Burke has a noodle arm. That's why he got moved from short in the first place, and why they stick him in LF not center or right. His 16 homers were an aberration- and still aren't exactly a tremendous power showing. I'm kind of glad we didn't lose Nieve for a rental like Moyer. I'd put him in a package for Dunn, or a similar big bat though. It's just a bad market this year, though. If we can Lane going hot again, I think we can ride this team through the playoffs. Lane has numbers pretty comparable to Beltran- fewer RBIs, and runs, but equal steals, more homers, and a higher OPS. Who would've predicted that?
Look where the Orioles were after two months... that seems pretty fluky right about now. Even the White Sox are trying to make a deal and they've had the best record in the majors all season. I'm not saying we're going to crash like the Orioles have. We're certainly a good team. But the great general managers are the ones that are able to look beyond the wins and losses and see players that are overachieving or underachieving and make trades by what the future likely holds. When we were struggling, Purpura saw the team for what it was and fortunately gave it more time before overreacting. Now that we're doing well, he needs that same judgment to realize when we're overachieving. Clemens is a great player... arguably the best ever. But a 1.46 ERA? C'mon. That's less than half the runs he gave up a year ago when he won the Cy Young! At somepoint he'll regress slightly and become closer to his norm. Pettitte is a great player. But his ERA now is almost 1.5 points lower than a typical season in his career. Sure, you can expect a little bit lower because of the AL/NL transition, but not to go from 4 to 2.5 or wherever he's at now... that's ridiculous. I'm enjoying the ride, but also expecting in the back of my mind that he'll give up a few more runs later on. Roy, while not too far ahead of his career numbers, is also having the season of his life. As great as they are, they're all pitching slightly over their heads and are likely to give up a few more runs than they have been. As a result, our offense is going to have to pick up the slack more than they have been. I don't see how they're going to be able to do that with Chris Burke in the lineup. Maybe with Palmeiro, but again, it's unlikely he'll continue his current play. I hope he proves me wrong, though, cause it looks like that may be our only chance.
He hasn't been moved yet which is what I asked about in the first place. If we can get Lawton or Ibanez for a decent price, I'd be happy to take them. The other four aren't even worth the time it takes to argue. Well, maybe they're not that bad...
TheCat, I don't argue with any of that. But if we're going to come crashing down, none of the guys who have been dealt in the last couple days are going to save us. They're marginal, irrelevant players.
We'll see. They certainly aren't the difference in a lot of wins, but they can be the difference in some close games that we know we're going to play. Burke's nearly an automatic out every time he comes to the plate against any sort of decent pitching. I'm more optimistic when Ausmus comes to the plate and occasionally when the pitcher comes to the plate (if it's Backe and maybe Roger). I agree that none of these guys are world-beaters, but I'm nervous to have such an easy out in one of the premier slugging positions. To say it hasn't been done before by a contender would be a tremendous understatement.
That may be so, but has their ever been a starting pitching staff with 3 of the top 4 starters in the league? Pettite is now #4 in ERA. If we're going to win, it's not going to be the traditional way - it's going to on the backs of ridiculously good pitching. If our pitching does regress to more traditional levels, this team isn't going to win anything, no matter if we add a bat or not (barring a Manny/Helton/etc type). The only rumored players out there I'd be interested in at this point are Aubrey Huff or Moises Alou (ignoring of course the Heltons, Mannys, etc) unless it costs very little for one of these other guys. For the prices teams seem to be asking though, I'd pass. Another guy that could be interesting is Jeff Kent. Move him to 1B (he's played there some this year) - he loved it here and would probably be excited to come back and have another chance at a WS.
I'm pretty sure they were. If he really felt that way, I can't imagine him saying it on air... the Astros have been pretty good about not talking bad about ex-teammates.
He was making the point that they were not worried about messing up the chemistry if they make a trade. He didn't sound like he was joking to me although I did get a laugh out of it because it was such a shock to hear. I don't remember the exact question but his answer was, we had Kent last year and nobody liked him and that didn't mess with the chemistry. That's what you are referring to right?.
i agree completely. the young guys are improving. they're not untouchable. if the RIGHT deal came along, i wouldn't hesitate to include Burke in it. but at this point, given the guys who've moved...i'm glad we haven't!
Burke is improving because there was no where to go but up. He's hitting .250, barely getting on base three times out of ten - and has twelve extra base hits. He's playing left field. He's not doing this sweeping up grounders at short - or tracking down fly balls in center - he's playing a traditional power position and not giving us anything on offense. We've played superbly the past two months - but we've done so in spite of having left field manned partially by a poor hitter. Matt Lawton would be a massive upgrade over Burke, but inexplicably the Pirates are holding on to him. We need a bat. I'm just afraid the bat we need isn't available.
Now the Rangers are saying Soriano won't be moved. This trade deadline has been among the least memorable in terms of names moving. Cruz, Jr. and Winn aren't exactly inspiring changes.
What is Moyer, like 60 years old now? Thank God he rejected this trade. I don't want his soft-tossing ass pitching to the Cards or Braves.
People? Uh, you mean people like YOURSELF? Gosh the search function is great at calling out people who shift their argument to protect their favorite owner in baseball...
You do know that if the season ended today, the Astros would be in the playoffs, therefore your preseason prediction that they would not make the playoffs was wrong.
You should learn basic grammar. "Keep saying" implies a present tense. Posting a quote from a few months ago really doesn't apply to "keep saying".
I hope the Astros do make the playoffs. A trade for a bat would have been nice, as Rocketman95 pointed out prior to flip flopping.
So, can't changing conditions cause a flip-flop? For example, you bet me the Astros wouldn't even be contending back when they were 15-23. Would you make that same bet now? If not, does that mean you've "flipped-flopped"?
To prove that YOU are not a flip-flopper, let's double the bet. If the Astros are 5 games or closer to a playoff spot after the games of August 31 are complete, you pay $50.00 to the tip jar, otherwise I will.
