Chron: Astros turn attention to Burnitz

[nWo34Life]

Didn't see it posted anywhere...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2988972

Outfielder warns suitors he wants deal within a week
By BRIAN MCTAGGART
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

With Carlos Beltran officially a member of the New York Mets, the Astros have set their sights on former All-Star outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, a product of Conroe High School.

Howard Simon, the agent for Burnitz, said Tuesday he spoke with Astros general manager Tim Purpura on Monday and that both sides are interested in working out a deal.

Simon said several teams have shown an interest in Burnitz and that he hopes to have a deal in place sooner rather than later for the free agent.

"They know that we have a short time schedule," Simon said. "We want to get this thing done within a week with whoever we get it done. ... He's very sensitive about playing with a contender, too."

Burnitz, 35, hit .283 with 37 home runs and 110 RBIs last season for the Colorado Rockies. He hit 24 of those homers and drove in 68 runs in Denver's thin air. He hit .322 at home and just .244 on the road.

In a 12-year career that has included stints with the Mets, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers, Burnitz has a career average of .254 with 275 home runs and 845 RBIs.

Burnitz prefers to play center field, a position where the Astros have a need with the departure of Beltran. He played 69 games last year in the vast center field at Coors Field.

"He was very proud of the fact he has the capability to play center field," Simon said. "He may not be as good in center field as some of the pure center fielders, but everybody who's seen him patrol center field in Coors is convinced he does at least, if not better than, an adequate job."

Among the teams reportedly interested in Burnitz are Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Arizona and the Chicago Cubs.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Astros' surprise signing of Roger Clemens. He has accepted arbitration from the Astros, but no decision is expected this week.

On Tuesday, the Astros agreed to a $1.3 million, one-year contract with infielder Mike Lamb, avoiding arbitration.

[TMac640]

That would be great...but the question is who would we have to give up to get him...i might be missing something...but it would be great to get a decent center fielder...then maybe we can get alfanzo form texas to play second....then hopefully roger will come back and we will have hope this season...but hell what ever happens good for the rockets

[NJRocket]

Genius #1...this has been posted...


Genius #2...he's a free agent

[NJRocket]

sorry for the sarcasm...i'm LIVID after reading that thread on Purpura's interview on 740

[isoman2kx]

burnitz is a career .254 hitter?!

plus whenever he has a good year (100 rbi or better)...... he bats .266

.............





awesome :)

[arkoe]

Burnitz is a Sean Berry type of player. A little power, nothing special.

[Austin70]

In MLB, where can you hide a player in the outfield (if you can) with a weak arm or bad defense? Burnitz and Biggio in the same outfield doesn't seem good.

[SamCassell]

Burnitz is a real OF who's got an OK arm. He's not a liability like Biggio.

[NIKEstrad]

Originally posted by arkoe
Burnitz is a Sean Berry type of player. A little power, nothing special.

Berry never hit 20 homers or drove in 100 runs, ever. He was also a career .272 hitter, which I think most people would be happy to get out of Burnitz.

[Castor27]

Originally posted by NJRocket
Genius #1...this has been posted...


Genius #2...he's a free agent

Do me a favor and give it a rest. All you have done is bitch and moan for 5 days and it is getting a little tired. I understand you are angry at the franchise and you have every right to your opinion. But posting stuff like this, in every thread is getting old.

[NJRocket]

Originally posted by Castor27
Do me a favor and give it a rest. All you have done is bitch and moan for 5 days and it is getting a little tired. I understand you are angry at the franchise and you have every right to your opinion. But posting stuff like this, in every thread is getting old.

as opposed to everyone else that has a different point of view....thats not getting old in your eyes?

[NJRocket]

Originally posted by NJRocket
sorry for the sarcasm...i'm LIVID after reading that thread on Purpura's interview on 740

by the way..that was the very next post

[Castor27]

Originally posted by NJRocket
as opposed to everyone else that has a different point of view....thats not getting old in your eyes? Looking back at my post I was in error. I meant to state that I was tired of the type of post I quoted, I can see where it looked like i meant I was tired of you posting your opinion.

[NJRocket]

Originally posted by Castor27
Looking back at my post I was in error. I meant to state that I was tired of the type of post I quoted, I can see where it looked like i meant I was tired of you posting your opinion.

no biggie...im sure moderating all this BS aint easy...believe me...im just as tired of posting my whining as u guys are reading it...but there are no other sports fans in my office to bitch to

[arkoe]

Originally posted by NIKEstrad
Berry never hit 20 homers or drove in 100 runs, ever. He was also a career .272 hitter, which I think most people would be happy to get out of Burnitz.

You're right. I was thinking of Jim Leyritz, not Burnitz.

[robbie380]

now we suck the crap out of the bottom of the free agent barrel. burnitz is not someone we want. he batted .244 on the road last year. just stick to lane astros...don't be stupid.

[Yao Wink]

Originally posted by robbie380
now we suck the crap out of the bottom of the free agent barrel. burnitz is not someone we want. he batted .244 on the road last year. just stick to lane astros...don't be stupid.

Thanks, Napolean Dynamite. ;)

[BigM]

burnitz didn't all of a sudden become a power hitter when he went to colorado. i know his road numbers sucked last year but he's proven in milwaukee that he can hit. he strikes out ALOT but for a decent contract he wouldn't be a bad pickup.

[RocketFan007]

originally posted by BigM
burnitz didn't all of a sudden become a power hitter when he went to colorado. i know his road numbers sucked last year but he's proven in milwaukee that he can hit. he strikes out ALOT but for a decent contract he wouldn't be a bad pickup.

Good point. As I've said before, even if he's plays like he did on the road all season, we're still looking at a guy who hits around .250 with 25 homers and 90 RBI. We could use a run producer like that, as long as it's a one year deal.

[Rileydog]

To me, Burke and Lane should be starters, no matter what. To sign Burnitz (or trade for Cruz) at the expense of their development is a bad decision. I hope the question Purpura is asking is whether we sign Burnitz to play center field instead of Biggio.

Here's the comparison:

Biggio:
Runs 100
HR 24
RBI 63
BA .281
OBP .337
SLG .469
OPS .806

Burnitz:
Runs 94
HR 37
RBI 110
BA .283
OBP .356
SLG .559
OPS .916

After you discount for the Mile High factor, I don't think there's that much of net difference between the two offensively.

With Burnitz, you're looking at Everett and Burke hitting 1 and 2. Thats' a littke disconcerting. Berkman, Bagwell, Burnitz (dammit, another freaking B), Lane, ensBerg/lamB, Ausmus seems respectable. We need to get Gaetti to work on the young folks

With Biggio at CF, you're looking at Biggio, Burke, Berkman, Bagwell, Lane, ensBerg/lamB, Everett, Ausmus. The middle just seems a little punchless.

With that, I guess I would prefer to sign Burnitz for a 1 year deal on the cheap. I just can't stand watching Biggio throw like a girl in CF. Biggio is the 4th outfielder and subs in for Burke periodically. Biggio will net about 300 at bats, which is fine by me.

[nWo34Life]

Well, Burnitz feels like the Astros aren't interested:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2994383

The agent for free-agent outfielder Jeromy Burnitz said Saturday that he believes the Astros are no longer interested in his client and that the Conroe High School product plans to sign elsewhere.

Considering there hasn't been dialogue since Monday, Howard Simon said Burnitz is ready to consider offers from other teams. Simon wouldn't identify which teams.

"We're moving on," Simon said. "We don't have any indication of the Astros' continuing interest, so we're going to gravitate to where we're needed and wanted at this time. There seems to be no shortage of those situations."

Astros general manager Tim Purpura hasn't ruled out Burnitz, 35, but he said the club has other priorities.

"We've been pursuing a lot of other possibilities, and that's been on the backburner for us," Purpura said. "We're going to move at a pace that works for us, and I've had a lot of other conversations throughout the week that have a little bit more interest for us.

"If he's going to make a decision, that's the player's prerogative. It doesn't make sense to jump into anything and cause us to miss out on something later on."

[NIKEstrad]

Originally posted by nWo34Life

"We've been pursuing a lot of other possibilities, and that's been on the backburner for us," Purpura said. "We're going to move at a pace that works for us, and [I've had a lot of other conversations throughout the week that have a little bit more interest for us.


Time to wait and see what Purpura comes up with. Enough for him to abandon the Burnitz possibility, so I'm hoping it's solid.

[leroy420]

Originally posted by NIKEstrad
Time to wait and see what Purpura comes up with. Enough for him to abandon the Burnitz possibility, so I'm hoping it's solid.

Man, I sure hope so. Not that I really wanted Burnitz, but something has to be done.

[NJRocket]

Originally posted by leroy420
Man, I sure hope so. Not that I really wanted Burnitz, but something has to be done.

Let's not forget that the 2 geniuses abandoned the Beltran possibility too...my guess is they aren't working on much. Hopefully I'm wrong.