I have followed the Giants for awhile as I love watching Bonds play. Kent was hitting in the .900 plus OPS as the 4th hitter as well, and Geoff Blum is a good UTILITY player, but not a guy you want starting at a corner inflelder. If we had the opportunity to get a player as good as him I would jump on it. Personally, I would rather persue maddux, but from all accounts I have not heard Kent being a troublemaker in Cleve, then NY, then SF(except for motorcycle gate)
the age thing scares me away for a contract that size. there's no way kent's overrated but by the time that contract is up i think we'll be paying for an average player. anyways i was hoping to pick up bartolo colon. talk about a 1-2-3 punch. might be out of our price range though.
I saw that quote too. What Bonds also said, is that if Kent left, Bonds wants the Giants to bring in a player of equal or better. Because he said that, I think Bonds would rather have Kent around, just because he knows the Giants need them. And yes, Kent is overrated. He sucked last year. He sucked this year, until Baker (another overrated manager) finally put Kent in front of Bonds. Anyone can hit well in front of Bonds. Ask Rich Aurillia.
Yeah, Kent sucks. So, to solve this problem, we should stick Kent in front of Berkman. If he could put up the same numbers (at MMP) then we've added a gem to our lineup.
I'm not sure Kent has the arm to play 3rd the last thing the Astros need is another defensive liability
We won't get Evil Kent Evil. The top priority for next year is getting a legit speedy leadoff CF. The Astros can live with a Blum/Loretta platoon at third.
2000 batting 3rd: 19 ABs batting 4th: 566 ABs, 39 2B, 32 HR, 120 RBI, 86 BB, 106 K, .332 Avg, .422 OPB, .595 SLG 2001 batting 3rd: 43 ABs batting 4th: 550 ABs, 44 2B, 22 HR, 100 RBI, 56 BB, 84 K, .302 Avg, .368 OBP, .524 SLG 2002 batting 3rd: 271 ABs, 22 2B, 22HR, 55 RBI, 22 BB, 39 K, .332 Avg, .385 OBP, .664 SLG battin 4th: 343 ABs, 19 2B, 15 HR, 53 RBI, 29 BB, 60 K, .297 Avg, .354 OBP, .484 SLG His OPS of .838 in the 4-hole would be the 5th highest in MLB for 3rd basemen with 200+ ABs at the position. He's produced in the past hitting behind Bonds, and I would surmise that his lower production in the 4-hole this year reflects more on him trying too hard to drive in runs (check the BB:K ratio, out of line compared to his prior 2 seasons) as a result of the complete absence of another run producer behind him in the lineup. During most of the time Kent hit 4th, Reggie Sanders (the 5th hitter at the time) hit a whopping .239 with 4 HRs in 184 ABs. The more I think about it, a 4 year deal may be too much. If Houston could get him for 3-yr, $30+M with a club option for a 4th year, I'd do that deal in a heartbeat.
Evil Kent Evil, I like that. Legit speedy leadoff CF's don't exist. Know how many players in MLB had 270+ ABs at CF & had an OBP of .370+? 3 - Berkman, Edmonds & Bernie Williams. Not exactly leadoff material. Randy Winn had a nice year (.360 OBP), but I'm skeptical of players who have a breakout year at age 28 (ala Blum). Juan Pierre had an astounding .320 OBP in the best hitters park in the history of baseball. Who exactly should we go get? If Shannon Stewart could play CF (arm strength has always been the question, that's why he's spent most of his career in LF) he would be perfect; hell, I'd play him in LF & let Lance stay in center if the Stros could get him.
It's not like he's got a Biggio-esque arm at 2nd. Good hand and quick feet are more important at 3rd than a strong arm. Kent would be ok, I think.
Speaking of overrated. Just kidding, don't start flaming me. I'm kinda surprised that Kent's best year offensively surpasses Biggio's though.
I'm not so sure Kent's bests Biggio in that regard. They were different types of offensive players, asked to do different things. Biggio could've driven in 120+ runs with no problem if he hit 3rd/4th during his prime. I'm not gonna flame you for that. Biggio's been overrated defensively for quite some time. No range + weak arm = Gold Glove? Only when you hit like he did. I love Biggio as a player, but he was above-average defensively in his prime, nowhere near great.
While I agree that his arm is average, up until he started slowing down due to his recent knee problems, I always felt Biggio had great range at 2B.
MadMax, PacBell allowed the least number of runs in 2001 in the NL, and this year it is 2nd. It is a very severe pitchers park esp at night. Kidrock, You keep picking poor examples. Before Aurilia's career year last year, he had hit .280-290 with 20 plus homeruns for the past 3 or 4 years. Did Bonds help make Kent and Aurilia into great stars early on in SF, yes. But that does not mean it holds true now. As far as Aurilia sucking this year, it has mostly to do with his elbow trouble this year which screwed up his swing. Next year, I would venture he returns to his typical .280-290 20 hr, 70 rbi self. If the Giants get a real leadoff men(keep lofton) I would hope they put Aurilia in the 5th spot, because he should be focused on driving in runs more than scoring them as it fits his style better.
wow..thanks for the info...that's interesting...i guess i never thought of it as favoring either side...i think of detroit as being a pitchers' park...but i never really thought about SF being that way. seems to give even more credence to what barry has been able to do there the last 2 seasons.
Defensive liability??? The Stros' had the best defense in the National League this year. You're probably picking on Lugo with that quote. Well he sure as hell wasn't a liability this year with a .976 fielding pct. and only 8 errors. I know he played less than 90 games this year, but that still pust him on track for about 14 to 15 errors for a whole season. Defense was not this teams problem this season, it was offense. Almost everybody on the team had a down year in important offensive categories.
oski, they may have been #1, but I take that with a grain of salt, ala the Bordick streak. We have arguably the slowest OF in the majors. They don't get to as many balls, thus I assume they would commit fewer errors. Kent at 3rd works for me.
Defensive liability??? The Stros' had the best defense in the National League this year. You're probably picking on Lugo with that quote. Well he sure as hell wasn't a liability this year with a .976 fielding pct. and only 8 errors. I know he played less than 90 games this year, but that still pust him on track for about 14 to 15 errors for a whole season. Defense was not this teams problem this season, it was offense. Almost everybody on the team had a down year in important offensive categories. Not true. As gr-1 mentioned, yes, they fielded every ball they got to. The problem was that they didn't get to anything. They were one of the worst teams defensively in terms of Range Factor and Zone Rating (#10 and #13 respectively). Our left fielders were combined the worst -- by far -- in MLB. CF, RF, 2nd, and 1st were all below-average. Catcher was the only position we were really good at -- 3rb, SS were basically average. Unfortunately, we can't really improve at 2nd or 1st, but the outfield can definitely be remedied by adding one true CFer and moving Ward or Hidalgo.
Below average at first huh? Has to be the injury. Worrell always says that Bags is an underrated defensive player, but I've always disagreed. He's on the short side, and I'm guessing guys like Helton got to more balls. I think Bags is a slightly above average 1B at best.
Below average at first huh? Has to be the injury. Worrell always says that Bags is an underrated defensive player, but I've always disagreed. He's on the short side, and I'm guessing guys like Helton got to more balls. I think Bags is a slightly above average 1B at best. Healthy, I agree. I'm just talking this year -- he was terrible. I remember one foul popup where he had to toss the ball to Biggio (who was standing next to him) to get it back to the infield to make sure the guy at 3rd didn't tag up. His inability to throw was a weakness and cost us some double-plays and stuff. He does have decent range, but I think age is slowing him a bit. He's still the most aggressive 1B on things like bunts and stuff, though. Hopefully, he'll be better next year.
