Exactly. The 7 & 8 hitters are not what make an offense click. I think that is clear to most people that follow/have played baseball. The problem is trying to explain that to someone who thinks a #8 hitter that bats .280 will make an offense explode.
I didn't make the claim; the burden of proof is on you. Yes they do--by virtue of those expectations. They don't say it that way, but in the end that is the frame of reference. For example, you don't know and seem unwilling to find out what other teams' 7-8 hitters are actually producing.
lol expect him to hit in the majors... That would mean something if he was brought up to hit, he wasn't. You easily grasp the concept of a player being brought up because he's an above average hitter, while being a below average on defense. Why can't comprehend the opposite? Your not telling the whole story. For starters, who did the Astros trade to get Carl Everett??? A middle reliever named John Hudek. Who played in is final season 2 years later. If anyone can take the stance your taking, it's Mets fans. Carl Everett had 3 above average years, beyond that he's been below average or right at average. 2 of those above averarge years he was with the Astros. I don't understand why your complaining. We got the best years out of him. I think your overrating Carl... Since he's made the big bucks, he has never lived up to his contract. Second, you fail to talk about the fact the Astros got 2 prospects for Carl. That other prospect was LHP Greg Miller. He was on the fast track to the majors at the time. And only due to him getting injured, repeatively, does your stance even remotely make sense. The Astros were in a good position to trade Carl. They had this guy in the minors whom they could call up... You know... Lance Berkman.
I'm just going with my gut on this one and from what I've seen from the dynamic duo of Ausmus and Everett. I pretty much implied that at the time. I knew it would be a very long a treacherous task trying to find a duo of any two players now that were worse, including trying to find any pair from the recent long ball era that were worse. I am a little disappointed since i actually thought you would dig up some stats that would somehow statistically manipulate AE and Ausmus over another pair of hitters. I guess you weren't up to the challenge either. By the way, Did i ever tell you how much i love you MSN! Anyways, all of these posts quoting me and disagreeing and/or arguing with me whenever i talk negative about Adam Everett is exactly why i said i usually get bashed when bring up the dreaded "Adam Everett". Most aren't bashing per say, but it's always numerous responses to where i can't reply to 1/2 of them. From now on I'll just refer to him as "That Player", since Parcells already coined the phrase "The Player". Not everyone dissects my posts and puts logical and statistical input like you. Some just come out swinging hard to his defense. Swinging hard like "That Player" can't even do! I wish mlb would start selling jerseys of "That Player" and see how many people buy one. Instead of being limited to All Stars like Berkan, Lee, and Oswalt. There has to be some reason MLB doesn't sell his jersey? I just can't understand why? They must not think he's marketable since they probably don't know who he is. Personally, i think "That Player" should have been our team MVP the last few years since his defense almost won us the division last year and we could have this year if he didn't get injured! He would of lowered our collective team ERA by at least 2 runs/game All the teams covet him. He was the guy teams were knocking at our door for that needed a bat, even though he was injured. We could have probably got a sub par Cactus League prospect for him! He is a defensive stud, i have never argued that. He did get us to the World Series after all. Anyways, pointing out all the countless faults of "That Player" isn't as much fun right now as responding to all the people who keep saying keeping Rafer Alston is a must keep in the other forum. I have to spend my time wisely here! I do have to turn in some work at the office occasionally.
That's funny... From what I saw the people defending Adam are saying He's not the worst #7 or 8 hitter in the world and praising his defense. If that's going all out... wow. And if you actually read my post, you'd see I wasn't even talking about Adam. I was talking about the trade that brought him here, that you seem to hate so much.
premature post... I understand you can't reply to everyone. But the trick to the matter... You don't have to. You voiced your opinion and now others are voicing theirs. Of course you knew where this was going to go when you made your first post, now didn't you... hehehe
I wasn't referring to your post and didn't mean to imply to people i try to debate with everyone that quotes me and doesn't share my views on "That Player". Everyone is entitled to their opinion on him, that was the purpose of this thread. I was mainly joking around and it was mostly implied to MSN how he likes to break threads down sentance by sentance. Nothing wrong with that either.
I'd like to find a team willing to take on that deal! It would have to be from a GM will full authority trying desperatly to get fired. A more realistic goal would be a mediocre bullpen pitcher. I'd still do that trade in a heartbeat.
I'll concede that there are those who will search high and low to find a lonely stat that supports their argument while ignoring a mountain of other stats, and I'm sure you have indeed observed this behavior--but I ain't among those. I stink at finding stats in the first place, but when I do find them I post the relevant ones whether they support my argument or not--I've come back here and other places at times, posting stats that I (finally) found, and posted something akin to "D'OH! Guess you guys were right!" I also have to admit spending about five minutes yesterday trying to find hitting-order stats and month-by-month stats and struck out (it's just not worth any more time than that to me!).
Everyone jumps on Everett when he committed 2 errors in a game (when he broke his leg, they charged him for an error), but no one seems to care that Bruntlett made 3 errors because he's hitting better? Has anyone noticed that Bruntlett doesn't drive in runs? Yeah, he gets way more hits than Everett, but when he actually has the position to do some damage, he strikes out or hits into a double play. Either that, or he'll get a hit when the game is already out of reach. I'll take my chances with Everett.
So your jumping on Bruntlett for having a game that is uncharacteristic of him... When your main point is people are too quick to jump on Everett when he has a bad night? My goodness, talk about flip flopping. I've come to the conclusion that people who spread hate on these guys want Ozzie Smith. Either Ozzie or are still upset we didn't get Tejada. I may not have been around here for very long, but I've been around this stuff long enough to know... If the Astros were winning, nobody would care about Ausmus's and Everett's batting averages. One side note, why are we complaining about Everett when he's on the DL? Talk about beating a guy when he's down.
That's where you're wrong. I'm not jumping on Bruntlett at all. I know he is a very good defensive player. All I'm saying is that if others will jump on Everett for making 2 errors in a game, why don't they even mention it when Bruntlett makes 3 errors?
A prime example of Bruntlett's untimely hitting: today's game v the Braves, men on 1st & 2nd, no outs in the inning, he strikes out. He always gets his hits when they don't matter. I don't see how that's much of an offensive improvement over Everett.
Haha, I wish. Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed. However, we do have a lot of L's these days. Loretta, Lamb, Lee, Luke, Lidge, Lance, Lane (although he should be gone soon)...