Benching Kent would be fine start By RICHARD JUSTICE MY favorite moment of the weekend at Minute Maid Park occurred when Jeff Kent got caught loafing Saturday night. He was thrown out at second base on what should have been a routine double, and amid a sea of misplays, poor swings and bad pitches, Kent's lack of effort spoke volumes about the Astros. If they haven't quit, Kent showed that at least one of them seems intrigued by the idea. So before the Astros do one more thing, before they again shuffle the bullpen or rearrange the batting order, they ought to send a message about what will and won't be tolerated for these final 51 games. They should begin with Jeff Kent. If he's injured, he should be placed on the disabled list. If he's healthy, he ought to be benched. He was out of the starting lineup Sunday afternoon when the Astros wasted another terrific performance by Roger Clemens on their way to a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Expos. The Astros scored two measly runs on a day when the Expos didn't have a rested starting pitcher. No problem there. Four relievers you've probably never heard of combined on a seven-hitter. Once again, no excuses Afterward, the Astros who still care didn't hide their embarrassment. "It's just amazing," Jeff Bagwell said. "We have no excuses." As for Kent, he apparently wasn't being punished for not running hard. Manager Phil Garner said he was "a little beat up" and getting a day off. Jimy Williams was fired, in part, because team officials believed he was too soft with the team's veteran core. Garner now has a chance to show he's not Jimy Williams. Kent reminded the Astros again this weekend why his signing after the 2002 season was a terrible mistake. Including a no-trade clause made it even worse. His arrival forced Craig Biggio to move to the outfield, which blocked Jason Lane's path to the big leagues. Now, Kent's presence is keeping Chris Burke in the minors. Work the phones The Oakland A's wanted Kent a few weeks ago. If they're still interested, this might be a good day to telephone Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker. Judging by Hunsicker's body language after Sunday's loss, he might not want to stop with Kent. If I were Hunsicker, I'd walk into team owner Drayton McLane's office this morning and attempt to persuade him that the time has come to begin planning for 2005. They shouldn't look at these final 51 games as the end of a terrible season, but the start of a new one. They should keep in mind that the day of the three-year rebuilding plan is over. Baseball's depressed free-agent market means opportunity for the aggressive buyer. The Astros have a core group of players on which to build, but they've got to start addressing their problems and making evaluations. They should start with Andy Pettitte and Wade Miller. If either of them is headed for offseason surgery, he ought to have it immediately and begin getting ready for spring training. Lefthander Carlos Hernandez should begin his preparation for 2005 as well. He's throwing pain-free in New Orleans and should be returned to the big leagues immediately. If everything falls into place, the Astros could open next season with a starting rotation of Clemens, Pettitte, Miller, Hernandez and Roy Oswalt. Perhaps only the Cubs would have a better one in the National League. Now is also the time to put Lane in the lineup, and if it means less playing time for Biggio, so be it. Lane has already waited too long for his chance. He has succeeded at every level of the minor leagues, and as he approaches his 28th birthday, his time has come. Other than deciding where to start Round Rock center fielder Willy Taveras next season, every other significant decision concerns the bullpen. Righthanders Chad Qualls and Brandon Backe probably will be brought back to the big leagues this week for what amounts to an audition for next season's innings in front of closer Brad Lidge. Regardless of how they do, Hunsicker must spend every available dollar this winter on shoring up the bullpen. Last winter, McLane apparently didn't understand the magnitude of the bullpen problems. Now, he surely does. Hunsicker and McLane have seemed close to distraught in recent days as they've come to the realization that this team is not what they thought it was. The good news is that the Astros can be fixed. If Miller and Pettitte are healthy in 2005, their rotation will be solid. Burke and Lane will give the offense a new look, and Taveras could have a dramatic impact at some point in 2005. Tweaking the middle relief is relatively painless. The first thing they have to do is acknowledge that the time has come to start living in the future instead of the present. If the Expos pushed them in that direction this weekend, the Astros will owe them a debt of thanks.
this guy's axe to grind against kent is amazing. i'm not a big jeff kent fan...he's never endeared himself to me. but, geez. this is just silly. how sunday's loss gets put on jeff kent is completely beyond me. but such is richard justice, i suppose. too bad...at one time i thought him a really good columnist.
The one thing I really disagree with is that "Hunsicker must spend every available dollar this winter on shoring up the bullpen." Didn't he say earlier that we have to resign Beltran? Don't we have other guys that we will have to resign? There's only so much money to go around.
Im thinking we have bigger problems on this team for Kent. I really don't see how replacing him with Burke improves this team, right now. Its not like Kent is putting up Ausmus like #s.
While Justice does go over the top, at this point i think its time to get Chris Burke up here and get some major league at bats. It is time to start looking at next year because there are way too many holes and not enough time to come back now.
this is an excellent point. he should have already signed berkman to a long term deal...he should wrap up beltran over the summer...take care of oswalt and miller...oh...but also, "spend every available dollar this winter on shoring up the bullpen." new math. JPM -- i agree with you...at this point, i think it would be a good time to bring up burke and give him a little playing time, too. i just can't arrive at that using justice's logic here. it's like he's pimping burke so hard that he has to tear down kent to make his case. by the way...shouldn't we see tavares get some AAA at bats before we start talking about the awesome impact he'll have at the major league level.
How much money is Kent making this year? Enough to pass through waivers? I do agree it's time to get a look at Carlos, and see what Qualls/Backe can do now. Mainly because it can't be much worse than Weathers/Miceli and the gang in front of Lidge. As far as spending all the rest of the money on the bullpen...after we go through arbitration with Wade (or sign a pitcher to replace him), and resign Berkman, how much will be left?
Yes, Justice's plan earlier this season to call up Taveras from AA was one of his worst and that is saying something. His columns about the Astros are not worth reading. He is a hack.
I also don't have a problem with looking to find a suitor for JK... but he's been ranting against Kent since EARLY MAY!?!, even when he set the franchise record for his batting streak. And, if my post-weekend-hangover memory serves me correctly, he was ALL FOR the Kent deal when it went down two winters ago... even going on PTI saying how Drayton is finally ready to go all out. Its only now, when Wagner has already been traded, and the bullpen has sucked, and the team is mediocre... that he somehow weaves together the logic that it was all Kent's fault. Once again, if Justice believes it to be true... he'll drive it into the ground so much until it almost seems too logical not to be true. I'd like to see how he's reacting to Wagner's latest comments, where he's now criticizing PHILADELPHIA'S management (keep in mind, he's barely pitched at all this year, and is currently on the DL with a shoulder injury). Finally... will he ever speak bad about how perhaps Bagwell's shoulder/contract is hurting the team more than anything right now? Hell no...
I wonder if Kent is at the point where he says, whats the point? Astros are too far out of the wildcard especially the way the have playing, the Killer B's aren't doing the job, and he not returning next year according to management. So why bother?
He's 36 years old and past his prime. He wouldn't bring us anything via trade. I wouldn't be surprised if he hangs it up after this year, so we probably won't get much of anything regardless.
Coming off an All-Star season? Kent's still got value, imo. I bet the Yankees would love a 2nd baseman.
He's still a good 2nd baseman but no longer great. He was an allstar because it was the weakest position in the NL this year. Who would you want from the Yankees? They have no farm system, so the prospect or two we would get in return would be worthless.
I heard it this morning on M. Vandemeer's show. I assume it has to do with the phillies on the verge of firing Larry Bowa. (in fact, he probably would have already been canned... had they not had a pretty decent road-trip against very tough teams in the cubs, padres, and dodgers). I only brought it up because Justice, and most other people in here who criticized the Wagner deal, seem to forget that Billy wrote his own ticket out of town when he didn't know when to be quiet.... it wasn't because the Astros had signed Jeff Kent. Thus, the fact that he's apparently starting to do that in Philadelphia should not come as a suprise to anybody.
I'm not the biggest fan of Kent, but if the first line doesn't say all you need to know about Justice, I don't know what does.
