I would agree with that but I think he gets bashed a bit much. He is a really good to great hitter but I would say that I thought he was a bit more athletic then he has showed over the past 3 yrs. Blame Soriano and the stupid a$$ contract the Cubs gave him. If we regret getting Lee I imagine they are not thrilled with Soriano's act.
The thing that hurts Lee is his OBP. He's usually barely above league average in that department and that hurts his overall production as a hitter. I understand that he's a cleanup hitter but so are Prince Fielder and Matt Holliday, both of whom have OBPs well above league average. Like most Astros, Lee doesn't walk enough. At the end of last season, only Berkman was walking at a rate above league average. Our relative lack of walks is one of a couple major problems with our offense, the other being a lack of power believe it or not.
I haven't checked recently but as of a few weeks ago, the Astros had a higher team AVG and AVG w/RISP than the Phillies who were leading the league in runs. The difference was, you guessed it, walks and XBHs. The Phillies walk a lot more and hit the ball a lot harder, collectively.
I think Justice twittered a few days ago that the Stros were like 2nd or 3rd in the league in Avg but 12th in runs scored. The Stros are slow and impatient so, like the White Sox showed last year, unless you have tons of power it will not workout well.
Check out the Miggy GIDP facts in Z's blog today: http://blogs.chron.com/unofficialscorer/2009/09/astros_am_report_unwanted_firs.html Only 2 Astros have ever had more multiple GIDP games than Tejada and Miggy hasn't even been on the team for 2 full seasons yet. Biggio did it ONE TIME in 20 years!
Miggy is an interesting case because he has done some very nice things this season and some not so good. I imagine the percentage of Groundballs will only increase and his power will continue to decrease so unless your Bourn fast thats very alarming. I was all for resigning him but errrrr now its a really interesting question.
If they do bring him back, I just can't see any justification for hitting him 1 through 5 in the order. That may seem absurd at first but a look at his hitting abilities and tendencies at this point support that argument, in my opinion. He certainly isn't hitting 1, 3 or 4 if Bourn, Berkman and Lee are all healthy. He in no way represents anything close to the ideal 2-hole hitter. He doesn't take pitches, he's slow, he hits into DPs, can he even bunt?, etc... Now, the 5 spot is somewhat debatable but typically, a 5-hole hitter also brings power. Pence is a far better slugger than Miggy at this point. You also can't even use the righty-lefty-righty argument Cooper used to justify Lee-Blum-Pence. That leaves the 6 through 8 spots. As a SS, Miggy does give you an above average bat so if you bring him back for a reasonable price and he's willing to hit at the bottom of the order and the team is willing to deal with his declining mobility/defense, then maybe it's worth it. As a third basemen, he'll very likely be a well below average hitter for that position, not to even mention playing a new position. On the other hand, you have to consider the alternatives. Putting Miggy at third alongside Manzella or at short with Johnson both likely represent an offensive upgrade over Johnson-Manzella so that is worth considering. You also have to consider dollars. We have about $55 mil tied into 4 players before even considering raises for Bourn, Wandy and Pence. If resources are limited (which they certaintly project to be even if McLane pushes a $100 mil opening day payroll again), wouldn't you rather take the hit offensively and put the money toward starting pitching, assuming there is some kind of reasonable upgrade availabe?
Another couple of factors to consider regarding Lee's pay: 1. Pujols is making only $16 mil this season and the next one while Lee will be making $19 mil per during that same stretch. Sure, Pujols is underpaid but... 2. Despite about a 2-month slump, Pence is on the verge of surpassing Lee in OPS.
Pence got bailed out after another baserunning blunder. Baserunning, as a whole, is a real weakness of his. His SB% ratio is pretty awful for his career. The team would have been better off in theory if he never tried to steal a base. I don't think speed or acceleration is the problem either. I think it may be related to judgement and deceptiveness.
I say if you can use it on pitching that should be your priority if not then Miggy but I know this may be a very unpopular notion but I'd look at getting Sheets as he will come cheap but you would have to outbid the Rangers. Sheets and Miggy for about 11 million would be ok in my book and if you can pick up Wolf for about 8-9 million then it would be money well spent if you want to conitnue on the same path. If you want to rebuild, finally, then use it all on pitching pitching and more pitching but no more then 3 yr contracts!
Since somebody brought up Berkman's slugging percentage... Coming into today, he was actually a point ahead of Lee. After tonight, he'll likely extend that margin. When you factor in that Berkman leads all of baseball in walks per plate appearance, it's not hard to see why he's still rated by many measurements as our best overall hitter.
On a side note...if I were to buy stock in any team it might be the Braves. They have some great young arms and good veteran pitchers as well with Hanson, Jurrigans, Lowe, Hudson and Vasquez. If they can pick up a bat in the offseason they will be VERY tough next season. Jurrigans 8 innings of shutout ball vs the Cards tonight.
The Pirates in general. Nobody cares about the Pirates, so there aren't many pics to post towards you. If only you were a Cubs fan...
LOL....i'm sorry, I must have forgotten how relevant the Astros are. Okay, I'll stop now. Definitely want to keep it classy! After all, you guys are division "rivals" that I don't really mind. The Cubs are complete scum, I can't stand the Brew-crew anymore and I have hated St. Louis my entire life. Especially since part of me thinks the Cards are going to win it all this year. Ugghhhh. Who here is going to watch Pirates/Stros over USC/Ohio State? I'm a big Ohlendorf fan but I don't even think that i'll be able to shut off USC/OSU.
