http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/daily?page=dd/070516&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2 He's on the MLB link from the homepage in the middle. It's not a lot on him, but it's nice that he's already getting noticed. Aside from that, he's a lot of fun to watch, and I'm really glad that they brought him!
Heh. More accurately, concerning radio-callers or BBSers: "Luke who???" Or, perhaps: "Chris who???" And then there's Buck's favorite: "Ben who????"
Well tonights game with the Rangers was a snooze . It gave me some free time so I used it to come up with this Hunter Pence wallpaper . Here it is if anyone wants to check it out .
Before Hunter pence got a spot in the roster,I was cursing the Astros for trading willy T. away.I'm over that trade now.Hunter Pence for MVP PSid you guys catch some interviewer asking him what kind of name is hunter?
To think we we're only a couple years away from a decade since we brought up our last good hitter named Lance Berkman! Not to turn this negative, but i wish we had Hunsicker back who could at least make us some deals.
I too wish Hunsicker were still GM, he had a knack for finding good players on the cheap. But the fact of the matter is that he and Drayton clashed way too much concerning payroll and player personnel. Its also not just the lack of trades but the lack of good drafting or having the draft picks to even get better players. Because the Astros did not tender arbitration to Pettitte or Clemens we receive no compensatory picks. Which would've been in the first round or sandwiched between the 1st and 2nd rounds. The Astros will not pick until the third round this year because we signed Carlos Lee (Type A FA) and Woody Williams (Type A FA) so both the first round and second round picks go to the Rangers and Padres respectively. The type of situations above hurt the farm system. I understand the stance of not offering arbitration to Clemens because he may or may not come back. Arbitration coul've been offered to Pettitte for one year, and he would've turned it down because he wanted two years and we would've gotten compensation for the Yankees signing him. Its just scary how their are hardly any positional prospects in the Astros' minor league system near ready for the major leagues. Pence was the best we had and I'm glad we have him in Houston but it seems that the well is dry. The only other prospect that is anywhere near exciting is Troy Patton, and with the way Purpura promotes, we won't see him in Houston until 2010.
This logic annoys me ("with the way Pupura promotes")... especially since we've seen the arrival of Willy Taveras (who skipped AAA), Wandy Rodriguez (who pitched sparingly at AAA), and heavily relied on farm-system products such as Backe, Lane, Scott and Burke during Pupura's tenure. The big criticism in 2005 was that he was "in love" with the farm system... at the expense of not getting proven free agents (ahem - plan b) to contribute to the team. Now, apparently, he "hates" the farm system?? You're right... there isn't much there... and perhaps Pence could have been up here last year some time. The same thing applied too when Hunsicker was here... he took his time in promoting Ensberg, needed Lugo to have an incident to promote Everett (how's that trade looking now, by hunsicker?), had multiple obstacles in promoting Lane (he would have traded Biggio to get Lane up earlier), and had to be strong-armed by Nolan Ryan of all people to get Oswalt up here when he did. Additionally, you have Pupura making "Hunsicker-like" deals in acquiring Mark Loretta for cheap, and Huff last year for peanuts. And don't forget that the Jennings trade may easily work in the Astros favor (Colorado in last place)... frankly, they could use that one extra quality pitcher right now.
Whether it annoys you or not doesn't stop the fact that the Astros bring their prospects along slowly. That line of thinking applies with Patton, he will not be up anytime soon, simply because the Astros want to bring him along slowly. If he dominates at an early age, why wait until he's 24 to bring him up? I don't believe that Purpura hates the farm system, he loves Lane and Ensberg way too much. There is simply no reason that Lane should be on the club. I've never seen a guy get so many chances and continually fail. Lane had a a good half season and hasn't done jack since, so why continue toot him out there every other day. Let Luke Scott play everyday and see if he can get out of his funk. Fact of the matter about the Astros is that unless forced they like to hold their prospects back. Thats why Pence came up, he should've had that job at opening day with the way he played during ST. My concern with the Astros is that they consider Lane, Everett, Scott and Ensberg young players, but they are all near or are 30 years old. None of these players are prospects anymore.
No they don't. They bring up bad prospects slowly. The people that most people complain were brought up too slowly - Lane, Ensberg, and Burke to an extent - are also the ones that suck too much to contribute. The Astros bring up plenty of players quickly when they deserve it -Oswalt, Redding, Wade Miller, Berkman, Hidalgo, Carlos Hernandez, etc, etc. Can you name a single Astros prospect over the past 5-7 years that, having seen their major league careers thus far, wasn't brought up quickly enough?
