wrong. check your OBP again. beltran is ten points higher, where Lee is ten points higher in AVG. so his lead is not more significant. Lee is the overall better and more consistent batter. Beltran has almost 300 more KO's than Lee in the same amount of AB's. Carlos Lee career AVG RISP and RISP/2 is far better than Beltran. He's Clutch. and before you knock Carlos Lee's defense(which I am in no way defending). Carlos Beltran has more errors and a worse fielding pctg. than Lee. Carlos Lee= $100 mil, Carlos Beltran= $117 mil. Carlos Lee>Carlos Beltran.
Career stats: Games: Beltran: 1427 Lee: 1471 AVG: Beltran: .279 Lee: .289 OBP: Beltran: .355 Lee: .342 SLG: Beltran: .493 Lee: .502 Most importanly... OPS: Beltran: .848 Lee: .844 As you know, OPS is widely considered more significant than either AVG, SLG or OBP alone. And, I'll take more SOs if my guy is getting on base more and putting up similar RBI numbers. RBI: Beltran: 947 Lee: 988 Beltran has played less games in his career and I believe has also spent much less time hitting cleanup than Lee, so he's had fewer RBI opportunities. I haven't seen their avergaes w/RISP so I'll give you that. Do you have that career stat for both players and a link? Stolen bases: Beltran: 266, caught 36 for 88% Lee: 110, caught 38 for 74% On to defense... Fielding %: Beltran: .985 Lee: .985 However, Beltran plays CF a much more difficult position that sees a lot more action. Total catches: Beltran: 3803 Lee: 2659 Assists: Beltran: 97 Lee: 78 Gold gloves: Beltran: 2 Lee: 0 I assume you will stick by your belief that Lee is better than Beltran but I don't see much in the stats that support that claim. I think Beltran is the better player. Having said that, if you factor in salaries, I'd take Lee over Beltran for several million less per.
I hate Beltran as much or more than anyone -- as far as I'm concerned, he ranks ahead of even Pippen on the list of athletes that have screwed over a Houston team. But this is a no-brainer. Beltran and Lee are almost identical hitters (see the OPS number BrooksBall posted), but one combines his hitting with very good defense at a premium position while the other plays a position where good hitters are found significantly more frequently. Take the Astros system, for example. If you have Beltran, and need to fill left -- it's not that hard to find a Luke Scott (low to mid .800s OPS guy) type hitter either within your system or for a discounted rate in free agency. If you have Lee, and need to fill center -- you end up with guys like Willy Taveras, Chris Burke and Michael Bourn (OPS in the .600s). Think about how much better this team would be if it swapped Lee for Beltran, and put a Scott-caliber hitter in left as opposed to Bourn in center. It's all about position rarity, and the gap between CF (especially a good defender in CF) and LF is huge. (It's for that same reason that moving Pence from CF to RF is just absurd for the future of this team, but that's for another discussion...)
I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that at the plate. Castro got hit by a couple of trucks there. One old and one new.
Loretta sandwich at the plate. I hope Loretta's okay but that was pretty cool stuff. Never seen a play like that. Pence with his youthful enthusiasm plows through Loretta and everything else material in his way. Is this rugby or baseball?
Loretta stumbled rounding third. Pence caught up to Loretta just as he was sliding. They basically both slid home at the same time. The ball was in just before Loretta but the battering ram that is Pence knocked Loretta into the catcher and the ball dropped. The catcher may have dropped the ball before the slide(s) but it had to be the result of the chaos in front of him. It may have also been Loretta's upper body that jarred the ball loose just as Pence was sliding into him. Either way, it was pretty nuts. Kaz strikes out then Tejada hits a near gapper that Beltran pretty easily tracks down.
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Great win. Awesome scene when Pence and Lorreta were sliding at the same time at home. Another series win. hmmm.....getting kind of fun to watch. Compared to the frustration I saw against he pirates.
I went to the game tonite, and that was as good as it gets. Reminding me of opening day and the Phillies game when Erstad through the guy out at home.
Those were 2 of the best wins we've had in awhile. It's too bad we're out of the race, but I don't mind seeing us spoil a few races I can't believe Wade couldn't get anything decent for Loretta or Valverde.
What an amazing win last night. That was a Major League like play in the 9th to tie it...and against Wagner, too. I know they're too far out of things in what might be the best division. Doesn't mean, however, that I don't want to see them finish with a +.500 record and give them momentum going into next season (much like the 2000 team did). I do think they could have had a minor fire sale and brought in some prospects. But since they didn't, they might as well win some games.
