re: Oakland Athletics acquire SS Jed Lowrie from Houston Astros

Not really. He's almost 29, not 23. He is what he is, a decent SS with pop that can't stay healthy.

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Rosenthal: How will Astros survive AL West?

quote:

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The trade makes sense. All of the trades do, more or less. But then you look at the Houston Astros’ roster, and you look at their payroll, and you say, “Holy smokes, how are they going to survive in the American League?”

Easy answer: They won’t, at least not in 2013. And as the Astros continue their teardown, it’s certainly fair to ask how low can they go, how many games can they lose before they become an embarrassment to Major League Baseball.

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That's way over the top from rosenthal. The pirates have been largely terrible for decades. Trading their good players for prospects and trading those prospects once they become goood players. The rays were useless their entire existence up until a few years ago.

The astros didn't choose to move to a tougher division during a rebuild. The commissioner forced it because he didn't want to put his precious brewers back into a tougher league even though their history is roooted in the AL. The astros are totally rebuilding the team through the farm. We won't be competing for a few more years so Lowrie doesn't fit into future plans.