I think Dunn would help. A middle of the lineup of Berkman, Tejada, Lee, Pence, and Dunn would be great no matter the order. And another thing on free agents: We don't know how they are feeling Houston. We can all get upset that we didn't offer so and so a little more than they "settled" for elsewhere, but we don't know what they are thinking. For example, Pudge played for Florida before, he might just want to go back. We just don't know. It's not always Houston's fault.
That would be an absolutely amazing move, but like every other rumor from a non-Houston source this offseason, I expect it to be shot down fairly quickly.
Well, to be fair, "the media" in Houston did blog about a potential acquisition in the Chronicle a couple of days ago. I'm the media!
My concern about Dunn is that while he hits 40 HRs, he does so with a .236 average. If he did so with a .276 average, I'd feel much better about it. That is a LOT of outs, be they Ks or otherwise.
Dunn's OBP was .386, while his career OBP is .381. That means he makes fewer outs than anyone in the Astros' lineup not named Lance Berkman. If you're concerned with situational hitting, Dunn has his weaknesses. (Though studies have shown that strikeouts are largely irrelevant, in the sense that a player who strikes out a lot like Dunn will likely hit into fewer double plays and such, so the net result ends up being comparable.) If you're concerned with not making outs — which imo, should be the top priority for everyone constructing a team — Dunn is absolutely a stud and is better than every Astro besides Berkman at doing that.
An outfield of Lee-Pence-Dunn would probably be he worst defensive outfield in the history of major league baseball.
rather have Berkman (if his knee is right) in RF or Dunn? Dunn has the better arm.. I would think Berkman has the range on him though. Lance's knee might never let him back out there full time though.
You're Richard Justice? For reals? For really really reals? SWEET! Can you do us all a couple favors: Do some research. I mean *this* century, not all that work you did in the 80s and 90s. Write. As in, construct good prose instead of rambling on conversationally like any armchair GM at a water cooler could do. Stop sucking. Pass these requests on to the rest of the laughable Houston Chronicle sports section. That will be all, thanks.
Lance's knee is fine. The concerns about Pence are overblown — he was a perfectly capable defensive CF. Not elite, but didn't hurt the team, either. The same would go for Berkman, if he were to play right. Lee's not good, but he's not as horrible as some say... and you don't exactly need a ton of range in left, especially in MMP. A Lee-Pence-Berkman OF wouldn't even be among the worst defensive outfields in the majors next year, much less one of the worst ever. Of course, this won't happen, for three reasons: 1.) The Astros won't move Berkman away from first, and with Dunn in right and Lee in left, that does have the makings of poor defense. I guarantee you — absolutely guarantee — that Lance would be more than willing to play in the OF on a regular basis if it meant getting another bat in the lineup. He did this quite frequently when Lamb was with the Astros, and had no problems with it. However, this team has an obsession with making Berkman Jeff Bagwell Jr., and with that means sticking at first. 2.) The Astros won't spend money. I think it's a huge mistake — if ever a time to invest in your product and try to make additional revenues through winning, this is it. You can get so much bang for your buck in this economy. But if they wouldn't even make an effort on Wigginton or Wolf, I highly doubt they would here. 3.) Signing Dunn would essentially be an admission that the Bourn trade was a failure, at least for the immediate future. While it's true, I have my doubts that Wade/Smith would be willing to admit that, especially with Lidge's success in Philadelphia. So, for those reasons, it's not happening. But it's fun to dream about an Astros team with plus production at 1B, CF, RF, LF, SS and hopefully 2B as well.
its too bad we couldn't pony up the 500K with 1M in incentives to sign andruw jones to patrol center instead of michael bourn....I guess that money was better spent on jason michaels. FWIW I personally think Andruw was so embarassed by last season that he is gonna come back with a monster season with over 35 homers and this is gonna be the biggest steal of a contract in the majors this year. The guy is only 31 and people act like he always hit well, he's never been the guy to hit .300, he was always a .260-.270 guy with a lot of power and great great defense.
Jones is done. If his awful stint with the Dodgers could be explained by an injury, I could agree with you. There is no evidence or even chatter that he was injured. Jones was signed to a minor league deal by the Rangers. It is expected that he will not make the team, let alone be counted on to start at CF.
yeah i'd rather have Michaels than Jones. His defense has declined over the past number of years, so he doesn't even really have that going for him.
once again, they didn't want to pay wigginton $7 mill +, and they made the correct decision not to, and for some unknown reason, they briefly lost their minds and offered wolf 3 years, 27 mill, which would have vaulted right to first place as the worst contract on the team, and thank god they came to their senses. those just aren't good examples. i can't believe so many on here think randy wolf is good. he had a solid run for us, but he sucked the majority of his career everywhere else. their are obvious bargains galore out there heading into camp, and it sure sounds like this dunn deal has legs and makes sense. here's to giving ed wade and uncle drayton one final benefit of the doubt this offseason (when will i learn?).
You're not getting it. With the market in the shape it's in, it's fine not to pay Wigginton $7 million +. It's fine to pull the $27 million offer to Wolf, which I agree would've been a terrible deal. What's not fine is that after both players' demands came substantially down (to $3 million for Wigginton and $5 million for Wolf), the Astros did not make any effort to retain those players or even maintain dialogue with their agents. Make no mistake — Wigginton would be a huge upgrade over Blum/Boone, and only about $1 million more expensive. In a market where February bargains could be seen from miles away, the Astros chose to tie up $10 million or so in guaranteed money on the likes of Aaron Boone, Jason Michaels, Latroy Hawkins, Doug Brocail, Brandon Backe, Humberto Quintero, and others. It's not that the Astros didn't have money. They simply chose to spend that money unwisely and in an untimely fashion. Role players like most of those listed above can be found off the scrap heap at any point or even in your minor league system. Why rush to sign them in December instead of waiting until February (especially in this economy) and seeing what's out there? The bargains out there are unreal and an incredible opportunity for some teams to step up, and it appears likely we wasted our chance because Ed Wade couldn't wait to sign studs like Aaron Boone. I hope Drayton proves me wrong, but I'm skeptical. (By the way, what bizarro world is this where I'm the Astros pessimist and you're the optimist? )
His defense was overrated. He was great until he quit caring about his defense and started being obsessed with hitting HRs. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2880979
last post you said they won't spend money. so i guess you meant they won't spend more money? well you'd be basing that on nothing. there is no precedent for drayton's spending tendencies when a thousand good free agents are available for bargain basement prices just days before camp opens. let's wait and see if they pick any of these "scraps" up in the coming weeks before jumping to conclusions. i agree that they may have spent that 10 mill unwisely, but untimely? i can't really fault a team for wanting to shore up their roster more than a week in advance of the start of spring training.
my optimism immediately reverts to pessimism once the first pitch is thrown on opening day, don't you worry. that's how i roll.
Right. Come on, you know me — I'm not one of the "Drayton is a cheap b*stard!" nutjobs. Of course he's going to spend some money, and he did. The question is whether he'll spend any additional funds, and historically, when the Astros draw a line in the sand (as Wade/McLane have many times in the last two months by saying they're at the budget mark), they stick to it. Hopefully that changes this time, given the special circumstances... we'll see.
He softened his stance when Clemens and Pettitte agreed to come home. He changed his stance when Carlos Lee was available. He changed his stance to sign Jeff Kent. All those years he stated that they would not be major players in the FA market. When those deals fell in his lap, he changed his mind. His track record shows that he moves the payroll line when a deal that makes way too much sense comes along.
The Astros didn't have a choice with wolf. If a team refuses to offer a player arbitration prior to free agency, the player cannot sign with that team until May 31. So effectively if the club wanted wolf back, it would have had to found that bargain deal before the arbitration deadline. As for Wigginton, I don't think they ever wanted a long term deal with him, and why would he not take arbitration over any 1 year deal the team offered.
