How much money and how many free agents do we need to win in 08?

This is the part that makes me scratch my head.

Shouldn't all ball players be held accountable for both sides of play?

And what about Ausmus, shouldn't our catcher have better numbers? (sorry, that derails the thread).......

There are lots of SS better than Everett when you include offense and defense.....

He is a great defender, but IMHO that is not enough, I would rather have a guy who is a good defender and a good hitter than a great defender and a lousy hitter.

And, I don't know if Bruntlett is the answer, but he has been hitting in the .270+ range for the last couple of years, and has a career OPS of .707...which is not great, but not as bad as AE.

As for fielding, AE is a career .973% fielder

While Bruntlett is a career .958% fielder at SS

Which is a fairly insignificant difference...

DD

 

that doesn't make you scratch your head. you played ball as a kid. you watch a ton of it now. you know it's not that black and white. you know that certain positions are more difficult to field than others...and come into play more than others. you're forgetting all that for the purpose of discussing AE. the problem is you, like others, have a difficult time quantifying one side of the equation so it's easier to ignore.

again...the insistence here that bruntlett is a good hitter is beyond me. i'm not saying there aren't upgrades to AE out there. i'm not telling you he's the best possible options of all options in MLB at SS. i'm suggesting i think he's a better option that bruntlett when you consider their entire body of work in the field and at the plate. he's a marginally better hitter than AE. AE is a far better defender.

 

From the same link, Everett has a career Zone Rating at SS of .880 (better than Omar Vizquel's for comparison). Bruntlett's career ZR at SS is .818, which is not awful, but certainly below average for starters and the only players who are worse are offensive studs like Michael Young and Derek Jeter.

 

Using stats alone to evaluate fielding is bad enough; using fpct alone to evaluate fielding is inexcusable.

 

All I ask is that you remember how great of a fielder AE is the next time he kills a rally. Every time I see him come up to the plate with two outs, it's time to go to the bathroom and grab another soda.

 

And all I ask is that you remember that 7 out of 10 "rallies" are killed by Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee, too.

 

max, there's a 105-point difference in their ob% this year - 105! there's a 30-point difference for their careers and a 60-point difference in their career OPSs. the sample size isn't large, granted, and there's no way of knowing what pace bruntlett would set as an everday player, but the difference is not "marginal."

i'd be thrilled if they gave bruntlett a legitimate shot to be our everyday 2B next year and wouldn't be opposed to them at least making the 2008 starting SS an open audition.

 

this year?? ok...if you wanna use this year, AE has a higher slugging average. i'm fine with you comparing the 2...but doing so over the 80 or so at bats bruntlett has this year is silly. over the course of their careers, bruntlett is a marginally better hitter than AE.

 

Bruntlett was marginally better in the minors too - it's not like he was some superstar in the minors that suggests he would be a lot better than he is if got to play full-time. A marginal improvement from a terrible to bad hitter in the 8 spot isn't going to make any real difference on this team. A vast improvement of defense at SS far, far, far, far outweighs that it seems.

 

By the way, since Everett got hurt, the Astros have the worst ERA in baseball I believe. We're now 15th in the NL out of 16 teams. We were middle of the pack if I remember right when he went down.

 

I'd like to see Patton make the jump to the Big leagues.

 

Amazing how that works!!

 

MM, i'm not (necessarily) in the "bench/cut adam everett" camp; this is a horrible defensive team, especially up the middle.

but bruntlett's career OPS is 60 points higher than everett's (and, for the record, i noted that the sample size was small.). he's more than a marginally better offensive player based on measurements available to us. jimy williams thought bruntlett was a terrific athlete and we're seeing evidence of that over and over again (btw, whoever mentioned game 4 of the '05 NLCS - that play was made by bruntlett's flip) - is it really inconceivable that he could displace everett and make the team better? he's certainly not a butcher defensively. but he also doesn't right now play the position everyday.

but major: baseball does not dictate that a SS has to bat 8th. everett hits 8th because he's among the 2 or 3 worst offensive players in baseball and putting him anywhere else in the line-up would be ignorant.

bruntlett's ob% right now is .380. sample size noted, but are you suggesting this team couldn't use that higher in the line-up, especially given our everyday lead-off hitter's ob% is 95 points lower?

if bruntlett could prove to be a competent top of the line-up hitter and, while not AE good, above average good in the field... that's not a move you'd make? like i said, i'd prefer bruntlett get a fair, legit shot at 2B, but i wouldn't mind the astros keeping an open mind about him being an everyday SS next spring.

 

Bruntlett is below average at SS, and the only players worse are offensive studs. Bruntlett is above average at 2B, and even 3B, but he is a significant downgrade from Everett with the glove.

 

sorry, but i don't see bruntlett as the kind of hitter you sacrifice AE's glove for. this team needs defense up the middle. it needs guys like lance to hit like they're capable of hitting. and it needs some real answers at the plate from RF and 3B, where offense is easier to find than at SS.

by the way...it wasn't the flip that was exceptional about that play in the 05 NLCS...it was the fire...the turn. that was AE's play with the runner closing hard on him. bruntlett did what any average 2B would have done with that ground ball.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_...6&v=2&mType=w&urlstr=&mUrl=&type=v_free&_mp=1

 

i agree with every single word, save for the bit about bruntlett - it may ultimately prove correct, but i'd at least give him a chance to cinfirm it.

you're right; i got the players mixed up. for some reason, i thought it was hit to AE.

and like i said, i recognize AE's value. i do. but i also know this team has additional needs and one of them is the top of the line-up - it's a big, big concern.

 

That's certainly true - if Bruntlett could fill a different role for the team (ie, leadoff or #2 hitter or whatnot), that would be a different story. I'm coming at it from the perspective that he's not good enough to be anything but the worst hitter in the lineup, unless maybe Ausmus is back. His minor league career OPS is under 0.700, though he does have a decent 0.350 minor league OBP. But Everett had a similar OBP and higher OPS. Just watching Bruntlett and looking at his past stats, I don't see a lot of potential - but that's admittedly not much of an argument.

 

Wait until September, he might get called up when rosters are expanded and may get the chance to get a taste of the big leagues.

 

If they don't get better pitching, it doesn't matter who is playing SS. With the pitching they have now, I'd rather field the best defensive team possible.

Regardless, any conversation about where the team needs to improve next year should be largely focused on pitching... both starters and bullpen. The lineup isn't elite, but it certainly has come a long way from the last couple of years... and that's including Berkman having his worst year ever at the plate, and Biggio/Ausmus still getting a ton of AB's.

 

I second that Nick.

Hey Dom, you almost got your wish with Guttierez. They had him come to MMP, in case Randolph was put on the DL. But he wasn't so they sent him back to RR. He was never put on the roster, just in case thing. Which, IMO, is kind of a crappy way to go about it.