Houston Astros looking for a designated hitter, pitchers this winter - MLB News
The Houston Astros contingent at this year’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, led by general manager Jeff Luhnow, will be looking to add at least one player from the Rule 5 Draft and quite possibly more.
The team which will be moving to the American League from the National League will need a designated hitter. The Astros will be looking to boost their run production and will be searching all possible options for that purpose.
Jeff is quite clear that his team needs a good hitter and they will look at all options available before making a decision. He did not want to make a commitment with any one before going through the choices thoroughly.
"We have, really, one spot for a bat, and we have to see who the potential players are available on the free-agent market once the top bats are off the board," Luhnow said. "I think we want to look at all of that. We don't want to jump into something right
now without understanding what our alternatives are."
Lance Berkman at the moment appears to be the person that Astros will like to take their designated hitter spot. Lance has previously said that he is interested in returning to the Astros but for that purpose, the price offered to him has to be right. It
will also be important that Lance is fit to play and wants to continue playing in 2013 as there have been rumours of Berkman retiring.
The Houston ball club is also looking for some good pitchers as well. They have recently claimed Philip Humber off waivers from the Boston Red Sox and he is a possible candidate for a spot on opening rotation.
Luhnow is aware of the availability of pitchers in the free agent market and the Astros will be looking to go shopping for some decent arms. He, however, did clarify that the club may not be targeting the big names on offer.
"The biggest dominos to start falling are the pitchers, and there's a pretty long list of pretty good pitchers," Luhnow said. "We're not competing for the [Zack] Greinkes of the world, so we kind of have to get that settled before you're talking about the
guys we want to take a look at."
The Astros will be looking for a mix of players. They will like to add a designated hitter, with Lance Berkman the most likely option. They also will be looking to add other hitters to the line-up to increase offensive production. Lastly they will be hoping
to add pitchers to the roster who can perform well for the team.
Winter Meetings will be a crucial part of the Houston Astros rebuilding process as they need to make the right moves in order to make sure that the team moves forward in the right direction when they join a new league and a new challenge.
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