Dont wait for July Ed

The worst thing that could have happened to the Astros this season was that playoff tease they pulled last season. It gave the Astros management a false hope that they had a team that could be competitive with a tweak here or there.

There's not much good to say about the 2009 Astros nearly two months into the season. I havent been able to watch many games this season but the ones I have seen have been uninspiring to say the least.

You know how the optimistic fan is always able to justify nearly every loss by their team and think that after every win, it's the win that's going to turn things around? Yeah, so this year I'm not that guy. Really.

I've accepted that this team is not just old, because sometimes, even old teams can win. It's a team full of old guys who really aren't playing for much more than a paycheck. Richard Justice had a blog last week where he described the Astros clubhouse as a "toxic" environment. Since I've never had the opportunity to step into the Astros clubhouse, I have no idea whether or not that's true but there seems to be only one guy on the team that seems to be playing with heart and energy right now and that's Hunter Pence.

So Astros GM Ed Wade, since I know you read my blog religiously, don't be the optimistic fan I referenced above and think that you have something here that will kick it into gear come July. Accept reality and make your trades now instead of the July trade deadline when you won't get maximum value for any of these guys.

As for Astros owner Drayton McLane, I know you just started reading my blog, so my advice for you is eat some contracts if that's what it takes to get other teams to take a Miguel Tejada or Jose Valverde off your hands.

So before I ask you to consider my not-so-radical proposals, here are the untouchable/untradeable players:

• Lance Berkman - yes, he's on the decline but I don't think the Astros would get fair value for him, plus I believe he's a 5 and 10 player which means he could and probably would veto any trade.
• Carlos Lee - Even with good numbers, no one is going to take his contract on unless DM will eat some of it, which he won't. Plus he has a no-trade clause.
• Kaz Matsucky - Even if DM ate some of the contract, no one probably has any use for this light-hitting 2B with limited range. Signing of Kaz is definitely not one of Ed's finer moments.
• Hunter Pence - He's young and good. Can't say that much about many other Astros.
• Michael Bourn - He has actually started playing like the guy the Astros thought they were getting in the Lidge deal. He's getting on base and stealing plenty of them. Plus he's a stud centerfielder.

Roy Oswalt - He is off to a slow start, but he has started slow the past couple of seasons and finished strong. Trade him to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have the one of the most stocked farm systems in baseball. Top Rangers exec Nolan Ryan knows Roy and what he's getting with him. A great pitcher who happens to be locked up for a couple more seasons. The Rangers are in first place right now but the Angels are getting healthy again and have more pitching than the Rangers. Go for it Nolan, call Ed and make him an offer for Roy he can't refuse.

Pudge Rodriguez - He's been effective this season as a bottom of the line-up hitter and can still throw guys out. Any team with an already strong lineup who needs a good catcher should take a look. Plus he's working for cheap. In my opinion, he would be a good fit for Tampa and its young pitching staff. Just look at the impact he has had on Wandy Rodriguez who has suddenly become the Astros ace.

Miguel Tejada - TRADE HIM NOW! Eat some of his contract if you have to because he's hitting pretty well right now and his value will never be higher. Ed may be able to squeeze a half-decent prospect for him. The Red Sox have plenty and they could use someone other than Julio Lugo. In fact, I bet Papi would start hitting again if Miggy were there.

Jose Valverde - As soon as this dude is healthy, send Mr. Entertainment on his way. The Cubbies could use some bullpen help. Perhaps the Phillies, I've noticed their former Astros closer is struggling a bit, why not add another.

With the exception of Oswalt, the players these guys will probably fetch are not going to put the Astros farm system on the road to recovery from some bad drafts but it should be a step in the right direction.

Rants and Randomness - Mother's Day edition

• With all of the quality journalists out there now looking for work, why do some sites, particularly ones that have some credibility, find it necessary to publish the inaccuracies of an irrational individual.
  
• Watching "Scrubs" finale right now. I'm really going to miss this show. Not a big fan of spin-offs, but can Janitor please be considered for one? Glad to see "the penny" made its way into the final episode. Lots of sitcoms never really end strong, the "Cheers" finale stands out in my mind. Kudos to ABC for resurrecting Scrubs for one last season after NBC's half-hearted attempt last year.
• I have yet to do a full blog post on the Astros this season. Why? Because I'm trying hard to make sure this blog stays family friendly. I started this blog a couple of summers ago to use it as an outlet to vent about the Astros and in their current summer of sub .500 mediocrity, it would seem that I should be vent/blogging a lot. Trying to determine if this means that I just don't care anymore or I've just reached a point of accepting low expectations with the team.
  
• BUT, I really wonder what is going on with Lance Berkman. Confidence? Too busy planning his career after baseball? OR, perhaps his wrist really is hurting and perhaps this is how he hurt it:
• My new favorite singer: Glen Hansard. I saw the movie "Once" that he starred in and won Academy Award for best song. Very simple, well-done movie with great music. Check out "When your mind's made up" and "Say it to me now." I never realized until recently that he played Outspan in one of my favorite all-time movies, "The Commitments."
  
• I really wish Tim Floyd would have taken the U of Tucson hoops job
• With all of the real journalists out of work, I find it sad that some credible web sites find it necessary to give freelance gigs to someone so irrational and biased. Particularly when they say things like AMD killed true 64-bit computing. That should tell you everything you need to know about this individual.
  
• My son and I saw Star Trek this afternoon. I loved it. I do think however that based on the current season of "Lost" and now Star Trek that JJ Abrams does have quite the fascination with building stories around time travel.
  
• Manny using performance enhancers ... yawn. Given that the Astros consistently made the playoffs during the steroid era, I'm advocating that baseball start looking the other way on it again.
  
• The way my namesake has been pitching this year, I'm thinking I may not be traveling to NYC anytime soon unless I can under a fake name. Maybe I can change my name to another MLBer when I'm in NYC. Johan Santana seems to be pitching well for the Mets, maybe I'll go with that one.
• Cover 3 is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Austin to eat.
  
• So the Dallas Cowboys spent less (4 million) on their indoor practice bubble than the Sun Devils (8 million) did.
  
• Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful wife Tricia. Her patience with not only my children but her moody husband is nothing short of incredible. She was definitely worth "waiting" for.
  
• Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law Patty. I'm so thankful for the values she instilled in Tricia that have helped her be the mother she is today.
• And of course, happy Mother's Day to my mom. Her unwavering faith and commitment to keeping her family together is why she will always be my hero. I love you mom, continue to stay strong.
  
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Looking back on my first year at AMD

On my work blog site, AMD Unprocessed, I recently posted the first of a multi-part blog that looks back on my experience with launching the first legitimate competitive product to Intel in the volume server business, the AMD Opteron processor. It's been six years since the launch and I thought it would be good for people to understand the industry dynamics and challenges we faced at that time. You can find the blog here.