FoxSports: Astros on verge of major deal (Possibly Tejada)

If this pipe dream comes to fruition...my opinion would have Loretta play SS, MIggy 3B and keep Kaz at 2B.....Ty would be a util guy (who can also fill in at 1B as he did in tampa) or trade bait

 

Loretta can't play SS and doesn't want to, from what I understand.

 

didnt he play a few times last year? i guess either way its irrelevant if he doesnt want to.

is eckstein a FA? didnt the cards just sign izturis?

 

Eckstein is a FA and I've read that he's marketing himself as a 2B.

 

Loretta!!! Didn't Mark start at SS last year while Adam was hurt?

 

he put his body there, yes. coach told him to go play SS. that doesn't mean he can legitimately field the position.

 

ummm..no. did you watch that last year??

 

Yes, he was OK. Methinks you might be comparing his glove to Everett's, which is no comparison.

If we get Tejada and lose Everett, the Astos would have the following roster SSs: Tejada, Loretta, Blum, Burke, Matsui. And whoever is playing SS @ AAA would also be a consideration. The Astros wouldn't lack SSs; they would lack a glove gold SS.

 

Loretta is not OK. He wouldn't tell you he's OK at it, if you asked him. He's not a SS. And if you're talking about playing Wigginton at 2B with him at SS, your defense up the middle is a joke.

 

which may pose a problem since we have Oswalt and 4 days full of BP pitchers right now

 

...but didn't the Astros and their BP starters win more games while Everett was out?

 

Loretta, Blum, and Burke are hardly shortstops (and Burke may be gone in a trade, too). The talk is Tejada may not be much of one. Matsui may be a possible option at short, since I'm presuming he was moved to 2nd by Colorado for Tulowitzki.

The Astros wouldn't just lack a gold glove SS; they would lack even a mediocre gloved SS.

 

Matsui was moved by the Mets to 2B because he sucked at SS (at least that's what I read).

 

god please no loretta at SS..

 

Tejada's zone rating was ranked 7th best in the majors (would have been 8th if Everett had not gone down with injury). Tejada was recovering from a smashed hand by a beanball so its understandable his power numbers would be down last year. The year before was his highest OPS ever in his career so I think the word "declining " has been used improperly.

His Defense is not what Everett can give you but its not far off and his Offensive production is light year ahead of Everett, "declining" or not.

 

7th is nothing to sneeze at.

 

I miss Gerald Young and Eric Yelding, but we do have Bourn and Kaz now see we'll see.

 

You would be correct. Matsui is not a viable option at SS. He was leading all shortstops in errors when he came over. He can't play short over here.

 

Why do you miss those guys? They each had one good stolen base year while with the Astros and they were in different years. Yelding's career OBP is lower than Everett's. Young had one year where he stole 34 bases and was caught 25 times. Young's lifetime SLUGGING percentage is barely over .300 while Yelding's is under .300. (by contrast Everett's is close to .360) They would have been good on a 400 meter relay team, but as baseball players, they were not very good.

 

nice guys, though!

gerald young is a hitting instructor at Baseball USA. great with kids and a genuinely nice guy.