I definitely see where you are coming from. But it's not just the 8 spot as a single entity. When you have Ausmus and the pitcher surrounding you, it's about the whole picture. Everett has the 3rd worst OPS of every single regular infielder in all of baseball. And Ausmus, well, any stat that I could bring up to show just how dismal he is offensively, would be just a keen observation of the obvious. Something has got to give. I would prefer it to be Ausmus, personally.
Out of 16 NL teams, the Stros rank 15th in OPS from the 7-hole (.654, ahead of only STL at .650); and 14th in OPS in the 8-hole (.620 - STL is 11th at .702...and NYM is 12th at .637 btw). Knowing that, look at leadoff & the 5th spot: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats...e=2&type=type1&sort=OPS&split=116&season=2006
Actually, I think it's more like saying we should only focus on the bullpen when your starting pitching sucks too. Of course we'd all love improvement offensively from 7-8, but it shouldn't be the focus of one's wrath when 1-6 aren't doing their jobs either.
Mailbag: Is Huff in Astros' future plans? 07/17/2006 12:29 PM ET By Alyson Footer / MLB.com In this edition of the Astros mailbag, fans are curious about the club's interest in securing new acquisition Aubrey Huff along with such issues as Jason Lane's demotion, Brad Ausmus' potential future as a manager, Roy Oswalt's contract extension and more. http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/emailArticleServlet?aid=1058451 This should hopefully make things clearer for all of us.
Yup. Denny is going to have to pay him like one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball, which he is. If he don't, he is going to fly the coop. If we aren't going to sign him, we need to hope he has a huge year next year and we can trade him while his value is off the charts. Scary indeed. I don't see how DM can let him walk.
there's no wrath, certainly not from me. i'm neutral; i appreciate everett, but i wouldn't think twice about an upgrade. but looking at improvements requires seeing the whole picture; i think people are tired of ecusing ausmus and everett as if they have no obligation to ffer any offensive help.
yep; this whole time i was wondering, "who's the singlest dumbest astro fan on the planet?" and footer's piece answered my query ten-fold:
The whole Roy O thing scares the hell out of me as well. That poor chick in NY, she's probably a first season Astros fan since we went to the WS last year. Forgive her as she doesn't know better.
i didn't even realize that!!! he made one of the greatest plays i've ever seen, though. ball ate him up and bounced on his chest, over his shoulders..he recovered and threw the runner out from 3rd.
Don't see why...the "surprised he was sent down" part & the "major contributions" part are a little silly, but the jist of her question - "is there a chance he's coming back?" - is something the Astros have said they'd like to see happen. I liked the "my heart bleeds for your fantasy team" line myself. Now *that* was a stupid question.
well, if lane's demotion "surprised" you, then you are, i'm sorry, a moron. if you then express surpise in a question sent to a baseball writer that is then posted on an internet site, then you are guilty of being the single dumbest astro fan on the planet. there's really no way around it. yeah, that was the guy who asked: wait a second... if the astros are the only team you watch... how would you know what all the other teams are doing?
Richard Justice wrote in his blog yesterday (July 17) that Brian McTaggart saw a trade ruomor on a message board involving Ensberg for Linebrink (Clutchfans?!?). And gave reasons for and against the trade. I wonder if McTaggart got the trade rumor from here or someplace else. It'd take some serious convincing to trade Mo at this point, but he is 30 years old and has a history of getting hurt (not always his fault) and not taking himself out of the line-up (mostly his fault since Garner hasn't pulled him). I wonder what this team could do with a healthy Ensberg batting clean-up: Biggio - 2B Burke - CF Berkman - 1B Ensberg - 3B Huff - RF Wilson - LF Everett - SS Ausmus - C Bench: Lamb, Scott, Palmeiro, Munson, Bruntlett, Lane, Taveras They'd be right back in contention with a better everyday line-up than last year (IMO). I say let Mo rest and get well while buying time playing Huff at third. Hopefully he'll come back and hit like he did earlier and for the love of God, stay healthy! This team was built to contend with Ensberg being a key contributor, without him, they're toast.
