Based on what, exactly? In 95 at-bats, Bourn has 7 extra-base hits (7.3 percent). In 307 at-bats, Taveras had 14 extra-base hits (4.5 percent). In 107 plate appearances at-bats, Bourn has 12 walks (11.2 percent). In 325 plate appearances, Taveras has 18 walks (5.5 percent). In 325 plate appearances, Taveras had 24 steals (7.4 percent). In 107 plate appearances, Bourn has 16 steals (15 percent). All evidence points to Taveras being a poor man's Michael Bourn, not the other way around. Sorry. And outstanding analysis with Jennings; clearly, the size of a pitcher's ass is paramount to his success on the mound.
Any person who would want to keep a career 7th inning guy over an up and coming CF prospect doesn't know anything about baseball. Qualls will never be anything more. Especailly with a career 30% save percentage.
word, bourn's upside is better than willy. both play good defense and have above average arms. both have plus plus speed. however, bourn has shown he can draw walks. he was rated as having the organizations best strike zone discipline. he k's once every 5 AB's for his career, and has stayed pretty consistent with that number. taveras k'd once every 6 AB's in the minors, and once every 7 AB's in the majors. however, he cant take a walk to save his life, which has resulted in a relatively low OBP. bourn also has a little more pop in his bat, and should be good for 5-8 homers compared to willy's 2. anyways, you cant deny we could really use a leadoff hitter to set the table for pence, berkman, and lee.
Both have plus-plus speed, but Bourn seems to be a much better baserunner. Willy seems to top out at about 30 steals, whereas Bourn's pace now indicates he could reasonable be a 50+ for year. I love the discipline for Bourn; only concern is that wow, his power numbers are really low. Five doubles per season? I guess that's somewhat offset by all the steals, but it'd be nice if that were higher. Still, he's definitely a legit leadoff hitter who can work counts, get on-base and consistently steal bases... that may be hard for the Astros to pass up.
where are you getting 5 doubles per season? he hit 20 in 2004 with 14 triples. 18 in 2005 with 8 triples. in 2006, he was up and down in the majors and minors, 10 doubles and 13 triples in 470 AB's.
Oh, my mistake. I saw the 5 in doubles, and assumed that was for the season... turns out, it was just part of it since he split time in AA and AAA. Yeah, I'd definitely be very intrigued by Bourn. Sorry about that. http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.htm?ID=8108
I said before a Lidge + Qualls/Wheeler could turn anyone's bullpen into the best among baseball. Lidge will probably get 6 million next year and possibly 10 the next year if he's closing again. Now Loretta is drawing major heat. Unless where gonna sign a nice free agent and patch up the other holes next year, i see no reason for keeping Lidge or Loretta on a .500 team. The only problem is i keep hearing teams are knocking on our door, and we won't answer.
If it were, I would think the bigger ass, the better the pitcher. Roger Clemens has been referred to as bubble butt, and he's one of the best to ever play.
Willy T hit .335 with .406 OBP and 55 SB's in AA as a 22 year old and jumped straight to the majors. Bourne hit .268 with a .348 OBP with 38 SB's in AA as a 22 year old. Bourne at 23 in AA and AAA hit .275 Willy at 23 hit almost .300 for the National League Champion Astros Sorry. If Jason Jennings had half the workout regimen of Roger Clemens he'd a better pitcher for it. The dude can hardly run. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but he sure looks out of shape to me and he sure as hell hasn't be pitching that well. Who knows, TheCat, maybe Bourne will produce at the same rate as Taveras? But, I doubt he'll ever exceed Taveras' offensive numbers. Maybe he steal around the same amount of bases. To be honest, they are fairly similar players.
What would Jennings running out a grounder better have to do with his arm and pitching? Minor league statistics can be deceiving. Taveras has not shown the necessary plate discipline at the major league level, whereas Bourn (albeit in a limited sample size) has done so. Likewise, Taveras has been a good but hardly great basestealer. Again, in a limited sample, Bourn appears better. You're right; they are similar in the sense that both are incredibly fast, good defense slap hitters. But to me, at the major league level, Bourn has shown better discipline and better baserunning, and over the long haul, I'd bet that makes him the better player.
Sounds like they tried to get Bourn, but the Phillies weren't willing to part with him...of course that's Purpura's fault, I'm sure. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp..._id=2113228&vkey=trade2007&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb The Phillies and Astros had discussed Houston second baseman Mark Loretta, but those talks died with Philadelphia's acquisition of Iguchi. The Astros had been pursuing Philadelphia outfielder Michael Bourn, though the Phillies have been unwilling to deal the 24-year-old. Bourn, a left-handed hitter, is a Houston native and a product of the University of Houston. He leads all NL rookies with 16 stolen bases. Bourn, who can play all three outfield positions, can also bat leadoff, though he usually bats eighth for Philadelphia. The Phillies, five games back in the NL East and 2 1/2 games out in the NL Wild Card, would like to add bullpen help for the stretch run. Houston relievers Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler have been attracting attention from other teams, but the Astros have been reluctant to deal any of their relievers on the Major League roster. Astros GM Tim Purpura does not discuss specifics regarding potential trades, but he did confirm that he had spoken with "probably eight or nine" GMs on Friday. "There's still interest in a number of our guys," Purpura said. "And our goal still is if we're going to deal a player we have under our control for more than a year, we have to get players back who are under control for more than a year. And we're still pursuing some of those." Purpura estimated the chances were "50-50" that the Astros would make a deal before Tuesday's non-waiver deadline. "If we make a move, we want it to help us this year, next year and future years; it's a delicate balance," Purpura said. "I don't think we're ever going to be real sellers. We're not going to strip the core of this club, we've got a good core. If we can augment it, great, if not, we'll keep working on it more this season and in the offseason." Purpura isn't obligated to trade players who will be free agents this winter such as Loretta or Mike Lamb, unless it makes sense in both the short and long term. "The only obligation is to get something for us if it's something that can truly help us in the future," he said. "A couple of [Class] A ball prospects or Double-A guys that replicate what we've already got in our system, I don't feel any pressure or compulsion to do it. No matter how we come out of this, we still want to finish strong. I don't feel like I have to move anybody
Willy topped out at 30+ steals for us because Gar never gave him the green light. If Willy stole 2nd, opposing pitchers would just walk Berkman since Lance never had great protection in the cleanup spot.
I agree. Bourn would be great addition to (CF) outfield. He is young,fast, & has a good glove. What about Chris Snyder at catcher?
I think the myth of protection having any relevance at all to Berkman has been eliminated this year. He wasn't given the green light because he's not a great baserunner. He's fast, but he's not instinctive. He doesn't read pitchers all that well. He doesn't get the best jumps. That's not to say he can't develop those skills, because the hardest one to have (speed) he definitely has. But he's got a ways to go in terms of his development as a basestealer.
Totally agree with your assessment. Willy T unfortunately didn't have that knack for picking up on pitcher's tendancies.. which was probably yet another contributing factor for him not having the green light.
I agree that who Berkman has in the cleanup spot doesn't seem to affect him, but from the perspective of the pitcher, the pitcher might be less inclined to pitch around Berkman with Carlos behind him, especially the way Carlos is hitting now.
Oh no! Watching the Phills v Cubs game on ESPN and Bourn just trip and fell hard in bullpen. He took awhile to get up. He looked like he may have pulled something or twisted his ankle.
I saw that. They mentioned that Victorino had gotten injured which indicates to me that Bourn isn't going anywhere now.
