Neive Out!

John Lopez forwarded me this article in the Houston Chronicle today. Fernando Neive will be shut down for a bit with a partial tear in his elbow. That does not bode well for the 'Stros as their farm system is very depleted right now. Some hopefuls that the Astros might need to lean on if the pitching woes increase due to injury.

Paul Estrada with a 2.19 ERA over 11 games working the RR 'pen. Starter Phillip Barzilla has been good with a 3-1 record, but a high ERA of 5.97 in 7 games. Juan Gutierrez is posting a 1-2 record over 5 games with an ERA of 3.18. That's what cooking in Round Rock.

In Corpus Christi, our Hooks pitching staff looks like this, Felipe Paulino in 1 game is 0-1 with an ERA of 5.40, while Jimmy Barthmier is 1-1 with an inflated ERA of 9.26. Our rising star, Troy Patton has posted the following line in 5 starts, 1-2 record, 3.18 ERA, 17Ks/8BBs and a Batting Average Against (BAA) of .241.

We need to stock these teams with some consistent and healthy talent. That is why Jason Lane, Chris Burke and Morgan Ensberg should be on the trading block next to Brad Lidge.

I'll work in doing a position by position breakdown of our minor league prospects just to see where we stand.

A big thanks to Tim over at MLBTraderumors.com for posting We Bee-lieve on his site. Visit MLBTR often. Great stuff always.