Roster Roulette

We would like to hear T-Poo's explanation as to the inexplicable use and discarding of Matt Albers. When Matt was brought up, he was praised as someone who 'fits the profile of a reliever', such that he would be able to use his resilient, powerful young arm to help the Astros. Instead, he got a cup of coffee (1/3 inning v. Cincinnati), an outstanding long-relief stint v. Cincinnati and a start at San Diego, in which he pitched well for four innings before being knocked around in the fifth.

It has been quite clear for a while now that the Astros management team has no real plan for this season and is basiscally just grasping at random straws, trying to 'find the right mix'. Why did this mix include Wandy Rodriguez for more than half of a season, but Matt Albers for only these three random appearances? Roger to Boston? Oswalt on the trading block? Why does 'the plan' not include Jason Hirsh?

At least Fernando Nieve is accumulating Sky Miles on Continental, but it is too bad that it is at the expense of developing some consistency for him at the big league level. Now he is back in the Astros' bullpen, where it is quite likely he will gather dust, much as he did during his previous stint in that role. Maybe Tejada and Soriano were pipe dreams, but Zobrist and Talbot for Huff was a stretch, at best, and quite likely will prove to be considerably worse, and the spastic tinkering with good young pitching prospects is certainly not helping either the team or the players involved. Make a plan and stick to it, if only for the sanity of your fan base. At least try to put on a facade that you are a major-league front office for the remainder of the season.