yeah, I think Mia used to live here and her mom lives here. Her and Nomar were at the UT/UT women's game awhile back and she told the interviewer that she lived in Austin. btw, Nomar has always struck me as a decent guy. How much money could he have had in Boston? 60 million?
Can I ask why? He is a good gamble at the right price. Consider: The Astros have plenty of fallback options if he doesn't pan out. Lamb, Palmeiro, Scott, Bagwell(could go either way), Burke(vs lefties only). The only reason they have a shot at nomar is his injuries the last two years have reduced his asking price to mush. Also, the guy can still hit. In 160 or so at bats in August and September when he finally returned from injury, he posted a SLG% over .500 and a BA over .300. Nomar or Rondell White are both good gambles in my opinion because of their price.
This is really reminding me of the Vinny Castilla signing. Castilla was kind of a "why not" signing. If he worked out great, if not we had other options. Cheap contract that didn't affect our payroll too much, etc. And then we ended up with Castilla's only productive season in five years. Since we still have Lamb, we have other options if Nomar doesn't pan out. If we can sign him REALLY cheap, I don't see the downside.
Actually, our "other options" in 2001 at 3B was Chris Truby... we actually needed Vinny pretty badly.
I agree, I would love to have him at the price that people are talking he cant be that bad.. Plus the name alone puts more asses in the seats..
Ah, for some reason I thought Ensberg was around then, or at least close to being called up. Regardless, that's a pretty minor point. My point is that pulling people off the scrap heap for cheap can pay dividends.
Neither Rondell White or Nomar would be a good signing for the Astros. If this is Purpura's idea of improving the lineup, the Astros are in trouble.
Consistent .800+ OPS hitters aren't good signings or "improvement" when the alternatives are running out Chris Burke or Luke Scott?
There's lot of talk about Nomar signing with the Yankees. What do you guys think 2/13 million? Obviously out of our price range.
If Nomar can still play SS full time, then I'm all for the signing. If not, I do not see how he is improving the team. We don't know how well would he adjust to the outfield, he is an injury risk and I'm not even sure if he is that great offensively anymore. I certainly won't invest more than 2.5 mil per year for 2 years on him.
He's averaged about a .800 OPS the last two years even with all the freak injuries, so yes, he's still good offensively and a tremendous upgrade over Burke, Scott or Lamb. Plus, it's not as if adjusting to LF is all that much of a challenge. It's the easiest position to play in the field, and with a short porch in MMP, the ground to cover is very minimal and the requirements for a big arm aren't nearly as important as they are in other parks. There's a reason Burke was more than capable last season at a position which he had never played before. It's simply not that difficult, especially if you possess the mobility that most middle infielders inherently have.
