Our offense has been inconsistent to say the least, our pitching suspect, but our defense is horrible. Biggio in left is a far below average outfielder Beltran - above average Berkman - average Ensberg - below average Everett - Above average Kent - Below average Bags - Below average Ausmus - average The team has no speed, and lousy arms. Time for some new blood, after watching Biggio butcher left field, I would put Lane in there. DD
Biggio needs to move back to 2nd if we pick up his option. He's a better hitter than Kent this year anyways.
I don't think it's that much of a concern considering the other things we're worried about. As long as the pitchers can consistently keep a team around 3-5 runs, and the batters could score 4, 5, maybe even 6 (for the first time since the first week of the season) then the 'Stros should be alright. Basically what I'm saying is, we can get around the subpar defense if the guys just start hitting.
I could not disagree more! Teams that win are very good on defense! Pitchers are only as good as their defense!
Actually, that doesn't seem to be the case: the only reliable stats that correlate to a pitcher's success are the things he can control--home runs, walks, and strikeouts. Ratios of hits to balls put in play vary unpredictably over the long term. Defense is overrated, as is speed (teams that run a lot are often less successful in run-scoring). Pitchers that keep the ball in the park and have high K:BB ratios are far more important than a fast outfield. On offense, OPS is everything.
Wow, a fellow DIPS proponent. I thought I was alone over here. I actually think you're putting too little emphasis on defense however. I think defense is pretty important up the middle, particularly if you have a primarily ground ball pitching staff.
I don't know if you watched Biggio butcher second two years ago but it was down right disturbing. I don't even want to envision him going back there after aging two more years and not having played anything near the infield in that time.
Well, I was responding to the comment that pitchers are only as good as their defense, which is a totally false statement. Defense is obviously something to pay attention to, but a manager should always take a good offensive/bad defensive player over a good defensive/bad offensive player. Fielding percentage is practically a useless statistic when you consider how little an error every now and then means to a team's season compared to a guy who walks a lot, hits doubles and wears pitchers down.
Wow! You've been watching Baseball Tonight. Or better yet, you read Billy's book. It's all about stats I guess. I guess you're one of those that believe you can replace scouts with computers. Guess what, you can't! The truth is, you need to look no further than teams such as the Giants, Dodgers,... and Marlins. The teams that get to the balls that would otherwise leave the infield. When you have arms in the outfield, many doubles turn into long singles. See, pitchers challenge hitters when they know that their position players can get to balls that seem to look like hits right off of the bat. See, you can look at last years fielding %s and think that the Astros were solid on defense. But, I look at that stat and think that numbers do not paint the entire picture. The Biggios, Kents, Lambs, Bagwells, ... of the world complete plays when they get to them. However, they DO NOT GET to the plays that average players get to (nevermind the above average defensive players). See if our position players had better range, better arms, and better instincts, our pitchers would look better. I guarantee their ERAs and WHIPs would be noticeably better. I'll give you an example to prove my point. Beltran robbed M Young of a homerun in the first inning of a game against the Rangers. Can you guess what could of happened if Carlos didn't rob Young? Do you think Oswalt would of pitched through the 8th inning? Do you think one run would of been enough for us to win by? NO and NO! IT'S TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE!
It's so disturbing the amount of glaring weaknesses this team has. I'm not as big of the proponent as OPS>alll crowd, but I still think it's a very useful stat. Looking at you can see that the Astros as a group are very very average. This is inexcusable given some of the names out there. Biggio for one is an average left fielder, but his defense is just killing us. I would like us to explore the option of putting him back behind the plate. Sure it will be open season on the basepaths, but the opportunity to replace a lousy hitter like Ausmus with Biggio, improving our outfield defense (hopefully), and putting another potential rbi guy out there everyday (Lane) is something this teams needs. The offense is in dire need of a shot in the arm and the team should make every effort to get their best hitters out there at all times.
Look no further than the A's, a team built on OPS, DIPS and little else. Replacing scouts with computers has made them--with the third lowest payroll in baseball--among the most successful teams in baseball over the last few years, and they've begun to change the way other teams approach scouting. Can you guess what would happen if the Astros OPS were better than eighth in the NL? Well, here are the teams in baseball with better OPS's than the Astros: Red Sox Rangers Yankees White Sox Rockies Tigers Indians Cardinals Phillies Giants A's Cubs Angels Braves Orioles Reds Only three of these teams have worse records: the Tigers (who are just a couple of games worse), the Rockies (who benefit from a perenially inflated slugging) and the Orioles (whom I can't explain). The one thing the rest of the teams have in common? They're good. Fielding percentage is much less a predictor: Dodgers (based on record, a good team) Cubs (good) Expos (bad) Mariners (bad) Marlins (average) A's (good) Reds (good) Cardinals (very good) Phillies (good) Astros (average) That's the top ten. 60% good/very good, 40% bad/average. Pretty scattered. For the top ten OPS teams (discounting the always freakishly skewed Rockies for obvious reasons), you have all good/very good teams, save the Tigers, who are average and, not surprisingly, suffer from a bad team ERA. Anyway, blaming the defense for the Astros woes is overlooking the real issue they're a middle-of-the-pack OPS team with, naturally, a middle-of-the-pack record.
Wait...I can explain their record in spite of their OPS: they have the third worst team ERA in baseball. EXPOSED Oh, and I meant to note that my little post above was only quasi-scientific, but I think the point is still valid and apparent.
Rudager, Our defense is terrible! We have one above average reliever! We don't have enough left-handed sticks in our everyday line-up! Our offense is terrible! We are too slow! The funny thing is.... most of you guys think Hunsicker is doing a good job! By the way, I figured you were a Billy fan. Can you guess I am not?! I believe you win with PITCHING, DEFENSE, SPEED, and a BALANCED OFFENSE... You don not sacrifice those four things. (Herzog type teams) By the way, when was the last time the A's won anything? Also, did you read my post? I am not a proponent of fielding %. I actually believe OPS is a worthy stat. Just don't underestimate defense!
the over-reliance on OPS is funny to me. like a new discovery revolutionizing a game that is well over 100 years old. i'm not buying it. it's an important stat...no doubt about it. but it takes more than that to win championships...to win ballgames. for all the talk about the A's...is that really an approach you'd take universally with a bigger payroll???? and how many playoff series and championships has their approach won for them?? i think we have an overhyped, intensive focus on OPS because a guy wrote an interesting book about beane that reads as much like a management/business book as it does a baseball book. i'm not about to throw out the role of scouting and replace it with a bunch of rotesserie geeks staring at charts.
bigboy...please tell me you're not blaming the astros woes on hunsicker. they've put together a team that had the best april in franchise history...this team is capable of far more than they're playing to right now. that's not gerry's fault. it's not drayton's fault. and it won't be garner's or jimy's fault...the blame rests solely with the players...it rests with berkman who batted around .200 in june...it rests with bagwell, who is a shadow of his former self, albeit by injury...it rests with oswalt, who is looking less and less like an ace. but make no mistake...the team assembled, playing anywhere close to their potential, is a good team...a playoff caliber team. i can't fault management or ownership for not doing enough. not this season. surprisingly, i'm with you on the moneyball thoughts.
