For anyone interested, he writes a baseball blog on Facebook. It rambles A LOT but it gives you an interesting look into the world of MLB players for anyone interested: http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=377987520529 On a side note, in all the talk of our terrible 2000's farm system, it's interesting to see how many players we've had that have come in and lit the league on fire, and then just completely fell out of baseball. Ensberg, Lane, Ward, and Hidalgo all seemed like guys who had a long-term future with the Astros (2 of them being MVP candidates) and then just cratered after doing really well for a season or two. Meanwhile, scrubs like Geoff Blum and Jason Michaels manage long MLB careers. Obviously, there are players like that here and there, but it seems odd that we had 4 in such a short period of time. It's also amazing how much of our 2005 offense is completely out of baseball now, just 5 years later - Bagwell, Biggio, Lane, Ensberg, Ausmus are all gone. Willy T and Everett are barely hanging on.
Ausmus is still playing. He was even in the news recently for going on the DL for the first time in his career.
How the mighty have fallen. This guy was a legit threat in the lineup and then something happened to him and he was afraid to swing the bat.
I really enjoyed reading that, thanks for posting. Awesome story about Bagwell.. surprised Biggio wasn't mentioned more.
I still remember the Stros talking to the Blue Jays about Roger but they didn't want to part with Elarton and Hidalgo which for a while looked like a brilliant move.
If Lane was on steroids, I don't know how he ever got to the majors to begin with. He never even had a decent year like the one's Hidalgo and Ensberg had.
He never had a great year like Hidalgo or Ensberg, but he did have a productive 1st full season. He also did well as a bench player before that.
In fact his numbers in 2005 were eerily similar to Pence's 2008 numbers. Lane had a slightly higher slugging percentage.
most unenjoyable astro at bats ever were his when he'd change his stance 3x in the same at bat. dynamite. saw the guy speak once, though...seems like a really funny and smart guy.
What's sad is that as frustrating as Ensberg was to watch, even at his worst near the end of his tenure here, he put up better numbers than any of the scrubs we've had playing 3rd base since.
And then you have people like me who would see that and think "hmm, maybe there is a reason to exaggerate your stance in different situations" Ugh. Though he and Derek Bell both did like to close up with 2 strikes. And they did improve by doing so iirc..
A side note from your side note...Jason Lane is still in baseball. He's playing for the New Orleans Zephyrs (Marlins AAA). I was listening to the RR game on the radio and heard an ab he had against Gustavo Chacin. Chacin k'd him on 3 pitches.
