selltheastros.com

step right up folks, read all about it: Ed Wade is going to show his vast baseball knowledge to us via explaining waivers.

my favorite part?

Wade has director of research and analysis Charlie Norton scouring the electronic waiver bulletin on a daily basis. If he sees a player who might help the Astros, the legwork begins.

wow – so part of his Charlie Norton’s job description is to log onto the MLB waiver board and check the postings?  guess that is what a BA in Psychology from Southern Illinois University gets you.

so the Astros are on the forefront of sabermetrics, right?

“We drill it into our pro scouts to pay attention to what they’re seeing in the field,” Wade said. “The process we follow primarily is when a bulletin arrives we check the names against our pro scouting reports and if it looks like one or more of our scouts has a definite interest in the player then we call the scout directly and ask him … what he thinks of the player.

oh well, that wouldn’t have been useful either.

go 2009 Astros!

In an abrupt about-face, Wal-mart McLane now says Liar Clemens is no longer allowed to act like part of the Houston Astros’ staff.

Don’t miss the sunshine in that Chronicle story: payroll is up $10 million for 2009!  $10 million!

In related news, Wal-mart McLane has said he will stop using gold-leaf toilet paper in his executive suite.  Gotta make cuts so that all you ungrateful fans can enjoy that extra $10 mil for payroll.

polling the wire, i notice a Canadian daily running a story on Jose Cruz, Jr.’s fight to make the roster with the Astros.  He has survived the first round of cuts, which happened on Monday, March 10th.

personally, i don’t think the younger Cruz will end up offering a lot in an outfield position for the Astros.  his best year, 2003 Golden Glove season with the Giants, is a distant memory.  a lot this is probably show for his dad, who the organization (and fans) have much love for.