He'll get his timing back, I think. His defense is still mediocre and he really wasn't an upgrade over Lamb (and we gave up Wheeler). Man, the Stros are so much fun to watch right now. Gone are the days of being down 4-2 in the 7th and knowing that we are going to lose. Hope Bourn gets it together soon as well
The Astros started off 4-20 in 1969. They broke .500 in their 73rd game. I suspect other teams have done it later.
He's only had a handful of solid games since last season. Then he starts out this season injured. I can't believe we gave up 2 people for him. I still want to know what Mike Lamb & Luke Scott did to get in the doghouse.
damn. nice work. that's some quick research (or a great memory) 33 seemed like a decent chunk. i guess i'm way off though.
Yeah...sure wish the Astros had Lamb and his .209 average this year. The Astros only gave up Wheeler for Wigginton in trade and they chose not to re-sign Lamb. Wheeler has started out well this year. Luke Scott got off to a good start (hitting .386 on 04/19), but has since gone 3 - 28 (3 singles, 1 RBI, 11 Ks)
A little of both. I had to recheck to make sure they didn't start the season with a win (thus being 1-0), but they started on a 5 game losing streak.
Like I said, I can't believe we gave up 2 guys for Twiggy. I remember a few games last season when he couldn't even turn a double play. And Lamb may be stinking it up now, but he was always reliable for us.
If you were referring to his bat, I'd agree. But talking about defense in one sentence and then referring to Lamb as "reliable" in the next is misleading at best. He was a solid bat, but a terrible glove. Look at any measurable defensive stat and you'll see that he's always been brutal in the field at the hot corner. I saw him play plenty of games at 3B and he was reliable... reliably bad. He's awful, worse than Wiggington.
^^^^ From ESPN Can't wait for the game. Hope the Stros ripe him apart again. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=280507118
Again, they did not give up two players for Wigginton. They could have re-signed Lamb for the same utility role he played last year, but they chose to go in a different direction. And I remember a number of games where Lamb could not make a simple play at 3rd - so what? While Wigginton is an average defender at 3rd, he has proven to be a better fielder than Lamb. In addition, their offensive number last year were similar. All that being said, I would prefer Lamb in a utility role over Blum.
Do you not see the inconsistency there? Wigginton is remarkably consistent from year to year -- you can chalk up a .275 average and 20-25 home runs. Yet, after 2-3 poor weeks, you've already concluded that he "sucks" and can't be an upgrade. Meanwhile, Lamb has had an even worse stretch for a longer period of time this year, yet you choose to ignore that and focus on past years with him. Which is it -- 2008 production or past year production? You can't go back and forth.
Ok, so the point about Twiggy's defense wasn't the best jab at him. Career fielding percentages are very close. Twiggy - .968 Lamb - .963 But Lamb has a better career batting average even though he's never played a full season. Twiggy - .267 Lamb - .279
They acquired Wigginton during the season last year and his first start was on 07/29. Ensberg (remember him) was the starting 3rd baseman (for the most part) until that point. Lamb was a UTILITY player who was NOT replaced by Wigginton. They chose to allow Lamb to go via free agency rather than continuing to employ him as a UTILITY player. Again, you can argue that they should have made more of an effort to sign Lamb rather than Blum, but to say they gave up Lamb for Wigginton is false. Although up to this point, Blum at 1.1 million is looking at least as good as Lamb at 3.5 million.
Ensberg was all but out of the picture by then. He started only about 1/3 of the games that June & July, and the only reason he was getting playing time was because he bats right, and Gar probably felt sorry for him. It was clear that Lamb was taking over at 3B. And they couldn't use him as a utility player once they got Twiggy because he can really only play 3B & 1B, and 1B is occupied by Big Puma.
like they say, you can't just a play by stats. Wiggington's def is avg for a starting 3B but Lamb is below avg for a starting 3B. Wiggs has made some more plays than Lamb would ever done if you watch a lot of the game they both played. Thats why he was probably expandable and they got Blum who could play any Infield position except catcher and is a switch hitter. Plus I bet Lamb wanted a some good money to stay here and Wiggs makes cheap cheap money. Decision was really about money imo.
