*The Masked Marvel has a good write-up on the departures of Carter and Conger. Carter's non-tendering was not surprising. For some reason I'm absolutely shocked by Conger's trade to Tampa Bay for cash. And isn't sentimentality something? In October's Exit Music post for Conger, I thought "good clubhouse guy who has some pop...would you want to mess with that?" And the Astros said, "Sure." Having never been in there, it would be impossible for me to speculate what impact his departure will have on the Astros' clubhouse. I suspect that there are enough Good Guys to handle it. But it doesn't change the fact that I have some sad.
*Carter had an idea that it would happen, but Conger is sad:
Everyone gets along. We had a great time. Coaching staff's awesome, I think that's why I was kind of a little shocked, a little sad to see myself get traded.
Just to recap: the Astros traded Jed Lowrie and Fernando Martinez for Carter, presumptive C2 Max Stassi, and Brad Peacock. The Astros traded Nick Tropeano and backup catcher Carlos Perez for Conger. Now Conger has been traded for cash and Carter was non-tendered.
*Your 40-Man roster is at 37.
*But hey: Keuchel, Castro, Gattis, Fields, Valbuena, and Marwin all got contracts.
*Reid Ryan is perfectly fine with the expectations that are placed on the club
Expectations are what we want. It's what our fans want, what our owner wants and nobody wants to not be contending year in and year out. We've been around this game long enough to know sometimes you've got to get lucky.
*The Astros hired their new athletic trainer from the Pirates, and boy, does he look excited.
*Marketplace reports that, yes, baseball player salaries have risen 60% in the last 12 years. But team revenues are up 120%.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
