Sorry if this has already been hashed . . . In thinking about this further, since, Garner's managerial style places an emphasis on making things happen, being aggressive, I think Tavarez breaks camp as our startign CF. Burke will play 2b. Biggio will be the superutility guy. Our lineup will be Tavarez/Biggio Burke Berkman (when he gets healthy) Bagwell Lane Ensberg/Lamb Everett Ausmus Tavarez and Burke will be called upon to play small ball. Tavarez like Juan pierre. Everett will be asked to do the same. We have little choice but to manuracture runs and play good defense. Hopefully our starting pitching will carry us. (don't get me started on the reasons why Beltran is the ultimate weapon for Garner).
Except he's not left handed and not a slap hitter. All of the good slap hitters have primarily been leftys. I've said it before, untill Taveras learns to drive the ball he will get busted inside by RHP at the major league level. I'd also like to add that Taveras has not shown the ability to draw walks either, which is crucial to the leadoff spot.
Managers should only manage to the strength of his players. If our lineup happens to have a lot of speed, then by all means play agressively. If they're a bunch of slow guys that hit homers, then play conservatively to wait for the bomb. A team should never field inferior players for the sake of "managerial style". If Lane, Burke, and Taveras happens to be our best players at their positions, then we should do be more aggresive on the basepaths. Burke and Taveras certainly aren't going to have many extra base hits. Garner managed pretty well last season. He had Beltran running all the time because Beltran is just too good. He ran some other guys only occasionally, more to surprise opponents than anything else.
Pierre is a lifetime .300 plus hitter...and steals around 45-50 bases a season...I think thats expecting a bit much
certainly i'm being optimistic. one of my thoughts, not stated here, is that Purpura is focused on developing young talent. the fact that these young players resemble the mold of players Garner wants makes it all the more likely that Purpura will push them through the system and give them a shot at the show.
I must be one of the few who would be shocked to see Taveras in the Stros lineup next year, barring injury. He needs at least a AAA season.
So true, I kept on waiting for them to kick it in and start putting some wins together, I figured we were never out of it until we were 10 games out with 9 left.
I'll be kinda pissed off if Tavaras isn't here by mid season (assuming that the team is not in serious playoff contention). At a minimum, he should be a september call up. He killed AA and should probably have been moved to AAA last year, thereby facilitating his move to the bigs by mid year this year.
let's think of some guys who virtually skipped past AAA...or just stayed there a very short time. didn't berkman do that??? who else?? redding??
I think he would've been moved up, but he had a hip injury I believe on and off in the second half of the season. Max- Carlos Hernandez comes to mind. Roy wasn't in AAA too long was he? The thinking with Taveras is that he gets so many hits with his legs as it is, then again, didn't Brian Hunter hit in the mid .300s in the minors?. I think if he blows up during spring training, he has a shot at the job.
it would have been far more blind at the time we made the comeback, frankly. only one team in MLB history had a comeback like that. the offseason isn't over...we clearly have some money to play with at the trading deadline. i'm thinking we ought to watch them play at least one game before we write off the entire season. just a hunch.
Nah, I think we should just get rid of the games. You know, just let all the experts decide who the best teams are, then when they come to a consensus, then announce the champion. It must suck to be a sports fan without enjoying the sense that "anything can happen".
Willy Taveras strikes out way more than a guy with zero power should. He needs more time in AAA to develop that skill, or he's going to become Brian Hunter part 2. He's not close to Juan Pierre until he learns plate discipline. Those other guys that were listed, Oswalt and such, came up as polished products. They proved they had mastered the minor-league game. Willy needs a little more seasoning.
It's the same crap that people complain about with college football...that we miss the "anything can happen" component of a playoff system that we have in other sports. it's the fun of being a fan.
Tell "anything can happen" to fans of the Brewers, Pirates, Reds, Tigers, and Devil Rays. Surely you recognize that there's a requisite of, for lack of a better word, talented players. There's a reason why the NL East finished in the exact same order from 98 through 2003. To write off a season before it starts for a team like the Astros, who do have some remaining talent, is certainly overly pessimistic. But this sunshine-and-flowers stuff is equally ridiculous, in a sport that lends itself so readily to numbers evaluation. The eternal optimists don't hold the patent on being "true sports fans".
