Astro Trade For Huff Jason Lane sent to Minors

[Buccaneer]

HOUSTON -- Houston acquired outfielder Aubrey Huff from Tampa Bay on Wednesday. The Devil Rays agreed to pay the Astros more than $1.6 million to offset Huff's contract.

The Devil Rays get two minor leaguers -- right-handed pitcher Mitch Talbot and infielder Ben Zobrist.

Houston also optioned outfielder Jason Lane to Triple-A Round Rock and designated minor league infielder Joe McEwing for assignment.

Huff hit .283 with eight home runs, 15 doubles and 28 RBI in 63 games this year for the Devil Rays.

He spent three weeks on the disabled list with a strained left knee -- returning in early May

[tigerpride_08]

Jason Lane never really impressed me anyway...

[Buccaneer]

He was batting below the Mendoza Line!

[Bull Butter]

Lane had been absolutely awful this season.

I like this move because it shows that at least Drayton(and Purpura) is trying.

[Buccaneer]

Botn Minor leaguers are Hooks' players.

[eagles_victory]

I think its a good move bc it shows there trying to improve but I have never thought much of Aubrey Huff hes never impressed me much with his bat. I think its going to be intresting to see if Tejada and Soriano get moved.

[Sweetwater Red]

I think with Soriano it's just a matter of when...

[Gobbla2001]

Lane is a very good outfielder though, but slumping with the bat...

[big daddy russ]

I love the move. Huff can play any OF position plus 1B and 3B, and when they're dropping for him he's a .320/30/100-type hitter. Besides that, he's a left-handed bat. That lineup is downright lethal now.

SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2000 TB 39 122 12 35 7 0 4 14 5 18 0 0 .287 .318 .443 .761
2001 TB 111 411 42 102 25 1 8 45 23 72 1 3 .248 .288 .372 .660
2002 TB 113 454 67 142 25 0 23 59 37 55 4 1 .313 .364 .520 .884
2003 TB 162 636 91 198 47 3 34 107 53 80 2 3 .311 .367 .555 .922
2004 TB 157 600 92 178 27 2 29 104 56 74 5 1 .297 .360 .493 .853
2005 TB 154 575 70 150 26 2 22 92 49 88 8 7 .261 .321 .428 .749
2006 TB 63 230 26 65 15 1 8 28 24 25 0 0 .283 .348 .461 .809
Total -- 799 3028 400 870 172 9 128 449 247 412 20 15 .287 .343 .477 .820

[shellman54]

Far from lethal, but better. That gives Houston four left hand options, three in the starting lineup. Yes, Lamb should be starting now. If Wilson could become accustomed to centerfield, move him there, Huff to left, Berkman in right, and Lamb at first. Now, if we had just made that Everett and Lidge for Tejada trade.........

[pirate44]

its sad to see Ben Zobrist leave. he was fun to watch. i was sure he'd be a great player for the astros :(

[griff]

Originally posted by shellman54
Far from lethal, but better. That gives Houston four left hand options, three in the starting lineup. Yes, Lamb should be starting now. If Wilson could become accustomed to centerfield, move him there, Huff to left, Berkman in right, and Lamb at first. Now, if we had just made that Everett and Lidge for Tejada trade.........

I'm still hoping the Astros resume talks on a possible Everett/Lidge for Miguel Tejada trade, and I hope the trade for Huff isn't their only attempt to make the team better THIS year. In my opinion, Tejada is one of the 5 most complete players in MLB. If it happens, there's no definite answer to who will be our closer, but our bullpen is overall deeper with Nieve. Our bigger problem, even in our World Series year, is overall team hitting. Losing Lidge is easier to compensate for than the broken batting lineup.

[GreenMonster]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
I love the move. Huff can play any OF position plus 1B and 3B, and when they're dropping for him he's a .320/30/100-type hitter. Besides that, he's a left-handed bat. That lineup is downright lethal now.

SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2000 TB 39 122 12 35 7 0 4 14 5 18 0 0 .287 .318 .443 .761
2001 TB 111 411 42 102 25 1 8 45 23 72 1 3 .248 .288 .372 .660
2002 TB 113 454 67 142 25 0 23 59 37 55 4 1 .313 .364 .520 .884
2003 TB 162 636 91 198 47 3 34 107 53 80 2 3 .311 .367 .555 .922
2004 TB 157 600 92 178 27 2 29 104 56 74 5 1 .297 .360 .493 .853
2005 TB 154 575 70 150 26 2 22 92 49 88 8 7 .261 .321 .428 .749
2006 TB 63 230 26 65 15 1 8 28 24 25 0 0 .283 .348 .461 .809
Total -- 799 3028 400 870 172 9 128 449 247 412 20 15 .287 .343 .477 .820

I played college baseball with Aubrey Huff. He's the real deal. If he ever gets healthy watchout. This guy has one of the purest swings I've ever seen. He's a pretty talented athlete as well. He was the MVP of his 4A Ft Worth area District as a basketball player in 1995. He was a SS in HS, played 1st and 3rd base in college, and was moved to the outfield by the D-Rays AFTER he made the show. One of my personal claims to fame is I left a "C" shaped scar Aubrey's forehead after letting a bat slip through my hands while taking BP. He was our best player and needless to say I got the cold shoulder from coach for a couple of weeks. lol Anyways, you Houston fans may have just gotten a steal.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by GreenMonster
I played college baseball with Aubrey Huff. He's the real deal. If he ever gets healthy watchout. This guy has one of the purest swings I've ever seen. He's a pretty talented athlete as well. He was the MVP of his 4A Ft Worth area District as a basketball player in 1995. He was a SS in HS, played 1st and 3rd base in college, and was moved to the outfield by the D-Rays AFTER he made the show. One of my personal claims to fame is I left a "C" shaped scar Aubrey's forehead after letting a bat slip through my hands while taking BP. He was our best player and needless to say I got the cold shoulder from coach for a couple of weeks. lol Anyways, you Houston fans may have just gotten a steal.
I think so. His health has been spotty and the hits just haven't been dropping for him this year, but I think he'll start to produce more as the season goes on. Most people have never heard of him because he plays for the Devil Rays, but he's already had a .311/34 dingers/107 RBI-season. That seems like it should be a typical season based on what I've seen of him when he's healthy.

Many people may not realize it these days because of the home run explosion, but those numbers he posted in '03 (the numbers above... he also hit 29 homers with 104 RBI and a .297 average the following year) made him one of the best players in the majors that year. Those would make him one of the best players in the majors in any given year. Those are Lance Berkman/Jeff Bagwell-type numbers.

I know Ensberg's been in a slump, but he's another guy who won't stay that way. Been way too good for way too long. That's three elite power hitters in one lineup, plus two more decent ones (Preston Wilson and Chris Burke), three other guys who get on base consistently (Burke, Ausmus, and Lamb), one speed demon (Taveras), and a couple of guys who can run when they need to.

[AggieJohn]

yeah, huff is a left hander too!!! I think that this will help out the stros, i think it tells the club that you need to either produce or you will be shipped out

[GreenMonster]

Originally posted by AggieJohn
yeah, huff is a left hander too!!! I think that this will help out the stros, i think it tells the club that you need to either produce or you will be shipped out

Actually, Aubs is a righty. The only thing he does lefty is swing it, and he does that VERY well. There is an apartment complex about 550 ft from home plate (right field) where we played in college (Vernon College). There was a grassy area, single story dormitory, and a parking lot between the field and the two story apartments. There were several occasions where Aubrey was knocking on a second story front door at the apartments from home plate if you know what I mean. Serious launch jobs.

[AggieJohn]

yeah looks like the mans a freak of nature

[Fal44]

I am glad they got this Trade. Huff Is a Good Ball Player and should help this batting slump the stros have been in.

[piratebg]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
Botn Minor leaguers are Hooks' players.


I knew these names looked familiar. I agree with FoFo, Zobrist was pretty cool to watch. Oh well :(

[htowntransplant]

sux to see zobrist go. next up on the trading block....MORGAN ENSBERG. huff will have his job eventually, and ensberg will be dealt for bullpen help. u cant afford to take lamb out of the lineup. he has been superb at 1b and has been our best hitter in july. burke needs to stay in cf too. he hasnt made any bad plays and he actually hits the ball on the other side of the infield dirt, and occasionally on the other side of the fence. ur not losing much speed between taveras and burke either. burke is pretty fast.

[Buccaneer]

-- The Houston Astros announced today that the club has named Sean Berry interim hitting coach. Berry replaces Gary Gaetti, who has been relieved of his duties. The announcement was made by general manager Tim Purpura.

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by htowntransplant
sux to see zobrist go. next up on the trading block....MORGAN ENSBERG. huff will have his job eventually, and ensberg will be dealt for bullpen help. u cant afford to take lamb out of the lineup. he has been superb at 1b and has been our best hitter in july. burke needs to stay in cf too. he hasnt made any bad plays and he actually hits the ball on the other side of the infield dirt, and occasionally on the other side of the fence. ur not losing much speed between taveras and burke either. burke is pretty fast.
Morgan Ensberg hit .329 in April, sunk to .216 in May and was even worse in June, hitting .145. And he was supposed to be the cleanup hitter.

[neck_06]

thats two good send downs this year for the astros.......Mike Gallo (i thought they were about 3 years to late on this one) and Jason Lane.

GO ASTROS!!!!

[sahen]

i like this Huff trade, he can be a good hitter when healthy like said before.....people that have seen him play or as said before played w/ him do u know if he can hit the ball to left field with some power as well....if he can hit the ball the other way w/ power then he can put the crawford boxes in play and could be lethal....we will see i guess.....

i wouldnt trade Ensberg yet, he had a good year last year and has been in a horrid slump this year, he could come around....that said if the right trade came along u might be able to justify it...Everett/Lidge for Tejada would be a good trade only if we knew we could keep Tejada for a while, if we just get him and lose him after this year then i dunno about that....

[GreenMonster]

Originally posted by sahen
i like this Huff trade, he can be a good hitter when healthy like said before.....people that have seen him play or as said before played w/ him do u know if he can hit the ball to left field with some power as well....if he can hit the ball the other way w/ power then he can put the crawford boxes in play and could be lethal....we will see i guess.....

i wouldnt trade Ensberg yet, he had a good year last year and has been in a horrid slump this year, he could come around....that said if the right trade came along u might be able to justify it...Everett/Lidge for Tejada would be a good trade only if we knew we could keep Tejada for a while, if we just get him and lose him after this year then i dunno about that....

In my experience with Huff I saw a complete hitter that could use all fields. He has a natural Doubles swing, or in other words he swings down through the baseball. This is conducive to hitting screaming ground balls and line drives. Huff is just big enough and strong enough that his screaming line drives leave the ball park. As a catcher I hated calling pitches against him in inter-squad games. He could hurt you so many ways. I usually stayed with hard breaking stuff that broke into and under his hands. Sliders and cut fastballs from righty's. It didn't always work out but that is what I felt gave my pitcher the best chance. High fastballs (my personal choice for best pitch in baseball) just don't work on this guy. He starts with his hands high and swings down so he stays on top of everything. If the ball is above his hands he just won't swing. His balanced approach keeps him back on the slow stuff so he knocks the stuffing out of junkballers as well. BDR stated earlier in a post that if he's healthy he should put up .315 - .325 BA and between 25 and 35 HR's a year. I agree. He's not going to the plate looking for the HR. He wants a double. If it lifts out of the park then so be it. That's what makes this guy special. Frank Thomas was the same kind of hitter in his prime. Big and strong and just wanted to make good contact. The rest will take care of itself.

[sahen]

so basically ur saying we got a solid hitter....thats good...im thinking mabye we could stick him in the 2 hold and let lamb and berkman knock him in.....either that or put him in the 5 hold and make them pitch to berkman....either way would work for me...

[JasperDog94]

Now offer Everett, Endsberg, and Lidge for Miguel Tejada. Or you can have any of our Jasons.

[AggieJohn]

or maybe soriano

[JasperDog94]

I think the Yanks will end up with Soriano. They aren't in the running for a shortstop like we are.

[sahen]

alright huff! good trade so far, he already has a homer....

[wordonthastreet]

We are just glad that the hitting coach was shown the door, as we suggested the Astros should do in an earlier post. Word on the street.

[Bulldog_12]

I like what the announcers said tonight after the homer. "Player of the game tonight: Tim Purpura." :D