I'm glad you're back to being your exaggerative self. Taveras is not even halfway to Kenny Lofton territory.
Ugh....Lofton......another one.... By the by, am not comparing Tavares to Bagwell, just pointing out how Boston must have felt as they watched Jeff explode. Same thing is happening in Colorado....and Jennings was really bad. We need to start winning some of these trades. DD
"Win some of these trades"? How did we get Taveras? If I remember, we traded Jeremy Robertson, who was trash, for both Willy T and Luke Scott. I certainly would like the Jennings trade back in hindsight, but I think you forget the good moves this team has made (even involving the same player). Fact is, the man wouldn't have been more than a part-time player for the Astros in 2007 if we'd kept him. Lee in left, Scott in right (another of your favorites, correct?), and Pence in center was always the plan.
ahahhahaha...a few good games here and there in the regular season and one big game in the playoffs and you guys think he's a superstar! sure, Colorado got the better end of the trade, but i'm sure most Houstonians aren't gonna be b****ing about losing Willy T over the next decade like Boston lost Bagwell.
I do like Scott, but if we kept Taveras I would rather have seen Lee in Left, Willy T in Center and Pence in right, and traded Scott. DD
Scott had a .855 OPS, Willy had a .749 OPS despite playing half his games in Colorado. Scott is clearly the better offensive player. Cat has posted here before about Pence's defense to Taveras - while I don't personally believe Pence is quite the CF that Willy is, I don't think the difference is significant enough to make up the difference between Luke's and Willy's bats.
That logic only works if the Astros management opens their eyes and actually starts playing Luke Scott. For some reason he's being marginalized by the Astros and it's just stupid what they're doing. Give him the everyday starter job and you can likely expect around 30 home runs and 100 rbi's.
Now that the team is in this situation I concur. Who was that guy they just claimed off waivers who hit +.300 at AAA last year? How does he figure into their plans? DD
willy is a leadoff hitter so ops does not really apply that's faulting willy for his power. are you gonna rag on luke for his lack of speed? why dont we talk about lee's inability to bunt hit lol
Exactly. I'm not the biggest fan of Taveras -- everyone here knows this. Let's put this in perspective. Colorado won 17 of 18 games, all without him playing as much as an inning or having a single at-bat. He has one 1-for-4 game last night with a spectacular catch, and all of a sudden, he's a key cog? My goodness. That said, as much as I don't like him, I would greatly prefer Taveras to Josh Anderson or Reggie Abercrombie. Yes, Scott is a far superior player to Taveras... but the quotes from Wade so far this offseason don't have me optimistic. It's more than just .855 too, Sam. For all the talk people have about Luke being streaky... he was incredibly consistent, hitting .900 or above for each of the final four months. Scott was nearly as valuable as Lee... when the Astros actually allowed him to play. In theory, it shouldn't matter about losing Taveras because Scott is far superior... but as you said, Aces, they have to actually let him play for that to be true.
Except having power is much, much more important than speed or bunting... my goodness. "Leadoff hitters" are only guaranteed to hit leadoff once per game. That's it. What do you think of Chris Young? Terrible OBP. Terrible average. But he has power, and he's hitting leadoff. OPS shows you a player's general efficiency, so yes, it applies to every spot in the lineup.
My guess is he figures into the "guy with a lot of potential who has never put it together at the MLB level (or for that matter in the minors, consistently) and is unlikely to do so, but if he does, we have a freakin' stud centerfielder with speed and power on our hands, and if he doesn't, we have a fast late-inning defensive replacement" segment of the plan. He sounds a little bit Charlton Jimerson-like - great athlete, questionable baseball skills. This is from a 2004 scouting report: "Reggie Abercrombie, OF A tremendous natural athlete, Abercrombie was drafted in the 23rd round in 1999, out of Lake City Community College in Florida. He draws comparisons to Eric Davis and a young Ellis Burks. Abercrombie hit .261 with 15 homers and 26 steals in Double-A last year, but like many Dodgers prospects, he has problems controlling the strike zone. He has immense potential if he can refine his approach at the plate." http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1732029
One major weakness of OPS is that it doesn't account for speed post-at-bat. In game #1, Willy stole 2nd base which allowed him to score on a single. In game #2, he took 3rd on a fly ball that very people can take 3rd on. That allowed him to score on a sac fly. Neither of those runs score if not for that speed. Then you also have the catch that few other centerfielders can even get close to. Obviously, speed isn't always helpful - there's not always going to be the great catch or the opportunity to take 3rd or what not. But it makes a real impact on the game - and it's completely ignored when just looking at OPS. If you had Willy's 24 net stolen bases to his total bases, his equivalent OPS goes over 0.800 for example. It's like trying to measure a running QB's impact by his QB-rating. It ignores a huge component of his impact on the game. But regardless of whether Willy or Luke is better, the reason the trade was bad was that the Astros traded valuable assets. 4 years of Willy + 5 years of Hirsh + 5 years of Buchholz for 1 year of Jennings.
Isn't Bor@ss his agent? That's why we traded him in the first place. Willy's good, but not 5 year 50-60 million good, as Bor@ss is going to ask.
<3 <3 <3 Willy!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 Never underestimate the heart of a champion, MadMax !!!! You should have known that... :\
