My suggestion to trade Valverde is not about ridding us of him. It is about using one of our two most tradable commodities (Pence is the other) to avoid shelling out $12mil/yr on Ben Sheets while upgrading our starting pitching.

Maine's track record is solid and he's under club control. The shoulder surgery is a concern but he claims he'll be ready for spring training. It's a better prospect of being ready than what Chris Sampson is going through. No, he's not a stud but he's a big upgrade over Backe which will make the rotation better.

Schneider's a journeyman but he can be the stopgap we need in Ausmus' absence who won't impede Towles progress if Towles puts it all together. Plus, he hits lefty which means he can be platooned with Towles or Quinterp to give each catcher their best opportunity to succeed on offense.

Yes, the Astros would probably need to turn around and acquire someone with more closing experience but I'm with Smith that closers are not essential. When the '06 Cardinals won the World Series, who was closing for them? Hint: It wasn't Isringhausen.

I don't think a team with Houston's payroll can afford a $9-10mil/yr pitcher who only throws 70 innings a year. Valverde fit the budget this year and probably will next year but I don't think he will long-term.

I'm not sure the Indians make a deal for Valverde because their MO is to sell off expensive assets, not keep them. The Tigers might do it but at the cost of Granderson? And how does Granderson improve our pitching?

What I threw out (and it wasn't a dead-set trade proposal as much as throwing out an idea), I was looking for a trade partner who has a definite need for a closer, will be willing to absorb the long-term costs of a top-dollar closer and has some tangible assets we can use. If you want to craft a better deal with the Mets, go for it. Only be realistic. They aren't going to trade Jose Reyes or David Wright or Johan Santana to us and I don't think the Astros have any desire to bring Carlos Beltran back.

My purpose was to upgrade our two biggest needs in one trade that I could see the other team agreeing to (and they may not, given that losing Maine and Schneider creates two holes for them). I don't really know who the Mets have on the farm but I'm not interested unless they are ready to move up to the bigs or have Scott Kazmir potential written on them.

"We don't do anything easy. We're the Astros." - Craig Biggio