What Should The Astros Do

Stand pat and ride out this season. There is a slim to none chance of making the playoffs this year. Just wait til the offseason and hope they can land a big time pitcher

IMO one more really good pitcher is all they need. Roy O is the stud add a Sheets(hopefully), Moehler has been good, and Wandy and Backe, and that could possibly be a playoff contender

trade Tejada to the Red Sox for prospects

The Astros have a terrible farm system and Boston needs someone to compete with the Angels.

Bayou they are already doing it. They have given up on this year but are getting ready for this year. They got Wolf with the hopes that he will sign next year and they will have a solid veteran #5. If they offer arbitration and he declines the will get compensation draft picks. Its a win win. Wade is currently trying to get a decent middle reliever to compliment Brocail next year. Its not a long shot to think that Sheets would come to Houston and according to the Houston Chronicle, at least one Astros player has spoken to him about the possibility of coming to Houston next year and Sheets said that he would definitely be open to the idea considering his roots in the area. Considering the Astros top talent is at Corpus right now and can't contribute for a few more years, the Astros are better off to stick with the player they have and try to tinker it to perfection. With a core of Tejada, Berkman, Lee and Pence, the Astros would be a legitimate contender if they sign a top tier pitcher in the off season. Ed Wade realizes this and will try to work towards next season with the hopes that they can contend in 2009.

They knew this coming in to the season and for the last few years the problem has been offense. Wade did what he could to upgrade and thought he was getting a good deal with Bourn. He was at one point the Phils top prospect and I still see potential in Bourn. He seems to be figuring out how to hit the ball on the ground to the left side. It is only his first year in the league so he will have to have time. Kenny Lofton started out in the same fashion. Anyway Wade upgraded the offense and did what he could with the pitching. There wasn't much in free agency so he signed Shawn Chacon and that didn't work out in the long run, although he did give the Astros at least 9 quality starts, so they did win or have the opportunity to win nearly 10 games because of him. I hear people bitch about how we missed out on Kyle Lohshe but he was a mediocre pitcher and wanted too much money. Dave Duncan did wonders for him in St. Louis, wonders that I know Dewey Robinson could never work. The Astros have a lot of money to be freed up after this year and will probably over pay for a pitcher but hopefully it will be a solid signing so we can contend

Yea he cooled off big time. Dropped down to about .270 or something. Now I think he is back up mid to upper .280's, I think not for sure

I didn't really wanna mention it because I wasn't for sure how bad he was doing. But now that you mentioned. Yea he has blown since the All-Star break. Seems like he hasn't gotten a multi-hit game since the break. Maybe the Home-Run derby really did mess his swing up. :omg:

ESPN (cant remember if it was sportscenter or baseball tonight) reported two nights ago that the Astros have been trying to aquire another pitcher to come out of the bullpen. Apparently they have spoken to a few teams about it.

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Why no hate for Berkman? He is hitting just over .200 for the month with 0 HR.

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.263 is more than just a little over .200, but he has definitely been slumping. (His OBP in July is .429 though, which is excellent...)

He did hit .319 in June, so it's not like May was his only good month.

If I was the Astros GM I'd see what I could get for guys like Loretta, Blum, and Wigginton. (And any FA-to-be relievers...) It might just be a trade like the Yankees made to get Nady/Marte, but it couldn't hurt the Astros to see if anyone has interest in those guys.