Astros acquired RHP Oscar Villarreal from the Braves for outfielder Josh Anderson.
It's great to have Ed Wade back in the GM chair, simply because he's so predictable. At least now he's trading for veteran middle relievers rather than overpaying to land them as free agents. Villarreal, who turns 26 next week, had a 4.25 ERA in 76 1/3 innings for the Braves last season. His stuff isn't as good as it was when he first came up, and there's a good chance he won't last into his 30s. Still, he's a perfectly adequate middle man and a big upgrade from Doug Brocail and some of the others used by Houston last season. He'll likely make about $1.5 million in 2008, and he'll be eligible for free agency after the season.
Braves acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from the Astros for RHP Oscar Villarreal.
Anderson had a surprisingly strong September after being called up, hitting .358/.413/.403 in 67 at-bats, but that came after a .273/.325/.340 season in Triple-A. Nothing else the 25-year-old has done lately suggests that he'd be adequate as a major league regular. As a left-handed hitter with great speed on the basepaths and in center field, he could have value as a bench player. However, the Braves didn't just fill the hole opened up by Andruw Jones' departure. All they really acquired was another Willie Harris.
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Its amazing. No team got any better.
