To add to what eveyone else has said, Soriano is flat out worse than Biggio at 2B. Thanks, but I'll pass.
I'd add Lamb to the bright spots; he bounced back from an awful '05 season. I would also add Backe to dissapointments, after going down with his season ending injury. Ausmus has been a little below average as well; of course we know he doesn't provide much offense but he's been even worse this year plus he's been unable to throw runners out.
I just feel like he's too talented and hasn't been given a chance to play second every day without having to worry about being yanked. I realize he has struggled there during his career, but he came up a second baseman. He's too talented to be a poor fielder at that position.
that is stupid. yes, garner has made some boneheaded calls and has had a bad year. what other managers have taken the astros past the first round of the playoffs? none. how about instead of riding garner, you gripe about the players. sorry, but phil can't step on to the field and play every position for the astros.
Yea.....pass on a 40-40 guy. We dont need pop like that in our line-up. We already have enough guys that can hit it out of the park and wreak havok on the bases.
Bill Virdon, except their names were Ryan, Niekro and Richard/Ruhle. Hal Lanier, except their names were Ryan, Scott and Knepper. Larry Dierker, except their names were Johnson, Reynolds and Hampton
Beat me to it. And Dierker had one hell of a lineup in 98 to go with that threesome (not to mention Mr. Reynolds who was a very solid #2-type pitcher for those Astros teams).
I don't know what it is about Soriano that makes me not really want him. (I'd like him, but choosing between him and Lee, I'd choose Lee.) I used to say it was his attitude and his defense. His attitude is still there, but obviously as a corner OF, he's a good enough defender. But what would really bother me is that no team has ever wanted to keep him. He has consistently performed, and yet every team that signs him immediately looks to trade him. I would suspect that he's a clubhouse cancer, more than just what makes it on the news. (If the Astros do sign him, I'll withhold judgment.)
im too young to know about the guys but Johnson, Reynolds, and Hampton are no where near to Clemens, Roy O, and Pettite. Thats a joke
That's *not* a joke. Look at their numbers from that year. And, don't make the mistake of remembering Shane Reynolds post-back-surgery. Dude was consistently in the top ten in the league in strikeouts, won 18 games three years in a row, and was pretty consistent for about ten years. Randy Johnson went 10-1 with a sick ERA, and Hampton was better in '98 and '99 than anything we've seen in Houston from Pettitte, with the arguable exception of Pettitte's 2nd half last year. As for the other guys, Ryan was a Hall of Famer and Scott would have been had injury not cut him off way too young. From 86 through 88, Mike Scott was as feared a pitcher as any in the Major Leagues. He was simply awesome. Knepper had off years and on years, and when he was on he was ON. In 86 he was on. In '87, well he was off like the rest of the roster (except Scottie of course). Seriously, the Astros have historically been a franchise of *great* pitching and questionable (or downright absent) offense. Robin Roberts ended his hall of fame career here. In the 60's and 70's there was Larry Dierker and Don Wilson and J.R. Richard. There were a couple of other pretty good ones, too. The Express came in the 80's, but we also had Don Sutton for a couple of years, and of course the great Mike Scott. This is a "top of my empty head" kind of list, so I'm leaving guys out. In the 90's, we had some "second tier" guys who were very good but not Nolan Ryan or Mike Scott--Hampton (whose 98 and 99 were awesome), Reynolds, Harnish, DK, Mark Portugal, Lima for two years anyway, Drabek (who was less than he was in Pittsburgh but still pretty good). The '00s have had more "can't miss" prospects that simply missed. Oswalt was the only stud. Check out this incomplete list: Redding Saaaaarloooooos Carlos Hernandez Scott Elarton Eric Ireland Wade Miller Wilfredo Rodriguez Wandy Rodriguez Ezequiel Astacio Taylor Buchholz Fernando Nieve Jason Hirsch ...those last 3 or 4 may be on the "wait and see" list.
Carlos Hernandez I'd give an Inc. just because of the injuries that stemmed from the sliding incident. He was pretty good before that. Wade Miller also was good for us while he was here, but the Astros let him go cause of his injury concerns due to his mechanics. But those two actually showed some promise and delivered on it to an extent. Not enough sample size for Buchholz ...Hirsch has settled down nicely as has Nieve who's being groomed to come out the pen. So it wasn't all that bad...and I'm sure you can look at every team and find a list like that. If every team had five aces in their starting rotation, then they wouldn't be called aces.
