ROY in baseball is overrated. Keep Roy O. in the minors for 2 more years and he would have been ROY when he came up.
In case you didn't notice.... Roy's rookie season was likely the BEST he ever threw. The only reason he wasn't ROY was because of some guy named Pujols... not because he needed more time in the minors.
the astros should have known what they had; but all indications seem to point to them having no clue. taveras was sent packing, pence was sent down, and they turned CF and RF over to burke and scott/lane. that was a drastic miscalculation.
it WAS a good move, built on a flimsy premise: that some combination of lane and scott could handle RF on a full-time basis. they invested in the wrong people; why they thought the 28-year old scott and 30-year old lane had more value than the 25-year old taveras still (obviously) amazes me. this would be a better team, offensively, with taveras and pence.
Probably because Willy's career OPS+ is ony 7 points higher than Adam Everett's (!) and Scott's is 57 points higher than Willy's (124 vs. 77). Because Scott has 2 less doubles and 1 more triple than Willy, and 17 homeruns to Willy's 6...in 873 less at-bats. Because Willy Taveras is a below-average offensive player. And Scott, for all the complaining, is having a more productive 2007 than Willy.
but we're not comparing taveras to scott - two totally different players asked to do two totally different things on the baseball field. the comparison is burke/scott (which is the plan the astros invested in) to taveras/pence. having a lead-off hitter with a .360+ OB% and a RF OPS'ing .971 is a much better line-up, at least in terms of how this team is built.
I'm comparing what Pence/Scott add to this lineup right now... vs. what Taveras/Pence would be adding. I'm still taking Pence/Scott. Obviously, comparing just Burke/Scott (what the "Astros invested in") is short-sighted, since clearly they wanted Pence ready as a backup plan if Burke faltered (and acted on it as soon as Pence proved his AAA stint would be productive). And note again... Pence was going to be converted to CF regardless of what happened to Willy. They needed an everyday CF if Willy didn't pan out again this year (which was a big possibility given his career thus far). Also, lets stop again with saying that Willy is a .360 OBP type batter. He still isn't... regardless of what his numbers 3 months into this season dictate. And in the end... Pence is more valuable as an everyday CENTER FIELDER than he is a right fielder... no matter how you want to dissect it.
You have options there though. Berkman for one, adding an everyday spot for Lamb or Loretta (once Everett is back).
Its much easier to find corner OF'ers than it is everyday viable centerfielders (let alone ones with all the tools that Pence has). As it is, Luke has been competent... he isn't the downfall of this offense at all.
You said Lane/Scott originally. Burke and Scott do not play the same position. Burke's played RF 5 times to Scott's 48. He's played CF/2B 35 times to Scott's 1 (CF). The comparison is Lee/Pence/Scott vs. Lee/Taveras/Pence-Scott. The former is preferable.
Pitching is always a premium at the trade deadline every season. The only notable pitcher's name I've heard is Mark Buerhle (Dontrelle Willis has been speculated but the Marlins are supposedly not budging from their stance of keeping him). With that said, I see no reason that the Astros shouldn't trade Jason Jennings to get some younger players at positions we need (SS, 3B, C, RF). I don't know how much the "Baylor Connection" is going to help with resigning Jennings, but I'm sure that he is going to want some big time money, especially with all the money that was given out last season to starting pitchers. Why not get something for Jennings at the deadline if management has deemed the team out of the race? If Jennings really likes it here in Houston, he can always sign here when he is a FA in a couple of months. The Mets and Braves are both looking to bolster their starting rotation and both teams have some prospects that are ready to contribute at the major league level but are blocked by star major leaguers. It would be great to get another Pence-like rookie in here to contribute and rebuild the team on the fly. Watching Hunter Pence play the game has been the only real excitement (with the exception of Biggio's 3K hit quest) that has kept me watching and it would be great to get another rookie or two to grow with Pence and the Astros and with some luck turn into the franchise's next cornerstones.
and they were also going to need an everyday RF if scott didn't pan out, the position pence played moving up through their system. seems to me, moving him to CF was about covering TWO bases... you continue to look at it as exclusively an indictment of just willy taveras. nick, i posted this elsewhere, his ob% since last year's ASB is .364; that covers 455 ABs. he's 16 months older than hunter pence.... at what point are you going to stop blindly dismissing willy taveras? in a vacuum, sure. but the astros gave up a guy quickly turning into a very good lead-off hitter so they could start, using your own words, a "servicable" #6 hitter.
As I said, its much easier to find a corner OFer. Hell, they have a pretty decent backup option on the team right now (Berkman). Also, Scott is still the least of the offense's worries. And, given Willy T's production the last two years, and this offense's overall effectiveness, they definitely needed a backup plan (or two). I will stop "blindly dimissing" him when his career numbers indicate that he's a good leadoff hitter. Hell, I'll stop when that OBP is kept up for just THIS entire season. Till then, I won't be losing sleep over the loss of this "amazing" hitter. Bring up all the numbers you want, that only start from his last August (his best month, by far, in the 12+ he was with the Astros). If that was some epic turning point in his career, so be it... but watching him, he still looks like the same guy with the same tendencies (and we'll see how his numbers look after the entire season has played out) The Astros also end up with an everyday centerfielder that has tools that they haven't had from that position since Beltran's amazing October. Far more valuable than Willy T... the "servicable" leadoff man.
would that include the year he led off for the national league champions? quick tip, nick: when you put words in quotes, as in "amazing", it implies the person has made such a remark, and - and i'd like to be very clear here - i never termed willy taveras an "amazing" hitter. that's cheap and disingenious.
Yes... that would include that year... where he was dropped to #2 in the order to close out the season (and playoffs), and also dropped from the lineup alltogether in critical games in order to gain more offense. Sorry... didn't mean to be "cheap and disingenious." (Did I use quotes right there?) I didn't realize there was an official Clutch BBS MLA format on how to use quotations. See, I normally use quotations to indicate a number of things... sarcasm being a big one. I used "amazing" in this situation to suggest my disdain for the amount of time that has been spent discussing the value of Willy Taveras... something I'm still not losing sleep over. I did not use it to describe what you said about him. But, I guess I can't use quotes like that anymore... because of your "awesome" tip... damn, I did it again.
