What do you think of the Aubrey Huff trade?
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at
6:21 am
Aubrey Huff and cash were traded to the Houston Astros for 2 minor league prospects. Prospects include pitcher Mike Talbot and shortstop Ben Zorbrist. Talbot, 22, was 6-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 18 appearances with Double-A Corpus Christi this season. Zobrist, 25, batted .328 in 82 games for Corpus Christi. Is this trade going to hurt or help the Astros? now? in the near future?
Filed under: Natural Gas Futures
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This trade is very similar to the Carlos Beltran trade in 2004. However, Huff is a little older but is an established vetern hitter nonetheless. You take a player like Huff who has shown potential, but who has unfortunately been on a last place team the last 6 season, and you can see the ‘re’ makings of what happened in the 2004 season, when all the Astros did was win in the second half after acquiring Beltran.
The Astros were in need of a left handed bat, you now have Lamb, Berkman and of course Huff to give pitchers difficulty when pitching through the lineup.
The conflict I think is this: you are going to hurt people’s feelings, however, if you haven’t been producing you need to sit your a@s on the bench i.e. Morgan Ensberg. With the versatility of Huff to play multiple positions, you have now added strength to your lineup, because you can now juggle Lamb, Berkman, and Huff in different positions but still keeping them in the lineup while also keeping hitters like Burke and Wilson, who have been lighting it up the last month and a half, as well.
This is exactly what the astros needed. Huff, a native of Dallas/Ft. Worth area is very excited about the trade, and what a struggling team needs most is someone who is motivated and commited to turn things around. Go STROS!!!
Help them now, Aubrey Huff is great, and help them in the future as the cash will be put to good use, the Astros have a way of doing that, plus Houston has a great farm system, and will undoubtedly replace those 2.
It helps them now because they sent down Jason Lane, who has been a bit of a disappointment this season. Huff can play first, third or right field - so if Berkman’s knee is acting up they have a capable sub. Morgan Engsberg’s hitting has been off, so a platoon at third will probably be Huff’s starting point.
Down the road…Huff’s contract is up at the end of the year. I don’t think Houston will be able to afford to keep him, so this is really more of a "short-term loan" before he heads off to free agency. As for the minor leaguers, Zobrist may have potential to be a breakout star, while Talbot’s numbers seem mediocre (he could have been a "throw-in" to sweeten the deal).
If you take the Astros side, yes its a great trade for them. But for the Devil rays I think it sucks, because Huff is one of the big boppers for the Rays.
Good trade for both. Maybe now Tampa Bay will be start to be able to use all the young stars in their farm system.
It will help their offense now which they need. The Astros need to score more runs. As a Yankee fan I’m glad to see Huff gone from the AL East. In the future you never want to get rid of good pitching but I think it was a great trade for them
this trade will help the astros. they have arguably the best pitching in the majors with clemens pettite and oswalt. they have a good bullpen. the only thing they needed was a bit of pop in the lineup and the get that with aubrey huff. there is no doubt about it. this was a good trade for them. you cant measure a world series championship or a pennant with chances which is all those prospects are. this trade will allow them to win the division or atleast a wildcard. i dont know if they can beat the cardinals or mets, but this sure does make it interesting. who wants to play a series facing clemens, oswalt, pettite, clemens, oswalt, clemens, oswalt? and then they have to deal with: berkman, ensberg, biggio, huff, taveras. i still think that the whitesox will repeat but this will definitly make things interesting. the astros were already spectacular, trust me i live in and am from pittsburgh. this was a great and timely trade. most of there stars are old and this trade could win the world series
It’s a good trade for the ‘Stros. Talbot and Zorbist weren’t gonna see the show anytime soon(i.e. Astros mostly wait til players are 26/27 to move them up, example Jason Lane). Ensberg’s struggling. And they need some life in the lineup.
Tampa Bay might actually use Talbot or Zorbist in the next couple of years. Most traded Astros prospects are used quickly(i.e. Freddy Garcia) The loss of Huff could hurt them, but seeing as they are building with a young team and are not realistically in the hunt(although they’re good) it’s not all bad from their prospective either.
You hate to lose an offensive dynamo like Huff, but offense is what the Rays already have. You put good pitching on that team and they are instantly contending. I am sure they hope the prospects they got will turn into franchise pitchers. Only time will tell.