I'm not thinking Ausmus is going to be back. If House can get the arm strength back, he might be the starter with a vet signed to back up. Everett is here to stay. You just can't give up his defense. Biggio will play a majority of the time until he gets to 3000. After that, look for Burke to get a majority of the starts (unless Biggio is having a good year). They will be able to sign a major offensive player. I'm not sure if Pettitte comes back or not. If so, it will have to be for much less than what he's making now. If Bagwell's insurance case comes through, that's another 15 million in the bank. They'll go hard after Carlos Lee, Soriano, and maybe Vernon Wells. They will need to sign another vet starting pitcher. If Backe has to have Tommy John surgery, he won't be back until 2008. If they can manage to keep Huff and trade Ensberg for some relief pitching, the lineup will be fine. I, like Ric, think that Lidge needs to get as far away from baseball as possible until Spring Training. I think it will do him a world of good. I don't believe that he is done. I jsut think he's mentally and physically drained from the last few years, with this one being the most draining. Taveras CF Biggio/Burke 2B Berkman 1B one of V. Wells, C. Lee, or A. Soriano Huff 3B Scott LF/RF House C Everett SS Bench: Lane, Palmiero (he ain't goin no where folks), Bruntlett, fa catcher Oswalt Pettitte FA signing Hirsh Buchholz/Patton/Wandy/? Wheeler Qualls Lidge Nieve Miller Sampson ?
umm, great. so was morgan ensberg. the rockets should consider bringing back mario elie and otis thorpe. i mean, they were all on the team in 1994 when we won it all. it blows my mind that some of you really don't have a problem with at least ausmus still being on the team. totally blows my mind. the thought of him just makes me grit my teeth. also, subtract berkman from the equation when looking at this years vs last years HR totals and OPS. i assume you're accurate since you brought it up, and i'm still pretty shocked that we are on pace to hit more hr's, but i'm pretty certain it is 100% because of berkman's productivity. show me those #'s without berkman and i would imagine they've dropped dramatically.
This is the one guy I hope they make a serious push for this offseason, much moreso than Lee or Soriano. Jays will want young pitching...
They were all in the lineup last year, and we made the World Series and I believe we had a top 5 NL offense once Berkman was healthy. Is that your definition of sucking?
Oh...and on the Toronto front, it'd be nice if they didn't pick up Bengie Molina's option. Not much else out there behind the plate...at all.
i've been as critical of everett's bat as anybody, and there's no debating that he's a borderline awful hitter, but that said, of the three of them (him, ausmus, biggio), everett is the only one that brings anything positive to the table with his defense. if i had the choice of him or a better hitting, adequate defensive ss, i'd go with the better hitter, but, i realize that unless you're the yankees, filling your lineup top to bottom with allstars is an unrealistic expectation. so, i dont have a problem with everett here and batting 8th. biggio and ausmus have no business on a major league roster though.
are you on crack? we were in the bottom 5 in the majors in every major statistical category last season. and even if berkman's health sparked them to top 5 over that period of time (which "you believe"), how the hell does that prove that ausmus, everett and biggio dont suck? i shouldn't even respond to posts this dumb, but i can't help myself.
this makes absolutely no sense. why are bringing back retired players? more importantly, why are we discussing basketball? your claim is that, "if ausmus, biggio, and everett are all still in the lineup, we are still going to suck." ok, then how do you explain these past two years? all 3 were on the roster as we played a game 7 in the 2004 NLCS and went to the WS in 2005. nor does this - of course they drop dramatically... he, uhm, kinda, sorta leads the team. i'm guessing - out on a bit of a limb here - but if you took every other team leader and subtracted their home runs, said team's total would drop dramatically, too - so what's your point? last year, they had 4 guys hit 24 or more HRs; this year, they'll have 1. and they're still on pace to hit 6 more homers.
You didn't say that A/E/B suck - you said the Astros will always suck with them in the lineup. This was proven demonstrably false last year. Check the facts - top 5 offense from June to September, the time Berkman was healthy.
what dont you understand about this? you are giving ausmus, everett, and biggio credit for lance berkman's production. you attempted to use the team's rise in numbers as a legitimate argument for why ausmus, everett and biggio should stay on the team, when they aren't contributors. completely ridiculously flawed logic and spinning of stats.
true..i quoted your response. but i don't think swoly was talking to you, either. look at the context of your post and then the posts that came after.
to borrow from tinman logic....Brad Ausmus had the most clutch hit in Astros history. down a run...2 outs...no one on...2 strikes. goes yard. astros win in 18. He is a legend and should never be questioned...retire his number, immediately!
no, i'm not. i'm giving the team credit. no, i'm using the team's success in spite of their numbers as a legitimate argument for why it's ok if they stay on the team. and before we go too much further down your path of broken arguments and shattered premises, let's not lump biggio's offense in with ausmus and everett. he's on pace to finish this two-year stretch with 48 dingers; for a MI, that's exceptional power.
Roger said this team was better than last season's team when he decided to come back. Obviously, he made a serious error in judgement. The same faces plus a few add-ons does not mean the team is better than last season's team. All his years in the big leagues and he doesn't know a good team when he sees one. It's his own damn fault for coming back. I'm sure he will put on a happy face and say he's glad he came back. But, he was unable to really help us do anything by coming back and, unless he's down to just playing "for the love of the game", then he won't be back next season. Why would he have come back if he didn't think we had a shot to go all the way after last season? I don't think anyone could have predicted how sorry this team would turn out given it was mostly the same team from last season. The bullpen was the deciding factor this time around. No need to point out names. We know who did what. Sure, you could also point at the offense but the bullpen couldn't hold the leads or keep us in the games. I feel cheated this season. I have a bad taste in my mouth. I don't want to see anywhere near the same team next season. It's obvious who needs to go. Garner needs to go, too.
Last year is easily explained - one of the best pitching staffs of all-time. All 3 aces having career years and an amazing bullpen. Most likely will never happen again. We will probably never see pitching that good again, ever (at least on this team). Going into the season counting on any semblance of that happening again was a huge mistake.
