1)Any word on Lidge? Is he healthy? Did he play in winter ball? 2)Who and how many do y'all think will be in the pen? 3)Have there been any SS for an Astro young pitcher trade talk/rumors? 4)Nanini, what's his status for the upcoming season, AA or AAA? I want to get out to Dell Diamond this year. Man, I'm so out of the loop here in Austin it isn't even funny. I have only seen little bits here and there on the internet, but was wondering if 610 has answered any of the above questions.
1. I've heard Lidge will likely never have the MLB career the Astros hoped he'd have, simply because of injury problems 2. not sure yet 3. no...the job is Everett's to lose, right now...particularly since Lugo has been battling injuries so far this spring. all indications from reports from spring training are that Everett has done pretty well and they were impressed with the improvement in his hitting over winter ball. 4. not sure
Here Joe Joe. You might get some better answers here. They've also got a fan forum & the stats on the minor league players. http://astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/hou/homepage/hou_homepage.jsp
I don't know any specifics about Lidge and what the Astros expect form him long term, but he has pitched a few innings in spring training (I don't think he pitched winter ball), and he has done pretty well. As far as the bullpen goes, I am thinking that the only certainties are Redding (my opinion), Wagner, Dotel, Nitowski (not because he is good, but because he is a lefty), Nelson Cruz, Hipolito Pichardo....not sure who else. I have heard that Lidge is being considered for a bullpen spot. What Max said on Everett. For winter ball, I think Everett batted close to .300, with a decent OBP. I expect him to hit maybe around .240 in the majors if he is given the starting spot. That will be sufficient, I believe, assuming his defense is as good as it is touted. I think Nannini will be at AA this upcoming season. But don't quote me on that. He spent all of the 2001 season at single A, and he had a 2.70 ERA in 190 innings, so I assume he will be sent up to AA. I think a jump straight to AAA would be too much, but I expect him to be at AAA by the end of the 2002 season.
<B> I think the Astros have always overlooked the importance of a good contact and onbase guy at the #2 spot.</B> Daryle Ward has been hitting #2 for much of the spring because "he needs to hit somewhere" according to Jimy Williams.
No, Lidge didn´t play in winter ball. And for Everett, he played in Venezuela, in 17 games he hit .328 (17-67), 7 runs scored, 4 H2, 8 RBIs, 4 BB, 18 SO, 1 SB, 1 CS, and he didn´t have errors.
Thx, I forget about the fan forum there sometimes because I prefer this one and know the good posters. I don't know if I ready to add another sports related forum just yet to my internet diet. I find the stats helpful, but mostly I'm requesting info not represented at this site. The Astros site, not forum, usually takes a neutral to pro point of view when discussing its players. Its good for what it is, official type stuff with few opinions and commentary. None of the official site address winter ball. Are there any English speaking sites about winter ball? I need my 610; its kind of sad that this is one of my arguments for moving to Houston, but driving is so different without good sportstalk. The astros fan forum and clutchcity will have to do. Raven, Thx. Just what i wanted to know. MadMax, Belated thx as well. Everyone else, Thanks. I'm just in a good mood for some strange reason. Where are the trolls when you need them?
For stats, you have: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/Stats/winter.html From mid-January til the end of Caribbean Series, MLB made a series of reports about Venezuelan winter league and Caribbean Series. http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/n...p?article_id=archive_winterleague&team_id=mlb I hope this could help you. And if you want any info about players who played or play in Venezuela, just let me know. A lot of Houston prospects play here every year, so maybe I could help you a little bit.
Joe Joe, Here's the link to Sports Radio 610. I haven't been able to figure out how to, or even if you can, get the live broadcast feed on the internet. You might try emailing them & asking. This site also has the email addresses of several of the hosts, so you can ask them questions directly. If you find out how to get the live feed, let me know. http://www.sportsradio610.com/
http://pub45.ezboard.com/bastrosbaseball decent astros forum, although i generally dont like the ezboard format
.240? Sufficient? Maybe if his OBP was .360 . Once upon a time (read: before the mid-90's), a good defensive SS could hit .250 without power and not hurt his team. That just isn't true anymore. The "power SS" now extends beyond A-rod, Jeter, and Garciaparra... to people like Tejada, Aurilia, etc. SS is the single most important defensive position. But let's not forget that while defense is half of baseball... the pitcher is more important than every position player combined, in that half. Hence, you have a situation in which defense is really only about 10-15% of what constitutes a winning team. In other words, in takes ALOT of defense to make up even a small deficiency with the bat. A large deficiency cannot be made up.
Think of the team in terms of options, and not what is historically considered good at a certain position. This team has very little to choose from at the shortstop position. In a couple of year, Chris Burke or Whiteman might be ready, and then there could be some decent competition. But when I said sufficient, I meant merely sufficient to beat out Lugo for the starting job. Lugo wasn't bad with the bat last season, but I think he played a little over his head. Lugo I think is a career .250-.260 player, and he can't seem to take walks any better than Everett. I think Everett's far superior defense will be enough to put him over the top. However, having said all that, things this spring seem to be exactly flip flopped. Everett is hitting quite well, and has committed two errors at SS (although he has made some spectacular plays as well, from what I understand). Who knows what happens, but regardless of what we are seeing in spring training, I think that Everett is the best option for this team at SS.
Oh, cool. I misunderstood you. When you said "sufficient," I was assuming that you meant he would be a satisfactory solution. I agree that he might be the best option available, for now. Just hope we find a new one, soon... or that he finds out how to hit!
I wish the Astros would have acquired Jeff Cirillo. He is a rich man's version of Bill Spiers, and basically is the ideal #2 hitter. Spiers' injury last year was probably the one that hurt the most, no pun intended, in the sense that we lacked a contact hitter who could get base hits and advance the runner (the few times Biggio was actually on base).
I agree that Spiers was sorely missed in 2001, however, I disagree with your inference that Biggio was not on base much (unless you are talking about the playoffs). Biggio was 21st in the league in OBP last year and led all NL leadoff men in that stat. He was also 9th in runs scored.
