Wilson has been coming through over the last several months and is batting over .300 during that stretch. The thing you have to consider about Everett is the hits he takes away from opposing hitters. It would be interesting to add up throughout the year the amount of hits Everett takes away defensively that other SS can't make. Let's say he makes 20 extra plays that your typical SS can't make, and add that to his offensive hit total at the end of the season. He would come out to around a .280 hitter. I'm down with bringing up Luke Scott. Since Lamb is now in the starting lineup we have no power off the bench as a pinch hitter. Either that or make a trade to bring in a more experenced pinch hitter.
It's been well documented that Everett is far and away the best shortstop in baseball, and it's not even close. Seeing as how shortstop is the most pivotal position on the field, it's no wonder that most intelligent Astros fans have no problems with Everett's light bat.
soriano's a FA & horrible defensively. i'd prefer crawford ten-fold. nope, eleven-fold. best defensive shortstop - key distinction. i'm in. that offer is garbage. and it won't be hard to quantify, either. the d-rays are going to want two top prospects and a good, young MLBer, and if crawford's dealt, that's what they'll get. hirsh, pence & nieve/buchholz/burke, and i think that deal could get trumped. this is very nearly the equivilent of the mets offering david wright. or the marlins cabrera. you're talking about one of the best under-25 players in the game, under club control, who has steadily improved every single year he's been in the bigs. he will command a massive deal if traded. certainly not garbage like wandy and taveras.
Oh really now. Soriano has more putouts, assists and a higher range factor than Crawford. Though Crawford does have fewer errors and a higher fpct. And this is Soriano's first season as an outfielder. But Soriano is far from horrible out there. Of the two I'd prefer the known commodity, though there would have to be a guarantee he'd stay. In any case, again I'd be careful what we'd give up for any batter. We're gonna need pitching next year; Hirsh and Buccholz I want to stay as well as Burke. We need to get rid of dead weight; players that don't have too much value for us anymore but could do good elsewhere (i.e. Lane and possibly Taveras and Wandy). If we don't deal those guys then we have an even bigger logjam in the field.
So you are afraid to make the bet - doesn't sound like you are too confident in your GUARANTEE? As I stated, if it's too hard to quantify, we'll simply call it a draw. With respect to Wandy and Willie, it's hard to consider them prospects with a lot of upside due to their ages. The best thing for Taveras (in my opinion) would be to go spend some time at AAA to improve all facets of his game. Since speed is one of his supposed strenghts, he needs to learn to steal better. Right now he is just another in the line of Brian Hunter, Eric Yelding and Gerald Young (and Scott Loucks in case Another Brother is reading this thread) .
ive been wanting soriano since last year crawford is a nice player, if you need people to get on base we have enough of those, just not enough rbi men except for berkman, lamb and wilson is now showing signs.... i would prefer soriano in the middle of our lineup
how is crawford not a known commodity? and yeah, it is his first year - guess what? he was a horrible defensive second baseman, too. but, whatever - look, he'd be an upgrade, no question. but he'd also be gone next year and the dude's at least 30. crawford is 24, much cheaper and has an unlimited season. getting him would be like the beltran deal in '04. except, he wouldn't be gone next year. what a novel idea! i bet only 9 billion sports teams have thought of that. problem is, lane has absolutely zero value. zero. taveras has very little value. he's essnetially fast. that's about it. rodriguez is 27 and currently has a 5 ERA. as a pitcher he has some value, but not enough to land you anything. if you want to land a prize, you have to dip into the treasure chest, not the garbage can. hirsh, patton, pence..... it's gonna hurt, which is why i prefer crawford. he's young and under contract.
Scuttlebut is Tampa wants "2 front-line starting pitchers" at minimum for Crawford. Hirsh/Buchholz/Nieve is what the Stros have to offer. Remember we're losing 2 front-line starting pitchers after this season. Add in the uncertainty surrounding Oswalt's new contract and it's too much to give up, imo. Teams have to build for the longhaul as well. Love to see Crawford in Houston though, maybe TB's asking price will get more reasonable.
crawford has 46 RBIs, more than any other astro save for berkman. and, oh yeah, he's hitting exclusively either first or second in their line-up, which is ranked 26th in runs scored and 25th in OPS. i'm telling you, he'd be a slightly less powerful carlos beltran with a much better average.
the guy is a leadoff man or 2nd in the order....he leads the AL in stolen bases....i dont think a middle of the order hitter would be able to have that many opportunities to run....we need a power hitter 46 RBI's are somewhat skewed in the AL when there is a DH batting and people at the bottom of the order would be able to get on base for the top of the order
Then why do you insist on the team giving up its prime prospects while retaining their dead weight. Either way you look at it this team is gonna need to unload a couple of position players in addition to perhaps a pitcher or two. And just because they have little value to us right now doesn't mean they have no value to other teams. Wandy is still young and has potential, Lane's previous numbers show he's capable (maybe a change of scenery could do him good). I don't know what it'll take to bring a batter here but giving away two of your best pitching prospects (when the team will need pitchers next season) seems too much. I would rather have a solid rotation and solid defense than sacrifice a lot of that for another bat. You're gonna have to add by subtracting no matter what, but if Purpura is any good at dealing the team won't have to give up the farm.
