It just goes to show how much my interest in baseball has gone down these years. So much fail regarding the RJ trade. Pitchers, and by extension pitching prospects, are much more unstable and likely to flame out because of injuries than position players. There are tons of absolutely unreal pitching prospects every year who simply break down and fall into oblivion. So you can't really differentiate between the two. If you like quantitative analysis, check out baseball prospectus and their saying TNSTAAPP .
He had three starts, my bad. Not sure at what point he had the injury, but he pitched 17.2 innings that season.
The difference in Hernandez's case is that he did not blow out an arm pitching, he did it diving back into second base.
Then how can you say that ARod and Soriano were Rangers prospects? Unless the Rodriguez you were talking about was Pudge. The Rangers are in shape to win a World Series before the Astros. Texas has been building this team for 5 years now. And theyve found themselves with an embarrassment of prospects and future major leaguers. Granted, not all prospects reach their potential but if you have an abundance of them your sure to hit on a few. I believe the Rangers have shown the discipline and patience that it takes to build a long term winning ball club. Investing your money in Latin America, Asia, and going over slot for your draft picks are the way to go as opposed to signing over the hill players who take up money and roster spots.
The Rangers Scouts are second to none. The people working behind the scenes are All Stars at what they do.
They might be in better shape right now, but they are still not near as good as the Angels and possibly Mariners. Like I said earlier, the Rangers had an easy shot at that division last year and flat out blew it. The Angels had a horrid start and still took an easy lead on the division. And they aren't better than the RedSox/Yankees one of which would get a wild card slot.
2008 Rays disagree with you. I'd agree Rangers are in better shape than the Astros at this point despite maybe playing in a more competitive division/league.
Yes the Rays had great season in 2008, but ultimately it's near impossible to consistently compete against teams with payrolls like Boston and New York. The NL Central has no dominant team in it and almost anyone can have a shot at it The Astros almost made the playoffs the season before last with arguably a worse roster than they currently have and a hurricane in the mix. Basically even though the Astros have been managed far worse than the Rangers they still have come closer to the playoffs in recent years.
I mean, the surgeries started based on his diving back into 2nd base and the resulting injury that you posted. And your post also says that he was pitching in pain, meaning the shoulder was never "right" after the injury from diving back into 2nd base. I think the original injury is what messed him up, like bobrek said
The first sentence of the wikipedia article describes his initial injury. The dive back into second base was the cause of his "ongoing shoulder injury".
Regarding the Rangers vs. Astros. You would think being in a 4 team division vs. 6 team would be an advantage.
It is, but then again, many don't think of the Pirates as a team, so in effect, the Astros are in a 5 team division.
http://deadspin.com/5478470/houston...d&utm_campaign=Feed:+deadspin/full+(Deadspin) Houston Astros: The Charming Incompetence Of Ed Wade I often wonder what life as a baseball fan would have been like if no one had discovered sabermetrics. The emergence of sabermetrics as the fundamental language of baseball outsiders happened after I'd already developed my love of baseball. At the time I discovered it — like most people, thanks to Rob Neyer far more than Bill James — I had a decision to make: Do I embrace this whole new galaxy of baseball perspective, or do I just call everyone pencil-pushers because I think Willie McGee was a better player than they do? Any initial resistance eroded away over time, and now, I know that no matter how much Jeff Francoeur might look like the game's next superstar, it's clear that he isn't. Not selling jeans, all that. But this is all something I had to resolve: No one was talking about on-base percentage in 1985, at least not in the papers I was reading. It's different now: Now, any hungry kid desperate for baseball knowledge has as much access to advanced statistical thought as he does p*rnography. Understanding the game behind the game, range factor, DIPS, BABIP, it's part of the general understanding. When Whitey Herzog traded for Ozzie Smith, my reaction was "Cool! His name is Ozzie! He dives!" Had I been versed in statistical thought, I would have been concerned about Ozzie's lack of isolated power and Garry Templeton's superior PECOTA projections. (I would have been wrong, of course, but that's beside the point.) The only reason there is still backlash against sabermetric principles is because there are people alive who remember what it was like before light dawned. Eventually those people will die. It's as mainstream as keeping a scorebook now. More so, actually. Which brings me to Ed Wade. Ed Wade is the Astros general manager, and he is current Public Enemy No. 1 in sabermetric schools. The reasons are obvious. The Astros minor league system is a mess, the team is old and overpaid and there seems to be no resolution in sight. Wade is one of those old baseball men that sabermetrics folks have had in their crosshairs for years, and he's one of the last ones left. That he has hung on this long might be related to how he started his career, in public relations. Whereas most teams now realize that building the farm system, keeping young players around and cost controlled, understanding your window of opportunity and punting when it's closed ... Wade and the Astros do none of that. This is a team that employed Darin Erstad last season. Wade is spending cash to tread water, to sneak through a door that slammed shut years ago. He is putting off a rebuilding plan, Isiah-style, that will just make it that much more difficult when the piper finally must be paid a few years from now. The Astros aren't good now, and they're just going to get worse. Just when you think Wade had figured this out, he wildly overpays for a mediocre reliever, hamstringing the team even worse. I can't figure out what he's trying to do. Is this team starting over? Does he really think it's good enough now? Who's he trying to kid? For all this, Wade got a two-year contract extension, and I'm reminded that not everyone understands yet. In 30 years, there's gonna be a miniature Theo Epstein in a cowboy hat in Houston, fresh with some new oil money from when Texas seceded and invaded Pakistan, and he's going to be absolutely befuddled how his boyhood team missed out on the revolution. If you had never been introduced to sabermetrics — and they're not so good with the sliderules in Texas — you might like Ed Wade's moves this offseason. Brett Myers? Hey, he throws as hard as he punches. Pedro Feliz? He's got championship rings and Veteran Presence. Matt Lindstrom? Whoa, now he throws hard. With Roy Oswalt healthy and Wandy Rodriguez and Carlos Lee and Fat Elvis ... look out! You can sell programs and calendars and ticket plans with those guys. (The Astros aren't, but, you know, theoretically.) To believe the Astros are on the cusp of something, to believe they are still of the Biggio/Bagwell age, to give Ed Wade a two-year extension, you have to not look very closely. The rest of us look closely now. The Astros, bless their heart, don't. The Reds are starting to get it, the freaking Pirates are starting to get it. It's nice that the Astros exist. When Billy Beane was thriving in Moneyball, it was because he had so many GMs to play off who didn't get it. A lot more people get it now. We must enjoy the Astros while we can. They are reading their newspaper in the morning and buying compact discs and checking their answering machine and signing up for AOL accounts. They won't be around forever. Appreciate them now, before they, finally, disappear. I'll miss them. I really will. I think they missed the mark on what he's doing with the minors, but their commentary on his major league moves is dead on.
what an impudent, know-it-all prick. and by the way, Wade's damn good at building a farm system and pedestrian on the major league level. In other news, Texas is hot in summer and water is wet.
Why are you reading from Deadspin? You're better than that. The farm system could be better especially if the Astros stop being near the bottom in terms of draft spending every year.
Astros WS appearances: 1 Rangers WS appearances: 0 Astros playoff victories: 21 Rangers playoff victories: 1 Thats what really matters. :grin:
