This is off a random person's blog. Can we at least keep the rumors to real journalists? Cruz is in last year of his contract and will be one after this season. More likely to see Kinsler in the OF or at 1b than being traded. And as a side note, what could the Yankees offer the Rangers to get Andrus? Rangers will want prospects or an ace for any established player they trade.
An ERA of 3.29 is just 0.04 higher than Cole Hamels. It's lower than Shaun Marcum, Joe Saunders, Cliff Lee, AJ Burnett, Mark Buerhle, Roy Halladay, Matt Garza, Ian Kennedy. He hasn't an ERA over 3.60 since 2007. Tell me again how he's overpaid and only just above average?
Appel is a client of Boras' also. Probably why he kept dropping. 'Stros offered him good money but he said it wasn't enough. They went after Correa and already signed him for less than they were offering Appel. He'll make less where he was drafted than if he took the Astros offer originally. Great Agent that Boras is!!!
New ownership, new GM. Don't blame the last 5 years on them. That would be like blaming the years of Rangers losing on Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan. The Astros let themselves get old while keeping the killer B's around. Then they hoped that they would get lucky with some washed up talent and that didn't work. They still have a good fanbase who are patient. A rebuild should work here. Cub fans need to learn to be patient so that they can rebuild also.
Having a highly stocked minor league system does NOT mean you have guys who are immediately ready to play at the Major League level. The two best pitching prospects in AAA are only 22 and they want to give them more seasoning. There is no reason to rush these kids to the majors. Scott Feldman would probably be a 3rd or 4th starter on most teams in the league. He should be able to fill in for Feliz until he's healthy again.
Same thing happened to Josh Hamilton for almost a year and a half. Got into the habit of pulling the ball for homers. This season he's smoothed his swing out again and is doing much, much better. Seems like the Home Run derby can ruin some players swings, making them start to think of pulling rather than just making solid contact.
Arena/Stadium size has a lot to do with attendance. The top 3 sports play in very large outdoor stadiums while NBA and NHL play in smaller arenas. And I think that NASCAR draws more than anybody else on an average weekend. Texas Motor Speedway seats 191,122. That said, TV popularity is a much more accurate way of seeing overall popularity. And the fact that I don't get NHL Network is one reason I've been losing interest in the NHL. I do want to watch the Kings win the Stanley Cup but can only watch what basic package gives me.
Same thing happened to Josh Hamilton for almost a year and a half. Got into the habit of pulling the ball for homers. This season he's smoothed his swing out again and is doing much, much better. Seems like the Home Run derby can ruin some players swings, making them start to think of pulling rather than just making solid contact.