Astros sign Brandon Lyon; 3 year, $15 million

[trwi7]

I don't get it.

[patrickgpe]

this definitely makes the hawkins singing look bad

[PNut33]

I wouldn't expect Doug to give an RP a three-year deal or longer for the rest of his life.

[Yeti73]

This makes no sense to me. Stros were supposed to be limited in spending and they go out and dish out a 3 year deal to a reliever? LaTroy is similar to Lyon and they are going to pay him $2+ mil a year more than we are paying? Don't get it.

[RyDogg66]

this definitely makes the hawkins singing look bad

Are you serious?

[RockCoCougars]

I think the Brewers dodged a bullet by passing on both Lyon and Lindstrom. It seems like everytime I've watched either of them pitch, they fall behind hitters and end up getting knocked around.

[chadomac]

I think the Brewers dodged a bullet by passing on both Lyon and Lindstrom. It seems like everytime I've watched either of them pitch, they fall behind hitters and end up getting knocked around.

 

Make sure you watch all the Brewers/Astros games this coming year, then.

[nate82]

this definitely makes the hawkins singing look bad

How? Lyon will be getting 3 years averaging $5m per year while Hawkins only gets 2 years averaging 3.75 over those 2 years. Even with incentives I'm not sure Hawkins gets as much as Lyon will. If anything the Hawkins deal looks good compared to the Lyon deal.

[TooLiveBrew]

Dave Cameron, candid at FanGraphs with his take: The Worst Signing of the Winter

 

I really liked this quip -- "I'm one of those people who doesn't really enjoy Saturday Night Live sketches, because to me, the joke is made in the first 15 seconds and then just repeated over and over for the next several minutes. You drive a Dodge Stratus and you think that makes you important - okay. Not much funnier the 15th time you yell it. Not to me, anyway.

 

Ed Wade is the GM equivalent of a bad SNL sketch. The first time he overpaid a middle reliever, we figured out that he didn't really know how to build a roster. Now, when he gives Brandon Lyon a 3 year, $15 million deal, we just shrug our shoulders and say, "Yeah, that's Ed Wade for ya."

[sheethead]

Yeah, the fact that Wade is still employed as an MLB GM is fascinating in its own right. Michael Moore should do a documentary on this one.

[endaround]

Now they signed Pedro Feliz to a $4.5m deal. Instead of taking $9m and getting a good 3B in a decent 3B market they've spent it on a mediocre reliever and a below average aging 3B.

[TooLiveBrew]

I guess at least they didn't throw $50M at Beltre, but there just doesn't seem to be a sound plan in Houston right now.

[RobertR]

I don't know, Feliz is good enough defensively to earn that $4.5 million. Granted, it doesn't help the Astros in the long run and the short run is just going through the motions, but I think it's a harmless move. Heck, flip him at the deadline for a prospect and it will likely be pretty defensible.

 

Really, the problem is with any move that doesn't involve stripping down and retooling the Astros. They're not that good, old, expensive, and they don't have help coming in the minors any time soon.

 

The Lyon move is just laughable. He's just not that good. And there are a lot of GM's who have caught on to the "proven closer" game.

 

Robert

[endaround]

Its not so much Feliz isn't worth $4.5m, its that he's not much better than in house options and is basically $4.5m wasted along with $5m for Lyon when you could have brought in a Troy Glaus who could actually help the team.

[RobertR]

Its not so much Feliz isn't worth $4.5m, its that he's not much better than in house options and is basically $4.5m wasted along with $5m for Lyon when you could have brought in a Troy Glaus who could actually help the team.

Is there really any helping the current Astros?

 

Robert

[Invader3K]

The Astros have a bad GM, but he could be pressured by their ownership into making moves like this. They really should go nuclear there and just completely rebuild at this point.

[Funketown]

this definitely makes the hawkins singing look bad

Is this serious?

 

Dave Cameron had a pretty good write-up about this signing. Even though this is only a 15 million dollar deal, this is still one of the worst signings I have ever seen. Just brutal. Guys like Lyon can be found on just about any scrap heap in the Majors.

[sheethead]

Does Richard Justice think this puts the Astros back on top in the Central?

[sheethead]

Best Justice piece I have read, which doesn't say much. Leveled, yet still reluctant to rip Wade.

 

If you'd like to argue that Wade should have held onto the $4.5 million and hoped some starting pitching became available, you're thinking straight. The Astros badly need starting pitching and power, and those are two areas he hasn't improved.

 

However, Wade's three acquisitons-Matt Lindstrom, Brandon Lyon and Feliz-will make about the same as Jose Valverde would have gotten in arbitration for 2010.

 

With so little money to spend, Wade is plugging along as best he can. Wade declared it a ''good week'' for the Astros, and it may have been. But it probably didn't lead to a rush to the ticket windows.

 

http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2009/12/if_chris_johnso.html

[TooLiveBrew]

We can only hope that after each loss, their clubhouse is as harmonious as Toontown freed from Judge Doom & "The Dip".