[ESPN] Rangers grab Millwood, Purpura/McLane sit on sidelines

I dunno. He has the flexibility that maybe we could have played him at SS. But then again, I'm thinking about this more from a player's perspective. I have no idea what the Astros are thinking, but if I'm a player and know that I might get stuck in a platoon situation or bench, I'll take the other offer. That may be why Nomar didn't sign here - not really sure.

I think the upside with Nomar is also much more than Rondell White or the like. Remember, at one point, he was a superstar level player - an OPS well over 1.000. Granted, he's never been that player since he got hurt in 2001, but maybe the hope is that he could be a 0.900+ OPS guy with a good season, whereas the other guys we've discussed have never shown that kind of potential.

But ultimately, I don't really know - if Nomar came here, I'd have wanted him playing SS if Bagwell was healthy. Or wandering the infield at 1B and 2B and SS to keep Bagwell (?) and Biggio fresh, and Everett out of the lineup. I think you could get him 500 ABs by playing him at LF, RF, 1B, 2B, or SS.

 

NJ,

Major took the words out of my mouth. The potential upside of Nomar is much higher than an Encarnacion or White. The latter two are basically more expensive Jason Lanes. Pretty much always have been, always will be.

 

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, it ain't gonna happen. Get over it already and look forward to a bright new day with Miguel Tejada playing short and batting third in the lineup.

 

I'm willing to bet my house that Tejada is not coming to the Astros, not with Purpura as the GM.

 

What? Just your house? Not your life or the eyes of your children, well there's no fun in that.

 

How anyone could compare Kevin Millwood to Andy Pettitte is beyond me. Pettitte is a proven consistent winner year in year out. He pitches in big games, and can get the tough outs when needed. Millwood had some decent years, but he's nothing special, and certainly doesn't deserve Vladimir Guerrero money. Teams that make knee jerk signings for Borass clients end up hurting themselves in the long run with their lack of balance.

 

again, Andy Pettitte has a lot of wins because he is consistent, and he's had great run support. Roger Clemens didn't win 15 games last season, he sucks.

 

I don't understand the comparison either. The market changes yearly. You can't compare one 12mil per guy to another when the deals are signed 2 years apart. If Andy Pettitte were a free agent right now, he'd get a hell of alot more than 12 mil per.

This is one of the things that bothers me about all the "that guy is not worth x amount because this guy is making x." The market is on an upswing. Who's to say a Nomar type player isn't going to get a 10 mil per offer next season? Pettitte a 20mil per offer? We'll never know and if we want a player to fill a hole we are going to have to do it at market value.

PS. Has the media or Nomar revealed the offer we made for him? The only thing I ever heard was that we "lowballed" him. That imo isn't making a competitive offer when you know its not enough to sign him.

 

Agreed - but signing Andy Pettite today at $17MM would be a stupid idea too. This market is overinflated - it will go back down, just as it did after the Hampton/Neagle/etc period where people overpaid. It's overinflated because its a players' market. So many teams were in contention last year for so long that everyone is buying players now. Demand is high, so prices rise.

It's stupid to commit to a 5 yr deal when the market is overinflated - you'll be screwed in future years. That's why I'd prefer a trade of an Abreu type than a signing of a $12MM mediocre player right now. That deal will likely look stupid in 2 or 3 years.

 

And the same people moaning and wringing their hands about "Poopoora" and "McScrooge" "scratching their bums" now would be bemoaning that "stupid albatross contract" inked by those two bums. For some people, whining is their native language.

 

As an asside, the discussion of league change affecting ERA caused me to remember an interesting fact that I wouldn't have anticipated; using the Total Baseball "Park Adjustment" factor, Minute Maid Park is evaluated as a ballpark which slightly favors pitching!

Computed ratings on this page.

Methodology for computing ratings here.

The rating system is computed based on tangible numbers of runs scored by all teams, and the ratings are adjusted to account for the fact that the teams don't have to face their own pitchers, so it's not some abstract or hypothetical factor.

 

Who exactly are you talking about? Sure, I think Purpura is a poor GM, but who they hell are you to say what I'd think about one of those FA signings?

Some of you idiots generalize way too much.

 

look at his stats.

he has 2 so so years, 1 good year, 2 so-so years, 1 good year.

it's like clock work

and guess what next year is? a so so year.

the rangers obviously didn't research his player card like I did.

 

Do you think that having such strong pitching and weak hitting skews some of those park adjusted stats? The opposite with a team like the Rangers. When have they ever had as good pitching as we've had in Minute Maid? Is it too early to evaluate what MMP really is until we've had some seasons where our pitching is very average?

 

I am sorry my post somehow came across as an attack on you personally.

Some points of clarity:
1) I haven't even read the entire thread and wasn't aware (still haven't checked) you had even commented.
2) I wasn't talking about anyone in specific. It *was* a general comment, and a quite appropriate one. While you may not fit into that category, there are undeniably people who incessantly whine regardless of the outcome.

Again, I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that I pretend to know precisely how you would respond to one move or another, but thanks anyway for calling me an idiot.

 

Good point. It may be close to its norm right now, considering our pitching *sucked* in 2000, and remember the "Ten-Run Field" remarks back then? Nowadays the talking heads only banter about the LF porch, because the field really hasn't turned out to be this great "hitter's park" like Wrigley.

 

Remember, we also raised the power alley in left field about twenty feet after that first year.

 

Yeah, about the only thing I hear people complain about at MMP anymore is the hill and pole. But the way I see it, **** those people.

 

I just went back and looked through the formula. What it does is measure the difference between run scoring at home and on the road and adjusts for relative team offense in comparison to the league. Theoretically then it shouldn't matter how good or bad your offense & pitching are. Perhaps if you had a group of players particularly suited or ill-suited to a pecularity of your field, I suppose you might get some skew, but even then the league wide numbers would help dampen those?

More interestingly, I discovered that the numbers are recalculated yearly.

Here's the yearly numbers going back to the dome era. There's one set for batters, and 1 for pitchers, and the normalization figure is 100. Therefore, numbers under 100 favor pitching, and over 100 favor batting.

<Table border="1">
<CAPTION><EM>Astros Park Factor</EM></CAPTION>

<TR><TH rowspan="2"><BR>Year<TH colspan="2">Factor

<TR><TH>hitting<TH>pitching
<TR><TH>1999*<TD>94<TD>95
<TR><TH>2000<TD>107<TD>106
<TR><TH>2001<TD>105<TD>104
<TR><TH>2002<TD>104<TD>104
<TR><TH>2003<TD>104<TD>103
<TR><TH>2004<TD>100<TD>100
<TR><TH>2005<TD>99<TD>99
</TABLE>
* 1999 was the last year in the Astrodome

To place these numbers in context here are the batter/pitcher ratings for several extreme parks:

• Coors Field (Rockies) 113/112
• Ameriquest Stadium (Rangers) 104/103
• Dodger Stadium 95/96
• RFK Stadium (Nationals) 93/94

I appreciate the Minute Maid isn't quite the shoebox it was when it opened, but I still would've assumed it belonged in the top 1/3 or so of offensive parks.

 

Looks like Tejada is gonna stay put.

An Orioles official told the AP that the club could soon take Miguel Tejada off the table in trade talks.
"There is absolutely no deal we find acceptable to trade this very special player to another team," the official said. The Orioles are believed to have discussed Tejada with the Cubs, Red Sox, White Sox and Angels, among others. Dec. 28 - 9:22 pm et
Source: FOXSports.com


I know there is a lot of time left (6 weeks) until pitchers and catchers report, but I think the Astros brass thinks we can be a playoff team w/ the guys we have. If they do think this, they are fooling themselves...take a team that was horrible offensively that made the wild card by 1 game and take their best pitcher away and you have a mediocre team.

Granted, the off-season is not over yet, but Purpura and company get an F so far...what have they done? Re-sign Ausmus/Chavez/Palmeiro.

There have been indications on other boards (OrangeWhoopass) that possibly the Astros are looking at Ken Griffey. That would be a joke....I don't want them to sign someone just to sign someone, but make a smaller move to bolster the rotation...Chad Bradford could have been a decent risk as a reliever.