Lidge a Phillie

[cougar]

Bruntlett and Lidge to Philly for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary, and minor leaguer Mike Costanzo.  Not a particularly great return IMO, and we now have an even bigger hole at the back of the bully.

[DVauthrin]

They did the deal for bourn, no questions asked.  They wanted him in july, and now luke scott is squarely on the trade block.

This explains this passage though:

New Astros general manager Ed Wade continues his quest to improve the club. He has made preliminary contact with the agents for All-Star closer Francisco Cordero, starting pitcher Jon Lieber and second basemen Luis Castillo, Tadahito Iguchi and Kaz Matsui.

http://www.chron.com/disp...pl/sports/bb/5278635.html

You can take them out of the CF FA market now, that's a given.

[Señor Stan]

Here's some perspective on Constanzo from Philly fan...

http://phuturephillies.co...er-profile-mike-costanzo/

[Bench]

Damn. That's a hell of a price to pay, but I love my Cougars and Bourn can be a staple in center.

[JimR]

Why is that a bad trade other than folks live to bitch? We would have given them Qualls and Scott for Bourne at the deadline. Lidge faltered at the end, and Ransom can replace Bruntlett.

We got our target CFer. We need a closer, but come on, people. Many of you were willing to draw and quarter Lidge in September.

I like what we are trying to do.

[toddthebod]

Did we just trade for Wily T?

[dirty steve]

it seems as if wade's plan is fortifying the middle with the talks about castillo and the acquisition of bourn.  i like it.  we can see what shakes out with the closer role.

[DVauthrin]

Why is that a bad trade other than folks live to bitch? We would have given them Qualls and Scott for Bourne at the deadline. Lidge faltered at the end, and Ransom can replace Bruntlett.

We got our target CFer. We need a closer, but come on, people. Many of you were willing to draw and quarter Lidge in September.

I like what we are trying to do.

I also look at it this way, luke scott is now free to be traded for pitching help.   And, by doing this deal, the astros now have 15 million dollars to spend on 2b, RP, SP as they likely would have had to spend 10 mil a yr at least on a free agent CF, bourn makes the minimum and lidge probably makes 5-6 mil in arbitration.   

[cougar]

Why is that a bad trade other than folks live to bitch? We would have given them Qualls and Scott for Bourne at the deadline. Lidge faltered at the end, and Ransom can replace Bruntlett.

We got our target CFer. We need a closer, but come on, people. Many of you were willing to draw and quarter Lidge in September.

I like what we are trying to do.

I'm not saying it's "bad" per se.  I just thought we might have been able to shop around and get better.  If we fill in the closer role with a suitable replacement, fine.

I'm not big on scouting, so I have to go strictly by what I see in the stats, so I don't see what's so big about Bourne.  I would imagine he's got defensive range so he can play center, but does he have the plate discipline to hit leadoff?  I do like the stolen bases though (18 in limited playing time).  Plus, he's only 24 (for another month and a half) and youth is a nice change of pace.

[Zac D]

This is the first time in, what, better than a decade? that the closer role has actually not been explicitly one man's job (or one man's job to lose).

[Zac D]

I'm not big on scouting, so I have to go strictly by what I see in the stats, so I don't see what's so big about Bourne.  I would imagine he's got defensive range so he can play center, but does he have the plate discipline to hit leadoff?

How much of his stats are you looking at? He has a .378 OBP in his minor-league career, and his OBP was routinely ~80 points higher than his average.

[DVauthrin]

This is the first time in, what, better than a decade? that the closer role has actually not been explicitly one man's job (or one man's job to lose).

depends on if they sign cordero or not.

[ValpoCory]

http://sports.yahoo.com/m...tS3Y2GzM_OJWQax5lP7CFCLcF

19 stolen bases in 122 games. 15 starts, 127 ABs

[Bench]

Why is that a bad trade other than folks live to bitch? We would have given them Qualls and Scott for Bourne at the deadline. Lidge faltered at the end, and Ransom can replace Bruntlett.

We got our target CFer. We need a closer, but come on, people. Many of you were willing to draw and quarter Lidge in September.

I like what we are trying to do.

I don't think it's a bad trade at all. However, my friend who's a steM fan is upset at the deal. "Geary was the guy I always felt good about when he came in to face the Mets. Now we have to deal with Lidge?" was his reaction.

Bourn can be a staple at CF for a long time. Geary has good numbers for a reliever, despite the fact that whoever sponsors his baseball-reference page tagged it with "It's not always pretty, but Geoff gets the job done." Costanzo looks like a decent 3B prospect, and this team needs those. Ransom can replace Bruntlett with no problem at all. The bullpen needs assistance, especially given the current state of the starting rotation, but there's plenty of time left before the season starts.

[jbm]

Seems reasonable to me.  Imo, Wade needed to make a decision about Lidge and he did.  He traded age for youth and filled some obvious needs.  Got a center fielder and added a promising third base at the higher minor levels.

It's aggressive and makes sense.

Haven't seen much of Bourne.  How is his defense?

[Bench]

http://sports.yahoo.com/m...tS3Y2GzM_OJWQax5lP7CFCLcF

19 stolen bases in 122 games. 15 starts, 127 ABs

That dude's a hell of a central gardener. He can patrol with the best of 'em.

[JimR]

There is no point in discussing anything with someone who says "I'm not big on scouting."

Scour your stats sheets and tell us what you would have done.

[Dobro]

Excellent trade for both clubs.

[toddthebod]

This is the first time in, what, better than a decade? that the closer role has actually not been explicitly one man's job (or one man's job to lose).

I would think that unless the Astros get an established closer -- cordero -- Qualls is going to close.

As for how much money the Astros now have to spend -- I don't think that they were ever going to spend $10 million per year on a centerfielder.  So this isn't money that is going to be freed up for other needs.  

All this being said, the Astros have found their leadoff man and their centerfielder for the forseeable future.  Barring injury, the Astros now have their outfield set through 2012.  

[ValpoCory]

Haven't seen much of Bourne.  How is his defense?

Don't confuse him with Jason Bourne.  It's just Bourn.

0 errors in 84 chances, but Bidge avoided errors too in CF.