' judgment more than just about anyone else. Here's what he's said recently on minorleagueball.com

2006 Minor League Ball Pitching Prospect of the Year

This one is a difficult decision, as there at least eight strong candidates. Phil Hughes, Matt Garza, Homer Bailey, Jason Hirsh, Adam Miller, Yovanni Gallardo, Scott Elbert, and Kevin Slowey all deserved strong consideration. ****

Third we'll eliminate Hirsh. He is a personal favorite of mine. . .anyone who can go 13-2, 2.10 in the Pacific Coast League deserves immense respect. . .but again, his scouting reports and long-term projectability don't quite match the other guys. The next victim is Bailey, who went 10-6, 2.47 with a 154/50 K/BB in 139 innings. I love him, but his command isn't quite as good as the remaining candidates.

So he's in good company. For a longer writeup, see:

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story.../13/234244/088

As for Buchholz: let's go back to before the '06 season to see what Sickels thought of him as a prospect:

Went 6-0, but with 4.81 ERA and weak component ratios for Round Rock. Allowed 14 homers in 77 innings with just 45 strikeouts. Hasn't been completely healthy for three years now, and stuff seems to have topped out rather than improved.

Oh well. Maybe I shouldn't like him ...

As for Tavares (pre-2006 writeup). You gotta like that he brings the Sign of the Beast to the Pre-Game Prayer Group:

When you have a satanic OPS (.666), you need to improve.

As for Jennings: Roxpert, you nailed that one. "The poor man's Rick Reuschel." No, I never was "fooled by that body." I always recognized that he's fat. Here's hoping the original Fat Man (as he's known in Boston), Roger Clemens, comes back to help the Astros form the Two-Ton One-Two Rotation.