and Hirsch' arm is hurting. BTW - why do 'stros farmhands take 2, 3, even 4 years longer than other teams'?
While the Astros farm hands don't generally take 2, 3 or 4 years longer than others, you don't see them with a lot of rookies because they are always contending and not rebuilding. Their lineup is almost always set and they usually add a veteran or two to fill out the major league roster. If the Astros were the Pirates, I suspect you would see them promote more quickly (i.e. before a prospect is ready to contribute to a playoff team).
i don't buy it. i just don't. and it's the astros fault, anyway, for slowplaying these kids. you look at RR's roster - it's a joke. mostly aging veterans with no future. i posted this previously, but i think 18 of the players on that roster are 27 or older; seven are over 30 - that's a rec softball league roster, not a ML roster. why is jimerson ahead of anderson? why is luke scott and/or jason lane blocking pence? do you realize zobrist was stuck in AA while RR platooned two 30-year olds at SS?
this is blatantly untrue. taveras was a rookie last year; jason lane was in his first full ML season (yes, at 28); and burke played a role down the stretch and then obviously became a cog in the playoffs. all three started WS games last year for the astros. and then both wandy and astacio combined to make 36 starts last year. they relied heavily on kids last year - why not this year?
I think heavily is stretching it. Also, if you think they were willing to heavily rely on them last year, but not this year, wouldn't that lead you to believe that they thought the kids were ready last year, but the newer kids aren't ready this year?
Well, except for the ones that were, like Nieve & Buchholz. Both 24 iirc. Ric, you need to focus less on the level they're playing at and more on the skillsets they're trying to develop. It's not nearly as open-and-shut "the Astros, and *only* the Astros do this" type situation as you make it out to be. You also need to look at the quality of the prospects you're talking about. Basically, there's a whole lot of stuff you're choosing not to believe or understand. You can't read a statline & say, "this kid belongs [here]".
The poster's question was why do Astros' prospects take 2, 3 or 4 years longer than other teams to get to the majors. My response was in line with his question. If the Astros were not always contending, Burke may have been up and receiving significant playing time a year or two earlier. Lane would not have been having his rookie season at essentially age 28. The Astros generally do not promote their prospects faster due to their situation. Perhaps instead of saying "you don't see them with a lot of rookies..." I should have said "you don't see them with a lot of <24 year old rookies...".
overall, ok; but kids, or being more realistic, first-year players, filled important roles last year. again, taveras, burke & lane all logged significant time in the WS; that's 1/3 of your everyday line-up. so, too, did wandy and astacio. look, i'm not saying each of their top prospects should be on the ML roster; and no, i don't know much beyond stats. at the same time, what, exactly, are they developing at RR? it's easy to be dismissive, buck, and i'm not trying to be a prick, but that roster is a joke. why is this team better off with carlton jimerson in austin and not josh anderson? you'd rather travis driskill be their closer than see if peguero's AA numbers might translate? we're better off with luke scott and/or jason lane working at triple A than hunter pence? because we're going to build around scott and/or lane? again, i'm not naive enough to think every answer is on the farm, but i don't think no answers are on the farm. if all these guys were 19, 20 years old. ok. but aside from hirsh, a lot of their top prospects are 24 or older... and stuck in double A. that makes no sense to me. so please explain what boat i'm missing and what skillsets require players to stay at certain levels.
whats with all the interest for these middle of the road bats? i'd much rather take my chances with ensberg then with some slow munster looking kevin mench.
Does Mench even provide an improvement? He's a nice player but he plays either a corner outfield or infield positon and i don't see how he's better than the crowd of player they have at those positions.
Ric: AAA rosters (*all* AAA rosters) are chock full of retreads, career minor leaguers, and AAAA talents. Clubs like to have MLB-tested players there in case of emergency/injury on the big club - guys like Scott/McEwing/Quintero. They're not "blocking" anybody's progress, really. Here's the first 3 AAA rosters I pulled up, check out some of the names & ages: STL: http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=235&stn=true&sid=t235 Cubs: http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=451&stn=true&sid=t451 WAS: http://minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=588 On the players you mentioned specifically: Albers - had serious personal issues he dealt with this offseason, Stros have praised his newfound maturity this year, really a breakout for him. He'll be in AAA or w/ the big club next year. Anderson - first good stretch he's had since low-A ball in the first half of '04. Stros want him to be more of a leadoff guy, work on plate discipline & getting on base. Good, but not really a top-flight prospect, ala Zobrist. Pence - working on plate discipline, has a tendency to swing at bad pitches & still struggles to hit breaking stuff. He was very raw when drafted Patton - poor command at times, struggled for the first time in his pro career this season, bounced back lately. Dealing with adversity is something kids have to learn as well. Has had minor arm issues as well. They're definitely not going to rush him. Peguero - was called up to AAA a couple of weeks ago And yes, the Stros like to keep teams together for the most part. They like winning and see it as an important part of the kids' development - playing in pressure situations & all that. They seem to focus a lot on their character & mental aspects of the game. Can't really fault their development track record, either. As bobrek mentioned, the 2 posterboys for the "Stros never bring up prospects!" crowd - Burke & Lane - were blocked from coming up to the big club by other players.
