The Astros are expected to announce major changes Monday, including the dismissal of general manager Ed Wade, according to major league sources.

Tal Smith, the team’s president of baseball operations, also is expected to leave his current position, possibly by retiring, sources say.

New owner Jim Crane, who officially took over last Tuesday, promised quick decisions on the team’s hierarchy, saying his timetable was “right after Thanksgiving.”

Crane and new team president George Postolos plan one-on-one meetings with all of the team’s top executives starting Monday, sources say. (Ken Rosenthal – FOX Sports)

It’s not often anymore in sports where you see a new owner come in and make sweeping changes like it appears Crane is doing. Yes, they make changes but none like this where pretty much all of the figure heads in a front office is gone.

While I hate to see people out of a job this is good for the future of the Astros organization. The current front office has not done much of note. Unless you count Ed Wade consistently giving the Philadelphia Phillies the players they want and I do stress giving.

Pedro has been absolutely dreadful at the plate, he’s hitting .220 with only 2 homers and 22 rbis after 63 games. What’s even worse thou is his defense, which is his strong suit. He’s committed a team high nine errors, he’s on pace for 23 if he started every game the rest of the season. To put that in perspective in 2009 with the Philadelphia Phillies he committed 15 in 155 games, in 2008 it was 8 errors in 129 games.

“He understood (the decision),” manager Brad Mills (per Houston Chronicle). “He was disappointed, as we knew he would be, but at the same time he understands the situation.”

The demotion is unfortunate for the veteran but its obvious that age is catching up with the 35-year old Feliz. At least he’s ready to fight to get his job back.

“It’s not over for me yet,” Feliz said. “This is the first time I’m in this situation in my career, but I won’t get tired of saying that it is not over.”

On Monday night, Valverde freed the Astros from the $10 million obligation by refusing their offer of salary arbitration.

On Wednesday, the Astros acquired two right-handed relievers: Matt Lindstrom in a trade with the Marlins, Brandon Lyon via free agency.

Lindstrom will probably earn around $1 million in arbitration. Lyon’s deal is worth $15 million over three years.

Then the Astros signed third baseman Pedro Feliz to a one-year, $4.5 million deal on Thursday.

So, they ended up with Lindstrom, Lyon and Feliz for almost the same amount of money — in 2010, anyway — that it would have cost them to keep Valverde.

After reading this I can’t think of how great of a Winter Meetings the Astros had. They lost their closer in Valverde, which does hurt when you consider he’s led the league in saves in two of the last three seasons. But at the cost of $10 million plus he would actually hurt a team that needs multiple pieces.

By bringing in Brandon Lyon and Matt Lindstrom they bring in two pitchers who have experience in the closers role, although both had shaky stints in the role. Regardless both have proven to be effective major league relief pitchers. The combination of the two could easily replace Valverde if just one gets his head together when closing.

Then too boot Wade brings in a third baseman who is a huge upgrade over Geoff Blum. Feliz doesn’t hit quite as many homeruns but he’s better in just about every other aspect then Blum when it comes to hitting. In addition to that he’ll be a huge defensive upgrade for the Astros.

So looking at it you bring in two quality relievers and an upgraded third baseman for the price it would of cost to keep one elite-National League closer. I’d say that’s a pretty good haul regardless of name.

If Ed Wade could of made moves like this when he was the Philadelphia Phillies maybe they could of started winning a few years earlier then they did.

In 2009, Sheffield has hit .277 with 10 homers and 43 runs batted in, his on base percentage is still a pretty good .369 as well. All of that in just 97 games and a low 267 at bats.

The one thing that will hold him back for returning next year is health. He’s proven he can produce when healthy but also proven he’s now an injury prone old man. At his age, I’m sure he’d only want to play for a contender and only way a contender would look at him is if he proved he can stay healthy. I’m going to give Sheff credit as he knows that’s the case.

“No. 1 is health — dedication and health,” Sheffield said. “You’re going to get out what you put in.”

Kevin Kernan of the New York Post reports that Sheffield is going to work on his conditioning this off season, “He’s going to train with boxer Winky Wright and get down to about 210 pounds. His goal, he said, is to play 150 games. ”

I think if Sheffield can improve his conditioning and stay healthy, he could have a big 2010. He’s always been the guy that wants to prove others wrong. It’s why he always plays his best against former teams. Look at the New York Yankees, he’s hit 5 homers in 58 at bats against them since he was traded away. He knows he can produce and loves to stick it to the teams who said he couldn’t anymore.

If the Mets let him walk after this season, which is almost a certainty, he’ll have that much more incentive to come back at a high level.

Now that brings up another thing, what teams would be interested in his services?

Kernan lists the Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers as possibilities if he can’t return to New York. Notice a trend there?

Tampa Bay and Florida are turning into big rivals of the two New York teams. Both teams are also close to his Tampa home. Both teams need a legitimate slugger. Both can use some swagger and Sheffield could definitely bring that.

My money is on Sheffield being a major league outfielder again in 2010, where I’m not sure. But if he’s healthy count on him hitting at least 20 homers again.

First, divisional championship coin flips. These would only occur should there be a tie for the division title. I repeat these will ONLY occur if there is a tie.
Minnesota Twins @ Chicago White Sox
Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox
New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers
Arizona Diamondbacks @ Los Angeles Dodgers.

I’d say the three teams here that would benefit the most would be Boston, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Milwaukee because they get away from those Cubbie faithful. Philly and Boston are winners because they get to play in front of their wild fan bases.

Now the Wild Card Scenarios. Again these would only take place should there be a tie.
Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox
Milwaukee Brewers @ Philadelphia Phillies
Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros
Houston Astros or St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies
Houston Astros or Milwaukee Brewers @ St. Louis Cardinals

The Phillies are huge winners here as they would host any tie breaking game in front of their rabid fan base.

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.

DeWitt played at AA – Jacksonville last season but only logged 168 plate appearances there, with a .281 avg 6 hr and 20 rbis. No doubt, the guy put up some decent numbers but with so little experience there the plan was to start him off there and let him to continue progress. General Manager Ned Colletti has conceded he won’t be an offensive threat at all but should play good enough defense to warrant him being at third till players start to return from injury. The Dodgers wounded include Nomar Garciaparra, Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu.

Due to the injuries the team has been exploring trade options. They’ve tried to contact the Houston Astros but were told Mark Loretta was unavailable. They’ve also contacted the Kansas City Royals regarding Esteban German. The Dodgers were willing to move pitchers Jonathan Meloan and Miguel Pinango for German, but the Royals held out and demanded Chin-Lung Hu. Thats a price the Dodgers weren’t willing to spend for a stop-gap third baseman. Especially, with German being more of a second baseman and Hu being a valuable back-up for the shortstop position.

This doesn’t look good for the Dodgers who have high hopes this season. The first one expected back is LaRoche but thats not till early May as he recovers from surgery on his right thumb. DeWitt did flash some power Saturday night homering off Jonathan Papelbon at the Colisseum, but don’t expect much of that yet from the 22-year old.

• St Louis Cardinals – Chris Carpenter, Matt Clement, Joel Pineiro, Mark Mulder, Juan Encarnacion. This team has a full laundry list and almost a full rotation hurting one way or another. All of the preceding players have been placed on the 15-day disabled list, all retroactive to March 21st. Here’s the breakdown of when they may return. Carpenter is still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He resumed throwing earlier this month and his looking to make a mid-July return to the rotation. Don’t hold your breathe thou. Clement is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and should miss the entire month of April, his status in May will all depend on his performance in minor league starts.
  
  Pineiro threw two innings in a minor league game today as he had to take some time for inflammation in his left shoulder. He’ll get three or four more minor league assignments then rejoin the rotation. Mulder is also recovering from shoulder surgery and should miss the month of April as well. He just started facing live hitters today. Now, Encarnacion he has a fractured left orbital bone and isn’t expected to play at all this season. In fact, his career may be over.
• Tampa Bay Rays – Scott Kazmir, Ben Zobrist. Kazmir was placed on the 15-day DL as well, also retroactive to March 21st. He could return in April but his return has to be up in the air, as the Rays have been very cautious and keep slowing him down. Rays’ manager Joe Maddon said Kazmir will start throwing catch from further distances later this week, 90 to 120 feet. He’s still not throwing off a mound or facing live hitters yet.
  
  Zobrist, the Rays utility man, will be on the DL for the first weeks of the season with a broken thumb. Andy Cannizaro or Elliot Johnson will cover his duties in the meantime.
• San Francisco Giants – Aaron Rowand. Rowand was hit by a pitch in today’s game by Rich Hill. He took the pitch off his right ankle and spent a minute or so on the ground afterwards. He was able to walk off the field on his own, and the injury is most likely day-to-day variety.
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – Kelvim Escobar, Chone Figgins. Escobar experienced discomfort in his pitching shoulder and had to shutdown his throwing program once again. This can’t be a good sign for you Angels fans, as this was just playing catch he hasn’t even gotten back on the mound yet. He was looking to return by mid-May, as long as its not to serious you could expect this to be pushed back to June now.
  
  Figgins has been sidelined with cramping in his left hand. The injury is day-to-day, and its more of a precautionary thing as the left hand is the one he had surgery to remove the hamate bone. He’s expected to return to the lineup Thursday.
• Seattle Mariners – Adrian Beltre. Beltre is still having problems with wrist pain. The injury has followed him since last season, and he wasn’t diagnosed with a torn ligament till December. Being so close to training camp, he opted not to go with surgery. “It hurts to hold the bat, it hurts every time,” Beltre said. “There’s always pain.” If he’s able to make it through the season I wouldn’t expect much via the way of power.
• Houston Astros – Kaz Matsui. Matsui is on the 15-day DL retroactive to March 21st. He recently had surgery to repair an anal fissure. I’m not going into the details for you on what that details, but if you’re interested you can look it up on Google. He’ll miss the first couple weeks of the season. Mark Loretta should get most of his playing time while he recovers.

Part two of this should follow shortly.

The Tigers would love to make a deal to clear some salary from their now bloated payroll. If no players are dealt they are going to start with a team salary of over $134 million. Inge is scheduled to make a tad under $6.5 million this year.

This deal could go either way for the Dodgers. They do have Nomar Garciaparra whom Joe Torre would like to play third, as well as rookie Andy LaRoche. Both are solid options but like i said LaRoche is a rookie. Is he ready for prime time? Is he able to play 164 games yet? All good questions. You would think then hey they have Nomar who would be available to spot start or take over if Andy isn’t ready. It’s confusing I know.

Personally, I feel nothing happens between the Tigers and Dodgers and that this rumor is just that. According to one baseball official, there is another possible destination for Inge and that could be the Houston Astros. My guess, Inge starts the season as a Tiger but gets dealt mid-season as injuries take their toll.