And before anyone mentions it, yes I know Blum and Bourn hit well over the course of the first week. It's not going to last. Just like Lance and Carlos will begin to hit better and revert to their norms, Blum, Bourn and others will slide back to the .700 OPS and under (.600 and under, in Bourn's case) players that they are. It's not the same team, which as a number of us have been saying, is particularly daunting when you consider that bringing back the exact same personnel would probably have you around 77 wins. And that's without any decline at all from Oswalt, whom metrics have hinted is due for a slight regression for a few years now.
All of those may be true...but not one of those has factored in to the 1-6 start to this season. Hampton pitched just fine...Keppinger has hit fine...I'm not sure Hawkins has even pitched yet.
Keppinger is actually a guy that was playing well 5 years ago in the pirates organization. Management basically considered him expendable because they felt he was limited to only being able to play 2B, based on his limited defensive ability and that he didn't hit with enough power to play 3B. Personally, I think that he may have not be good enough defensively to play SS, or hit with enough power to play 3B, but a guy who can get on base at a .350 clip is an asset to a team. I may not want him taking 500 ABs, but I think he can be a nice piece to a good team. Then again, if he is hitting .320...
Hampton gave up three runs in five innings (5.40 ERA), while Hawkins has given up 5 hits and 2 runs (including a game-tying home run from Soriano) in two innings (9.00 ERA). They're not the biggest problems, but they've definitely hurt the team. Plus, Hawkins is a particularly sore spot for me. After all the "poor us" talk financially and how neither Wigginton or Wolf could be afforded (look at what they eventually signed for)... you can afford to spend nearly $4m for Hawkins and over $2.5m for Brocail? A combined $6.5m on two old, mediocre-at-best relievers, when you have all the other holes the Astros have? That still baffles me.
biggest problems so far: 1. lee and berkman not hitting...not driving in runs. 2. brian moehler - 2 below average starts 3. roy not pitching like roy - 2 below average starts If Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee suck all year, then yes we will suck super hard. I just doubt seriously that will happen. Again, I don't think we're a playoff team. But I don't think we're looking at "worst season ever" "i can't watch anymore" "my pee pee hurts" yet either, after 7 games. Also...I have to tell you that I really don't concern myself with pythagorean numbers and VORPs and all that too much...I've never seen numbers on paper play a game. A team finishes how they finish.
**** this ****ing team i would even trade berkman right now he doesnt deserve to play on a team like this trade berkman oswalt lee's slow ass anyone except pence
As or right now, the Astros have scored the fewest runs and have given up the 2nd most runs in the National League. Their +/- is -27.
But didn't they sign those 2 before Drayton came out and said we aren't spending money this off season. I bet if Wade had known that before those contracts were done he would have used the money on starters instead of those 2 guys.
Because they signed them early in the offseason then Drayton came out a month or so later and made the decision to not spend money. If you remember when he did that they had to withdraw an offer to Randy Wolf. So I would guess if he knew it a month earlier or even a few weeks earlier he wouldn't have made an offer to wolf
Bingo. If Berkman, Lee and Oswalt have sub-par years this team isn't going anwhere, period. So is it a surprise that this team has barely scored any runs when our run producers aren't producing? Shouldn't be. If Moehler doesn't turn things around you'll probably see Capellan or Backe take his spot, so at least we have options there. And just like last year and the year before that and so on, this team is not this bad. They are not a 1-6 team. Berkman and Lee and Oswalt will turn things around, based on their career averages. And when they do, more wins will follow. Maybe not enough to get into the postseason, but they'll be a lot easier on the eyes to watch. If not, God help us all....it's gonna be a long summer.
You're partially right. Brocail signed after Drayton's declaration (Dec. 2); Hawkins signed before (Nov. 8). With that said, I don't completely buy it as that simple. One, I don't think Drayton just rolled out of bed in late November and gave Wade this new direction -- I think that was just the first time it was expressed to the media. Two, even if it was, I don't think giving Latroy Hawkins $3.75m is a wise investment no matter how much flexibility you have. That's just Wade doing his typical overbudgeting for the bullpen at the expense of more fundamentally necessary spots.
alright smartass i was just saying over his career berkman has been nothing but impressive except maybe one year he deserves to be on a winning team alng with roy
