Obviously. However, if Hall can still play decent defense at shortstop, a Hall shortstop/Keppinger second base middle infield would be much stronger than Barmes shortstop/Hall second base. Barmes is honestly not good enough to start for a major league team, he is a utility player.
Tommy Manzella, Anderson Hernandez, Angel Sanchez, Jason Michaels, Jeff Keppinger, Pedro Feliz arent good enough(or rather shouldnt) to start for a major league team, ehh what's it to just add another guy to the list?!
Jeff Keppinger was a serviceable starting second baseman last season, and Pedro Feliz was good enough to start right up until he joined the Astros, at which point he immediately fell off a cliff Definitely agree on Manzella and Sanchez, but Hernandez and Michaels were never everyday regulars for the Astros...
Question: Lindstrom's fastball is straight as an arrow. The atmospheric pressure at Coors Field means that pitches even from pitchers with good movement don't break very well. So does this help Lindstrom because all of his stuff already sucks, or does it end up hurting him as a double whammy against his breaking stuff? BTW, it was mentioned a few pages back, but I loooked up the hit charts. Barmes has always been an extreme pull hitter, and while Hall used to hit to all fields, since his big year in 2006 Hall has steadily become more of a pull hitter to the point where he is probably a stronger pull guy than Barmes. The two of them are a bet on leveraging the Crawford boxes. I don't know if going with such a feast-or-famine roll of the dice is a good idea, but that has to be their criteria for acquiring the two. The team is pretty much going to be home-run or strike-out next year, which seems a little 'retro' in the post steroid era. It might have been a better strategy 10 years ago. And if it does pay off, I imagine it will create a strong home-road split in terms of winning percentage.
This is false, he has pretty good movement on his fastball which is why his groundball rate has always been high. This is only partially true. It doesn't affect harder pitches as much as softer pitches. Slow curve balls in particularly are affected quite a bit, a slider not as much. Since when does Lindstrom's stuff suck? His command has always been his main issue, due to his wonky mechanics. His stuff, though, is phenomenal.
He was. I wont say everywhere else but a number of teams, he is likely coming off the bench. We'll see if he's destined to stay here or not. True about Hernandez. And Michaels hasnt been yet(keyword yet ). What if they decide to keep Lee at 1B and Michaels in LF? Ok, you're still right because Michaels would likely platoon there with someone else and wouldnt be an everyday regular
You should look at the pitch f/x data. No horizontal movement, and essentially the expected vertical on both the two seam and four seam, but especially the four seam. And especially last year. Maybe we don't have the same definition of stuff. Lindstrom has velocity. Velocity is one component of "stuff" which includes things like movement and deception. Lindstrom is a one-trick stuff pony. Velocity. And his velocity is actually fading. His average FB velocity is down from around 98 to the 95/96 range.
From what I remember the pitch f/x data suggested he has above average vertical movement (which is more important than horizontal) although I could be remembering wrong. I consider stuff to be a combination of velocity and movement; primarily the former on a fastball, primarily the latter on secondary pitches.
Lindstrom has a fastball that hits the mid to high 90s but he is very hittable. He doesn't strikeout a lot batters which is a little odd because of his fastball and hitters hit over .300 against him last year which is terrible.
I looked around for someone with a fastball that moves as poorly as his according to pitch f/x and couldn't find anybody. If you are only looking at vertical, someone like Brandon Webb used to only get three or so when he was good, but had 10 to 11 inched horizontal movement. Lindstrom gets less than 10 inches combined vertical/horizontal, while just about everybody else gets in excess of 10 inches just in the vertical plane, and if they don't they have awesome movement in the horizontal. I couldn't find anybody with nearly as little movement as Lindstrom. I checked all the guys with comparable velocity and none were close. I then went to look at people not exactly known for their blazing fastball. Wandy, Ted Lilly, and Trevor Hoffman all blow away Lindstrom for movement on the fastball. Even Tim Wakefield and his 60 mph fastball gets a whole lot more movement both overall and in the vertical plane than Lindstrom. All in all, his total movement on the fastball is .5 to .66 of every other pitcher I checked, even the guys who only throw the fastball 10% of the time. Lindstrom is essentially a two pitch guy, and throws a fastball around half the time. His breaking ball is be just to the high side of average given it's speed. But his fastball is uniquely flat, especially given its extreme velocity, at least according to pitch f/x information.
It looks Brandon Webb will choose between the Rangers and the "NL Central mystery team." The mystery team isn't the Cubs as they dropped out of the running. I doubt it's the Cardinals, Reds, or Brewers because they already have at least 5 starters. Cardinals have Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Jake Westbrook, and Kyle Lohse. The Reds have Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Mike Leake, Travis Wood, Aroldis Chapman, and Homer Bailey. The Brewers have Zack Greinke, Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf, and Manny Parra. Rotoworld said the Pirates have not spoken to Webb in months and they have already signed two free agent starters in Kevin Correia and Scott Olsen so that leaves the Astros as the most likely team in the running.
The Reds were the mystery team http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/12/26/reds-identified-as-mystery-team-in-on-brandon-webb/
I am convinced Keppinger will be gone by the end of spring training. Not a lot of value paying a 31 utility player $2 million dollars or so he gets in arbitration for a rebuilding team. Astros has utility players on the roster that would make the minimum in Angel Sanchez, Anderson Hernandez, and Matt Downs.
