Seemed to have really worked out, except not.  I don’t know what Ed Wade was thinking, then again noone ever does.  IIRC, they were already 10+ games out at the deadline, so you continue to sign and trade for veterans to make a run?  It makes no sense.  I would’ve tried to spin a few guys off for youth, but what do I know, I just blog.

As an Orioles fan, I was really curious to see how his stay in Houston worked out.  I’m still a fan of the trade from the O’s perspective, we needed to get younger.  I still wish Miggy the best and hoped he would succeed as an Astro.

It definitely didn’t start out great, considering that his name was revealed in the Mitchell Report a day after his trade went final.  It made the Astros front office look pretty dumb as well.  Why trade for him when he was rumored to be in this report that was to be released shortly?  They likely could have acquired him for much less, but whatever, more power to the Birds.

I can safely say that Miggy hasn’t let any of that get to him, and has surpassed nearly everyone’s expectations.  I figured that the short porch in right field at Minute Maid would help him out, but not THIS much.  He’s started out white hot in his first 32 games.  He’s hitting .349, which is extremely high for him, has 5 home runs which puts him on pace for his 162 game average of 27.  He’s also hit 10 doubles so far and has driven in 25.  So far it looks like both teams are enjoying this trade.

I expected an improved Miggy and a happier Miggy.  While the Astros aren’t that great, he was going to a new team, a better team, and he got a chance to start fresh.  I expected to see the old Miggy that was always upbeat and joking around with everyone, and that’s what I’m seeing.  I really wish his stay in Baltimore would have worked out better, and I wish that he could be doing this with the orange and black, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  I’m still glad to see him doing well though, and good luck to him and Houston the rest of the way.

It’s almost a done deal that free agent infielder Mark Loretta will accept salary arbitration and return to the Houston Astros.

The Astros offered Loretta salary arbitration last week. Barring some unforeseen developments, he will accept arbitration before the deadline Friday at midnight.

We will be covering the Astros offseason and then hopefully all season long too