Chris Burke is not a shortstop, and will not be taking over as the Astros SS anytime soon. Some of you misunderstood Tim Purpura's comments: He was saying Burke would be an emergency SS, not a full time starter. He said the words in case of injury. In fact, it's highly debatable whether Burke would be a major offensive upgrade, and he is an obvious defensive downgrade. Some of you really don't know what the Astros have defensively with Everett, and Bruntlett would probably be next in line at short behind AE if he was hurt. Everett is a gold glover folks. Yes, a gold glove caliber SS, and his range factor bears it out, not to mention the comments from his peers in the Astros organization over the years. I'd be happy to find them for you if you like. The astros had a better hitting SS a few years ago, with less emphasis on defense, his name was Julio Lugo. And guess what, in the 2001 NLDS his defense cost the Astros in more than one game, and his offense didn't come close to making up for it. Finally, I like furcal as a player, but no way do I spend 10 mil a year on him. It's foolish. He's not worth it, sorry. Not when I have a shortstop like Adam Everett on my team already, about 8-9 mil cheaper.
Dvauthrin -- 1. i seriously can't believe that Chris Burke can't play SS. that he doesn't have the arm or the range for it. i saw him make throws from LF that have me convinced he could certainly play SS. the throw from SS to first is no different in college than it is in pro. they don't play with a heavier ball. the runners aren't decidedly faster. if it's a range thing with burke, then that's fine. but it's never been sold that way. 2. i understand exactly what we have in adam everett. and i don't want to turn this into an everett bashing thing, because i really like the guy. but in a lineup that includes brad ausmus, having everett at SS is a liability. if you're looking on this team and you want to improve offense, SS is the hole. honestly, it may be the ONLY position on the team where they're realistically going to upgrade at the plate, assuming that ausmus is coming back. on another team, a guy like everett would be more valuable than he is here. but when your lineup is like ours...well..you can't afford adam everett. you don't have enough lumber elsewhere to give up a position like that...particularly if there are other options.
1. Max, Burke was drafted as a shortstop and for his bat. However, he was moved to 2B in the minors because he couldn't play the position. In fact, one of the astros scouts practically was fired because the Astros drafted him thinking he could play short, and he couldn't and the organization higherups were ticked. It's not changing now. If he could be a full time SS, they wouldn't have moved him 2-3 years ago in the minors. 2. Everett is the least of the astros offensive problems. In fact, it's the second to last spot on the team I'd look to improve offensively(out of the logical spots). I've said this many times before, if you desire to improve the offense you must find somebody to fill jeff bagwell's spot in the order. That is the spot that killed this team all year. Not Adam Everett. In fact to take it a step further, Jason Lane's inconsistency was the 2nd biggest cause for the offensive struggles. Those are the spots the Astros need to consider upgrading first, because you expect offense from 1B/RF, not the same out of SS. Furthermore, you aren't exactly enhancing the offense enough by moving Taveras into the 7th hole, and I don't think the organization desires to do that, which is why Furcal is a no go before price considerations. Secondly, a lot of people on this board seem to think Adam Everett is just above average defensively, as illustrated by a recent discussion, which is why I mentioned that.
I completely agree. The Astros, however, aren't going to do that. Because of his name and because of his history, if Bagwell wants to play (and all indications are that he does), he'll be batting third and playing first base next April. I'd love to improve 1B/RF, but I'm trying to think within the confines of reality, which tells me that there's no chance the Astros make a significant move at one of those positions. In my ideal world, I'd improve the team elsewhere and let Everett and his glove stay... but the Astros are a very loyal organization and the other names are too big to expect much of a change, in my opinion. Everett's one of the only logical places this team can go for an offensive upgrade.
There were scouts that got fired because they sold Burke to Hunsicker as the future shortstop. It became very clear from the beginning that he was no shortstop. They quickly moved him to 2nd. He doesn't have the arm for SS. Imagine all of the close plays that Everett got with his arm going the other way.
cat....willy and biggio are good enough at the top of the lineup because they do get on base. we don't need another player who plays the same kind of game that they do. we need power and another rbi man. $50 mil could be spent much better elsewhere. furcal is a very good player but not worth that amount of money, and anyone who pays him $10 mil, should be fired. that's WAY too much for someone who just isn't at that level.
It's the going rate for shortstops. Renteria got almost $10 mil per last season and Orlando Cabrera got $8 mil per last season. Furcal's better and younger than both of them. Even Cristian Guzman got in the $5 mil range. At a premium position like shortstop, getting a player with the consistent offensive production of Furcal is worth close to $10 mil in the current market. If you're going to fire someone for giving Furcal $10 mil, there are a whole lot of other GMs who should be fired too. Also, while Willy and Biggio are at least average at getting on base, Furcal has a considerably higher OBP than both.
Actually they don't compared to the rest of the league. Of the 66 players that qualified, Taveras and Biggio were 53rd and 54th (Lane was 59th and Everett was last)
people are paying WAY TOO much for these shortstops...during the season furcal was very good. yes he had a better OBP than taveras and biggio. let's look at the postseason stats however...when it really counts. Furcal: 2005 Postseason stats .261 OBP, .150 BA Career Postseason .324 OBP, .232 BA Taveras: 2005 Postseason .404 OBP, .349 BA
three words: small. sample. size. Until 2002, people associated Barry Bonds with postseason choker. The reality, of course, was far from it. But when you're dealing with sample sizes of between 4 and 14 games, you have the potential to come up with incredibly skewed statistics. See Beltran, Carlos.
call it a small sample size, hell call it whatever you want. but the stats don't lie. furcal had one excellent postseason in 2004, but his other postseason outputs have been average. as much as i like barry bonds, he underacheived big time in the postseason minus his monster 2002 postseason. he still is a career .245 postseason hitter. these stats do mean a lot despite the small sample size. in the postseason every at bat counts and how players perform under pressure means a lot. furcal has been average under pressure in the playoffs. willy t was excellent in his rookie season. all i'm trying to say is, why in the hell should the astros open the bank for something that we don't need??? we could spend $50 mil. somewhere else like giles or konerko.
and i still don't buy it. i've seen his arm...FROM THE OUTFIELD. he may not have the strongest gun of any SS in the league. but i have a hard time believing that Chris Burke's arm is sooo considerably weaker than Adam Everett's that he can't field that position. having seen him play a considerable amount of time, i just can't get there. and i think purpura was saying the same the other day on the radio. and what Cat said is right. sure, you'd love to see them upgrade Bagwell's spot in the order. tell Bagwell to retire...ask him to consider a buyout. but it's why i said the SS position is the only one "realistically" that can be upgraded. of course that assumes that Ausmus is back with us next season. otherwise...i'm not sure you'd get more offensive bang for your buck upgrading anywhere but SS. and i don't think it takes Furcal to do that.
Postseason statistics may not lie... but they're close to irrelevant in determining a player's worth. You cannot accurately determine how a player "plays under pressure" in a span of 4-14 games. You can't even accurately determine how a player "plays under pressure" in a span of 50 or so games. Baseball's a sport where players routinely have fluke seasons - remember Brady Anderson's 50 home runs, for example - and those are usually 600 or so at-bats. In these playoffs, Furcal didn't even have 20. You can weight stats however you like, but the reality is that most executives don't begin to consider that in their evaluations... save for the Mets, of course. But for everything else, I agree. Our need for power is even more glaring than our need for OBP and speed, imo, so if we're going to spend $50 mil, I'd rather go after a power hitter too. For what it's worth, though, Konerko was a .000 hitter with a .100 OPS in the playoffs before this season.
now konerko you could argue for a small sample size before this postseason...9 at bats. Furcal has had 95 postseason at bats, and Taveras has had 43. big differnce. but at least we agree that we'd be morons to waste money on furcal when we really need a guy like konerko (i like brian giles a lot too).
throwing from the outfield and deep short are apples and oranges. i'm not saying burke can't play SS, but that what he does in the OF is irrelevant in making that determination. AE has a gun. i don;t know if there are 5 SS in baseball who could have turned the DP he did in game 4 of the cardinal series.
True...but the Cubs have made it pretty well known (even to nomar) that they are going to try and do whatever it takes to land Furcal....granted, I think Nomar is a better bat, but they will get the leadoff hitter they have been missing
he's right about this......when you throw from the OF, especially when there is a tag up play, you can almost get a running start and use a skip/hop to put everything you have into the throw....whereas at SS, especially plays in the hole, you are throwing a lot of the time off of your back foot...or even on a shot up the middle where you are throwing off balance....totally different types of throws
