Astros continue to buy, but why?

July 30, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

The Houston Astros have made another trade, adding another pitcher. The team acquired New York Yankees relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins. After acquiring Damaso Marte from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Yankees pretty much had no use for Hawkins. Hawkins was designated for assignment after the trade, and the Astros actually could have gotten him for nothing. Instead, General Manager Ed Wade continued his genius moves by dealing away another prospect, Single-A 2B Matt Cusick, when he could of had Hawkins for nothing this weekend.

Cusick is not a big prospect at all, so he’s pretty much a long shot to ever make the majors. The real problem with this trade is Ed Wade. Wade continues to make moves to add to the roster even thou the team is 9.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race. You have to wonder what is he doing? The Astros could easily trade some players and continue to build this team for the future. There has been plenty of interest in Miguel Tejada, Doug Brocail and Geoff Geary all players that could help bring in some prospects. But no, Wade wants to make a run at this thing. The Houston Chronicle’s own Richard Justice has no idea himself and is even more confused now. It’s pretty bad when the team’s own beat writers have no clue what you’re doing.

For Hawkins its not a bad move thou. He gets to go back to the more relaxed National League where he enjoyed some success. He’ll go back to being an eighth inning guy and setup for closer Jose Valverde, even getting the occasional save opportunity when Jose needs some rest. The downside is he won’t get to experience October baseball, as the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers were also showing interest.

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