I wasn't a fan of that trade, only because we gave away Taveras. I think he is the one player that we let go of that I saw potential in. He had a pretty solid year, got his avg up and stole some bases when he got the green light. The biggest thing to me is that his defense is much better than Pence's. You are fooling yourself if you think Pence plays center as well as Taveras did. Pence has good speed, can't deny that.. but he doesn't play a great CF. Taveras was definitely getting there defensively. We went through some growing pains, but once he was getting ready, we shipped him off. He takes better routes than Pence, and has a MUCH better arm. I love Pence, but we forced the poor guy to play CF which isn't his position. Sometimes he can look a bit lost out there, but that isn't his fault, he is playing out of position.
Pence looked better in his first year playing CF than Willy did in his first year. Both use speed to overcome bad route running... Pence's routes will improve over time (as Willy's did). Pence makes up for the lesser arm with the much bigger bat... both possess good speed, and Pence's gap power yields more triples than Willy can get based on his speed alone.
And yet he has spent the majority of his career bouncing around the league. I simply can't imagine why that is.
Only time will tell if his team (I belive the Dodgers) try to trade him prior to the end of that deal. In short, they may regret signing that deal. $9MM a year is a lot to pay a .280 to .290 hitter. Do you want the Astros to give an $8MM a year deal to say...Ty Wigginton. He is a .280 hitter.
Why have Kenny Lofton, Roger Clemens, Alfonso Soriano, etc., etc., etc., etc. been bouncing around the league?
Dude, So Taguchi has never had over 400 Ab's in a season. His best year he hit .291 and has never stolen over 11 bases. You're not serious are you?
Yes, I'm serious. Claiming one player on a sport with a 25-man roster "has a ring" has absolutely no relation to how good he is. Barry Bonds is arguably the greatest hitter of all-time, and he doesn't. Meanwhile, Scott Brosius has several. Who's the better hitter? Juan Pierre is one of the most worthless players in baseball. If you want to claim otherwise, that's fine, but stick with individual statistics that he alone influences, not ones that reflect the caliber of the team around him.
Juan Pierre has FOUR seasons with over 200 hits. He hit .326 in 678 Ab's and has CONSISTENTLY stolen over 45 bases a year and has a .301 lifetime average. What could possibly be your argument here? That he's not a good player?
Batting average, used by itself, is a mostly irrelevant statistic. Total hits is a mostly irrelevant statistic because it's dependent on the amount of at-bats you're given. Defensively, he's mediocre at best. Slightly above average range, but his arm makes Hunter Pence's arm look like Vladimir Guerrero. To be an effective major league outfielder, you need to either get on base at a good clip, hit for reasonable power, or (ideally) both. In his last three seasons, Juan Pierre has gotten on base at clips of .331, .330, and .326. That's terrible, especially for someone whose supporters point to him as a top of the order candidate. In his last three seasons, he's posted slugging percentages of .353, .388, and .354. Those are utterly atrocious. He's a typical run of the mill journeyman overvalued by casual observers because he's decent at the most known (yet useless) statistic in batting average, and because he's "fun to watch" because he's fast. That doesn't mean he's good, though.
Apparently his value is around $9 Million a year in the eyes of L.A. Dodgers brass, but they probably don't watch much baseball.
Someone decided Eric Milton's value is around $10.33 million a year. That must mean he's one of the best pitchers in the league, right? Mediocre players never get overpaid in sports... that would never happen.
Perhaps I should do that in arguments where I'm wrong. Make a blanket attack and accusation, yet say I "don't have time" to show why and run from it.
And NONE of them have had FOUR teams in SEVEN years. Clemens spent an eternity in Boston. He has been with four teams since 1983. Lofton was with Cleveland for an eternity. Much the same deal. And you decide that you want to label things as clownlike...your statement qualifies. Overvaluing average talent may go a long way to explaining why they finished in 4th place this year.
