dickau -- lawton's numbers would give you that advantage over Burke's total numbers for the season so far...no doubt about that. but i think that's a bit misleading, because burke seems to be improving. he's narrowing that gap.
On Lawton: But an assistant GM of another NL team totally disagreed, saying: "I don't see him as an impactful guy at all. He can't play defense. And we've had pretty bad reports on him the last two weeks." http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2121261&num=2 "But an overriding consideration for the Astros is a player's makeup and how he plays the game on the field, and his approach to competition." http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASAp...t_id=1153990&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou and While clubhouse chemistry is considered by many to be an overrated intangible, there's no arguing that the 2005 Astros are one tight-knit group. ... This club is simply made up of professional players who respect each other ... "The makeup of the team is tremendous," Purpura said. "The way these guys go about their business is exceptional." http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASAp...t_id=1152211&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
Sadly, this is a bit of a myth resulting from some quirks in his streakiness. Burke's numbers by month: (avg/slg/ops) April: 238/262/551 May: (gone to the minors) June: 244/349/661 July: 244/295/601 He seems relatively consistently bad, although watching him, it does feel like he's improving. Maybe his "clutch" numbers have improved or something? That said, I agree that we should let him stay out there as long as we're winning. He needs playing time to improve, and presuming we'll be contenders for the next year or two, and given that he's our #1 prospect and Biggio is here the next year or two, he has to play somewhere, and he's going to have to do it while we're contending. We can't just let him sit and rot like we did with Lane, Ward, etc - it's just a waste of talent. If we start losing, you always have the option of moving Lamb into the lineup at 1B and Berkman to left. Or more of Palmeiro or Bruntlett. Or bringing up Luke Scott. But for now, I let him get experience.. his minor league numbers say he'll be better than this in the long-run, he just needs time to get there. Lawton just wasn't worth trading a decent prospect for when we have all these other options that provide pretty similar potential.
Fair enough - Baseball America or some other such organization calls him that. Who is considered our #1 by the Astros?
How are the Astros handling Burke much differently than they did Ward/Lane? All were/are seriously flawed ballplayers, Lane being the best of the bunch by far. How did the Astros waste Ward's talent? In hindsight, would you have let Biggio walk 1-2 years ago to open an OF spot for Lane?
BA's rankings have always been very heavily stat-based & seriously flawed. They had Einertson ranked #2 after 1 year of short-season ball, not to mention ignoring his off-field problems.
It wasn't necessarily mismanagement by the Astros, but for a prospect to fill their potential, they need the chance to play everyday, without the pressure of feeling like a slump will send them to the minors or cost them playing time. Both Ward and Lane sat on the bench for several years because we always had a full outfield and/or were contending and couldn't afford to throw them out there. Between Alou, Berkman, Biggio, Hidalgo, Everett, etc there was just never any room for them. Ward was in the majors for most of 3 years, never getting more than 270 at bats. One year (2000), he hit 20 HR's in 260 at bats, and played less the following year. Lane similarly got shuffled up and down between AAA and the majors for the last 3 years. Both of these guys were beyond AAA but had no room to play with the Astros, so just got stuck in between. That lack of everyday playing time in a new league hurts a prospect, and both lost substantial trade value between when they came up to when we finally let Ward go or where Lane is today. Both Hunsicker and Purpura talked a lot about how Lane was a victim of circumstance and it was frustrating not being able to give him the opportunity. The chance was there last year, but we got Kent so Biggio took that spot in the outfield, so Lane played 107 games last year and had 136 at-bats. It's always been something like that which prevented these guys from getting a full chance in the majors.
Oh - as to the first question, Burke already has nearly as many AB's in the majors this year as Ward or Lane did in any of their first three seasons up here. Essentially, they are just letting him play a lot, good or bad. Not full time, but substantially more than those other guys.
I hope you are right and he does start to perform better with the bat, but, as major posted, his numbers last month seem pretty much in line with his numbers all year. I understand the argument that the team has been virtually unbeatable lately and that the chemistry is great, but in the playoffs or down the stretch i am a little afraid of counting on chemistry overcoming a corner outfielder hitting 230 w/ barely adequate plate discpline and no power. what made burke widely regarded as one of the top prospects in the organization, especially in the barren upperlevels of the system, was the increased power he showed in moving to AAA in 04. The low average this year seems forgivable to youth/inexperience, but the lack of power he's shown in the majors has been distressing. At this point i hope palmeiro gets more of his ab's. Orlando's been great this year, though i'm not sure he can keep it up playing everyday, and, imo, is best suited for the pinchhitter/4th outfielder role he's played so well this year and througout his career.
Claudio Vargas, today's pitcher, broke Adam Everett's arm last year on August 6 as a member of the Montreol Expos. He needs to be plunked today.
WWW. I hate where I'm stuck at. Back in Houston with no cable, and so many games on FSN. Or heading back to my house in College Station and having cable but not having COX media pick up the series.
I know we're done playing the Mets... but I couldn't help but notice Senor' Beltran's night tonight.... 0 for 6 in 11 innings.
