I wasn't sure if Pupurra was actually referring to Hunter in particular, or that he simply wanted all of those guys (Anderson, Hunter, House, Ash) to stay together... Also, its not entirely out of the realm of possibility that he may just bypass AAA alltogether before getting to the big leagues. Triple-A is more useful for players who are either out of options/career minor leaguers (which Luke Scott is looking more and more like)/aging veterans. Everybody at AA is a prospect... and there have been several great players who didn't spend any time at all (or maybe a handful of games) at the AAA level. Charlie proceeded to end that converstation by saying "was any star calibur player today still at AA around the age of 23?". The closest I could come up with is Giambi... but I could be wrong. And, of course, there could be the possible fact that Pence won't turn out any better than Jason Lane.
I meant to say I heard the caller, the caller heard the interview and charlie seemed to back it up. but nick heard it also.
Charlie's been beating this (Patton as well) into the ground since last season; he's the best radio guy in Houston, but he's out of his element here. Somebody should ask Charlie how many "star caliber players" are in AA to start their 2nd full season of pro ball. A whole frikken lot. Here's the plan with Patton - who btw is working through his first bit of adversity in his pro career right now, learning to deal with it is a very important part of any minor leaguer's development: Patton will start the season at Class A. Once he has mastered three things — consistently locating his fastball, throwing a breaking pitch for a strike and beginning work on a changeup — he'll move to Class AA Corpus Christi. Once he can do all those things — control the fastball and throw both a breaking pitch and changeup in the strike zone — he'll be moved to Class AAA Round Rock. So the Stros have a pretty well laid-out plan as far as advancing minor league pitchers goes. What about hitters? Pence's numbers look great, why's he not in AAA? Why not the majors? Why isn't he starting in LF for the Stros? Why, dammit, why? . . .[O]ne scout said he's still going to need to make some adjustments. "Teams are going to figure him out--he just looks for fastballs and when teams don't give them any, he really struggles," said the scout. "He'll figure that stuff out. He plays hard, and puts out a lot of effort. When he stays balanced he's fine, he just needs to avoid getting too pull happy." So there's definitely some things he needs to improve on. He's still a work in progress - he was very, very raw coming out of a lower level college program, and most people at the time considered him a reach at where he was drafted. He's Here's Pence on Pence, from a good interview in BA: I felt like I squared up a lot of balls last year, but I wasn't really getting through some of them like I probably could have. So coming into this year, I just made a minor adjustment in my load, lifting my back elbow just a hair and turning my right wrist a little more. It's been creating a lot of backspin and I think balls I square up are coming off the bat a lot better. He also adds that he was pretty much worn out the last month or so of last season; again something that only improves with time. I'd also like to add that the Stros have a pretty damn good record on development issues. A little patience, please. And Nick, you're right on about the nature of AA & AAA players. Pence spending half, 3/4 or all of this season in Corpus is hardly the travesty Palillo makes it out to be. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/baseball/3701727.html http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/261358.html http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5099
This is pretty ****ing asinine, DD. If you don't think that Garner, Purp and the rest of the Astros braintrust aren't spending just about every single waking moment thinking about ways to make this team better - both in the short & long term; and if you think that you've got some magic idea that they haven't already thought of & discussed...well...I can't quite think of the right word to describe that level of ridiculous ignorance & arrogance.
lmfao not the veteran's memorial pool (actually I'm just making that up, I don't know what the hell it was called, I do remember wanting to swim in it though.... for... kicks )
Buck, check your sarcasm meter. And who is to say they are right? If you were in charge would you keep running Lane and Wilson out to the OF? DD
Yeah, that was a little strong. I'd say Lane's on a very short leash, especially once Burke's ready to play regularly (JD said he was really sore earlier this week). Pence ain't ready, and us squawking about him helping the big club is pointless. I would say that they have a hell of a lot better idea of what to do than you & I & anybody else around here. Sit back & enjoy the ride.
There goes that "inconsistent" Ensberg again with another bomb. Is it safe to say that 2004 was the ABBERATION, and 2003, 05, and now 06 is the norm with this guy? I remember that there was STILL talk about how this guy was possibly a fluke, since he didn't perform well last post-season (mainly due to his hand still being hurt from the HBP against the Phillies). Hell... somebody in here just said that last week, this guy would be no better than a #6 hitter on a good team.
Was there ever any doubt that 2004 was the abberation? Ensberg is easily the best hitting 3B in the NL.
Why the **** is Garner taking Roy out of the game in a tie game ... Roy doesn't even have 90 pitches yet. Has Garner seen how the bullpen has performed this year. Unbelievable! Edit: Well that sure was worth taking Roy out and handing the ballgame over to our bullpen. Horrible managing right there even if Lamb had done something.
I was gonna respond refuting your post (since the bullpen is ultra rested, and Lamb had a decent shot of getting a hit in that situation), but Wheeler just gave up a triple... thus making your post extra-special.
I just think that in a tie game you have to play it as if you might play 5 more innings, and with only 89 pitches, there is no way you should Roy out of that game. I'll bet Frank Robinson is laughing at Garner right now.
Then why did Robinson take out his equally effective starter even earlier than that?!? Garner's thinking is that you don't want to give away outs in the 8th inning... especially since both offenses are struggling big-time, and just one more run may win it. Roy's spot was leading off the 8th... IMO, its a call that could have gone either way. (of course, hindsight will be huge if Wheels/Lidge gives up the lead).
Ummm, at some point you have to try to win the game - especially on the road where you don't have the last half of the inning. You were probably only going to get maybe 1 more inning out of Roy, and your bullpen is in good shape rest-wise. And, the bottom of the lineup was coming up for the bullpen. Lamb is the hottest hitter on the team, and is leading off the inning. If you don't use him there, you may not get a chance since you won't pinch hit for another 2 or 3 innings at best. Smart play. Didn't work out so far, but that's life.
