The alternative to Biggio in left is a weak hitting AA player in the 8th slot. How is that an improvement offensively? As much as you guys love Taveras he should be playing at Round Rock.
1. Taveras isn't playing left...he's playing center. The alternative to Biggio in left is either Lane or Scott. 2. I thought we were supposed to look at the "whole picture." in MMP, defense in center is at a premium. so you might be willing to trade off more at that position for someone who can field it properly.
1. I never said Taveras was playing left. Biggio is going to play somewhere for better or worse. Putting him at 2nd removes Burke and moves the outfield around, but of course we all know that. 2. I am looking at the whole picture. The astros offense is very weak with today's lineup. What it boils down to is replacing a 1 or 2 slot hitter in Burke for an 8 slot hitter in Taveras. An improvement in infield defense at the expense of outfield defense. So, an improvement in two areas for the cost of one. Where do I sign up? Edit: Here's my "perfect" lineup. 2B Burke 3B Ensberg 1B Bagwell LF Lane RF Scott SS Everett C Ausmus CF Taveras Biggio would get as many as 300 or even 400 at bats as a super utility player. I know this lineup looks a bit odd, but until Everett and Taveras prove they can get on base consistenly ie. .340+ obp, I don't think they should see the top of the lineup.
i'm just giving more weight to CF defense in MMP than defense at 2B and the unknown of how Burke will hit relative to how Tavares will hit.
Drayton Apologists, What happened to the Plan B that you guys were talking about? Was your Plan B to start a Triple-A outfield, because that is what we have right now. Nice Plan B. Thanks Drayton. You sir, got owned by Boras. Now we get to live with your screw up.
Did you watch the same game I watched last night? Other than Biggio, Tavares and Lane were the only guys hitting. The problem wasn't production from the OF yesterday. When Berkman gets back, I think our OF looks pretty good. But way to extrapolate the success of a team for 162 games after Opening Day.
I love how people continue to bash Biggio... even though he continues to produce. Last night showed us that he is far from "washed up." Is he going to be mid-late 90's biggio? Hell no, but he'll still have 40-50 doubles and drive in 65+ runs and get 170+ hits.
You don't have to live with it, you can always root for the Mets. By the way, I never saw any comments about Berkman's extension. At one point you wrote that you thought Berkman was worth 6 years, $65 million. I guess Drayton "overpaid".
and the one diving play from him last night assured me we actually have better defense at 2B than we had last season.
Yeah, but Kent does have a much, much better arm. There will be some missed double plays because of that.
Nice. You extrapolate the success of the outfield based on 1 game and then you accuse me of doing it. I didn't do it. You did it. Don't confuse yourself. The fact is that we have a Triple-A caliber offense. This isn't based on yesterday's game. It's based on a well documented history of these players producing absolutely nothing in the Majors. That's what it's based on. Not the 1-game foundation that your argument is built on. Will any of the Drayton apologists just man up and admit that there was no Plan B? The offseason is OVER. It was one of the worst in Astros history. Drayton foolishly bet the farm that he'd get Beltran, and he swung and missed. Complete and utter failure. Now we get to live with the results.
I said those guys had nice games yesterday...and I think they'll do fine. I also think you're looking at an OF without a routine all-star who will be back in a few weeks. You're right...Drayton came up short on Beltran. No doubt there. We didn't get him. But had we not pursued him to the end, there'd be even more people saying, "Drayton never tries to go sign the best players." Having said that..you're ready to give up on the season after watching one game.
The issue that you are intentionally avoiding is the lack of the Plan B in case we didn't get Beltran. Can you explain to me, Max, what that plan was? Many of the Drayton apologists insisted that there was one. Where is it? If there was no Plan B, would you not admit that Drayton got caught with his pants down?
TJ - I'm actually one of the few on your side here.....I think what the "homers" (as opposed to us "ingrates") are saying is that the Plan B was to go with youth....whereas you and I look at it and see going with youth as a default plan...as opposed to an actual forethought. I think we have, and will, miss Hun a lot more than people think.
I think their Plan B was Tavares and other young guys. In CF, specifically, I think it was Tavares. But I've also heard elsewhere that they were actively pursuing trades after the Beltran deal fell apart. I'm just not as down on this team in general as you are. Geez, last year all the "ingrates" were telling us how great these young guys are and how they need playing time to show us. Right down to some saying that Kent should be benched for Burke. Now they're getting it, and it's packaged as a "default" to not keeping Beltran. I've learned in life that people will b****, no matter the outcome; no matter whether they have an alternate solution, or not.
All Plan "B" people... who exactly do you think we should have gone after? I can't think of any names that really stand out... I was just curious if u guys had names in mind.
I think Drayton threw all his eggs into one basket... HOWEVER his backup plan was the fact that we had 3-4 amazing minor league prospects that needed a shot. I think that he and Purpura realized that trading away their prospects for 2-3 year players wouldn't work now because after the next two seasons Bagwell, Biggio, Clemens and maybe Ausmus would all be gone. Did he wait too long on Beltran? Some think he did, but I think you do everything in your power to try and land a guy like that, and if you don't then you can see what your rookies are made of. I love Hunsicker but his main problem was "waiting" too long on promising players... and I think they'll have a "play them now" mentality and not even worry about getting a big name in here for now. They may miss the playoffs this year, but they will be in the hunt... and in the process they'll get real playing time for their many prospects to know what they are made of. If they don't pan out, they can trade them and aquire someone who will make up the gap. This is the same type of philosophy that Oakland and Minnesota have had for years, and it's worked great for them. Basically they'll never have to ask themselves "what if?"
i hear ya. i agree. i'd be much more disappointed had they not made a run at Beltran. seriously, can you all imagine how the fans would have reacted if Drayton or Tim had gone on a press conference to say, "well...we're giving up the Beltran hunt." There were people holding candelight vigils for the guy. The town was totally tuned into that deal. The reaction would have been AWFUL. That would have pissed me off, too. If you're gonna lose, at least lose when you're out there trying.
