Before we shower Giants GM Brian Sabean with praise, it's important to note he has made some huge mistakes: Barry Zito (7 years, $126 million), Aaron Rowand (5 years, $60 million), Jose Guillen (3 years, $36 million).

Can't blame Sabean for Guillen's contract, that's completely disingenuous.

As per Cots, the Giants are only paying $250K of his 2010 salary.

More likely sloppy than disingenuous. It's football season down here; I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Horns v. Bears outdraws Game 3 in the state.

cmon mayor

like bout every college football stadium holds more people than the rangers ballpark

- but richard is right
and drayton obviously thought that astros fans wouldn't come out and watch a team of young players, just fading stars

now we have 1 faded star, a couple of above average veteran pitchers, a couple of above average middle relievers and a whole lot of not so young not so good players. and i sure nuff don't see any stars in the minor leagues neither

Yet, for all this kvetching, the Astros (as they seemingly always do) ended up with a perfectly respectable 76 wins, one more than the Cubs. No matter how little talent they have on hand, they simply refuse to suck. It's very annoying.

That said, I'm not quite sure what a "real" rebuilding process looks like in this case. Yes, step #1, is signing top draft picks and international FAs and such ... but how much extra money per year is that really? Another $5 M on top of what they're spending? $10 M? They had a $91 M ML payroll last year so why can't they continue to be reasonably competitive while still investing in draft picks?

Step #2 is trading vets for kids. Good idea but the Astros have at most two players worth much of anything. Hunter Pence is a league-average corner OF with 2 arb years left -- you might get a Nate McLouth type package for him. Wandy is an above-average lefty, early 30s but still with 1 year of arb left (at probably $7-8 M).

The Astros 2011 payroll currently stands at $41 M with about $22 M of arb awards coming (barring trades of Pence or Rodriguez). So they've got about $30 M to play with. Even if you divert $5-10 to kids, the remaining $20-25 M gets spent on ML payroll or goes into McLane's pocket. Neither of those helps the rebuilding process.

So how could they spend that $20-25 M? Tough call. It's not a great FA market and I don't see how they can take a substantial step forward. Reasonable possibilities:

I'm assuming either Lee moves to 1B or they let Wallace play it. So their major holes are C, SS, LF and CF and they could really use a couple of reliable SPs.

There's one big option (VMart) and a number of decent smaller options (Torrealba, Buck, Olivo, Hernandez) at C. Cot's lists JJ Hardy as an FA in both 2011 and 2012 but I think 2012 is right. So other than your typical 1-year stopgaps (Cabrera maybe, Gonzalez maybe, Uribe, Renteria probably, Izturis) there's nothing of note here.

Unfortunately this looks like a terrible year for 2nd tier OF FA. After the top guys Werth and Crawford, there's very little. Burrell in LF and Clank at 1B sounds very McLane-ian. :-) I am entertained though that both Jay Payton and Kevin Mench were in the majors this year. They could do worse than Eric Hinske.

I'm not sure who all has been hurt, whose options are likely to get picked up, etc. but there are a number of interesting gambles and potential innings eaters among the SP. Depending on money/years: Bonderman, Duchscherer, Harang, Millwood, Padilla, Pavano, Vazquez and Westbrook might help hold things together for the next couple of seasons.

Is that a rosy future? Certainly not, at least not if their minor leagues are in poor shape (as everyone seems to agree). But there's no benefit (from a baseball perspective) in this team cutting back to a $40-50 M payroll while they rebuild. Absolutely pay for better prospects. If the minor-league facilities need upgrading, certainly make a one-time investment in that. If you want to start a baseball academy in the Upper Volta, go for it. But rebuilding costs time more than money and, if you have the money, there's no reason to suck at the ML level while you do it.

Which is just to say that, unless he'd rather pocket that extra $20-30 M every year, there's no reason for McLane to not commit to a "real" rebuilding process. All it costs him is somewhere between a Brandon Lyon and a Brett Myers.

I'm assuming either Lee moves to 1B or they let Wallace play it. So their major holes are C, SS, LF and CF and they could really use a couple of reliable SPs.

Michael Bourn may not be an outstanding hitter, but he is an elite defensive CF and an elite baserunner. He was probably the best position player on the team last year (I know..damning with faint praise). I think calling CF a major hole for the Astros is disingenuous.

I probably think more of Jason Castro than most, but I think he'll settle in as a league average hitter and a very good defensive catcher. From my observation, he had a good approach at the plate and hit into more bad luck than any other Astro last year. Defensively, he needs to improve as a receiver, but he is already an excellent catch and throw guy. I am more sold on Jason Castro than I am Chris Johnson.

Speaking of Chris Johnson, 3b is another potential problem spot. He lashed out line drives all over the field for a couple of months, but once pitchers realized they did not have to throw him strikes he struggled down the stretch. He also struggled defensively (although his defensive struggles were exclusively throwing errors). The Astros do not have any third basemen in the system close to the major leagues.

This is probably a 75ish win team again next year. The only gaping hole in my view is SS, but LF and 1b could be problem spots as well.

Unless a deity came down from the heavens and told Ed Wade that humanity would be saved if Pedro Feliz or Russ Ortiz had jobs, there's no point in the success cycle at which you want those guys.

John Moseliak and Ned Colletti say, "I beg to differ."

they could really use a couple of reliable SPs

This shouldn't be the highest priority for the Astros. The Astros' offense is horrible. The defense isn't great either. But the starting pitching was good last season. The Astros had the 3d best FIP among starting pitchers in the NL. Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez are pretty reliable at the top of the rotation. Given that Happ came in the Oswalt trade, he will be given every chance in the rotation. Even though I wasn't excited when the Astros traded for Happ, after watching him this season, I think he can be a decent mid-rotation pitcher. Bud Norris and Felipe Paulino have shown flashes of brilliance in the rotation, and since they are still reasonably young hard throwers, I would still like them to get another shot as the 4 and 5 starters. Figueroa may return as the No. 6 pitcher. The Astros' No. 1 prospect, Jordan Lyles, pitched in AAA at age 19, and the Astros may be tempted to insert him into rotation at some point next season. Given his age, I would feel better if Lyles was given another year of seasoning in AAA. But the Astros may not think that way, particularly if Lyles pitches really well to start next season.

I think calling CF a major hole for the Astros is disingenuous.

I wouldn't. I'd call it an error.

Adding reliable starting pitching helps keep Lyles in the minors and learning. Happ, Norris, Paulino is not exactly inspiring. Heck, Myers and Rodriguez aren't inspiring. Figueroa's not guaranteed to be back and he'll be 37. Of course none of the guys I mentioned are particularly inspiring either but some of them are good bets to give you 180-200 non-sucky innings.

I don't find Chris Johnson exciting either but clearly he's getting a starting spot somewhere next year, presumably 3B.

Castro put up a line of 265/365/355 at AAA then, pretty much right in line with that, 205/286/287. Doesn't look like he's ready with the bat. So you bring in somebody who can hit a little to catch 80-100 games while you break Castro in or give him another year at AAA. But, yes, this is a "real" rebuilding decision -- what's the way to maximize the chances that Castro's a decent starting C 2-3-5 years from now? Is that to send him to AAA, given him 60-80 games in the majors or make him the primary catcher.

Cot's lists JJ Hardy as an FA in both 2011 and 2012 but I think 2012 is right. So other than your typical 1-year stopgaps (Cabrera maybe, Gonzalez maybe, Uribe, Renteria probably, Izturis) there's nothing of note here.

Derek Jeter. I know the assumption is that he's going to retire a Yankee in part because they're going to overpay him by a gazillion dollars. But if the Yankee/Jeter talks start to stalemate a bit, isn't this the sort of situation that could make sense? He wouldn't be blocking anybody in Houston (I assume), they're a big enough market to be able to afford a top-tier free agent (e.g., Carlos Lee), and, as Walt says, they arguably have $15-$20 million to throw around anyway. If they can get Jeter at, say, 3/$35, part of me thinks that would be a nice move by the Astros.

The idea of Jeter in one of those brick-red Astros uniforms doesn't register. It'd be like seeing Goldie Hawn as a brunette.