Micheal Bourn is an absolutley stellar out fielder. Adam Everett a stellar SS. moot point. look up the 3 worst OPS in the NL 2004-2006 Willy Taveras Adam Everett Brad Ausmus all really good defensive players, that hurt us more than they helped us.
first off, I never would have dealt John Buck, not for a rental player. but why the Astros didn't even sniff Bengie Molina.......sigh.
Ever seen Bengie Molina catch a rightie? He even admitted to having trouble catching right handers. That would leave him comfortable catching ... Wandy.
I was intrigued by Molina, but I thought we had it solved with Towles. I think I was bit naive about that, though. I can't speak as to what the Astros were thinking.
Something about not reading the ball well. Gregg Zaun ended up platooning with him for most of a season pretty recently.
Let's not forget... Brad Ausmus gave up 59 pass balls in 1887 games. Only 453 wild pitches too and I would bet that Brad has saved a lot of wild pitches as well. 70 for Bengie in 1049 games. Think about how nice it is to pitch knowing that you can make mistakes and that your catcher will bail you out? Remember how we traded Ausmus after our playoff years to go with an offensive catcher? Remember how that catcher batted .300 that year? Mitch Melusky anyone? We traded Melusky that offseason to get Ausmus back and the playoffs series rolled along.
Doesn't matter if you don't play 40% of a season because you're inept at catching the ball. Bengie only played that many because he DHed a good percentage of those games. EDIT: funnier stat.... Ausmus has a career OBP of .325 and Molina: .310 and the major stat. 197 GIDP for Ausmus in career in 6121 career at bats. 3.22% per at bat. (of course it's situational with people on first, but still....) Molina: 145 GIDPs in 3944 at bats. 3.68% per at bat.
Wow. People flat undervalue defense, because it's so hard to quantify. I've seen people hazard guesses at the number of "extra wins" or "losses prevented" due to defensive plays (and of course they always come up with some low number like 3 or 4 and then victoriously announce they were right), but that's flawed logic, because these plays build on one another. How many times have you seen a 2-out error with the bases empty blossom into a 2 or 3 run inning? But no, because it can't be quantified, it does not exist.
I'm gonna miss our last old school Killer B, Brad Bausmus. I was sad when we traded him and thrilled when we got him back. We missed his prime in Detroit but he still had things to offer a consistently winning (more so than most) squad. I don't think I fear many catchers at the plate, anyway. I do value a catcher who was preferred by all our pitching staff and could call a good game. If that skill was easily found and replaced, he wouldn't have been such a fixture on the team sporting the numbers he did and with an increasingly Bagwellian arm.
His arm was getting pretty sad, indeed. Which brings up another thing I don't see a lot of people understanding about catching, and that is that there is more to throwing runners out than a "rocket arm". Ausmus indeed lost some zip on his arm, but he was never the zippiest in the first place. How'd he throw out such a great percentage in the 90s? Two factors: one was his pitchers (it's just easier to steal on Roy O and Roger than on Shane Reynolds and Darryl Kile), the other was his footwork. Ausmus was on his feet and in throwing position so unbelievably quick--he sprung up like a cat and had the ball on its way. He probably got balls to second more quickly than some guys who had better "rocket arms" because he was so efficient on his feet. He also, like I've seen Q do a few times, could get one over to Bags at first without getting completely out of a crouch. He just put on a clinic night in and night out on how to play his position (in the field). Absolutely brilliant.
Brad wasn't a good hitter - but at a lifetime average of .251 he was mediocre at the plate and nowhere near "one of the worst offensive players in the history of the game". His last few years were really bad offensively, yet he still had some big hits in clutch situations. Also, as an overall player - he won three gold gloves and went to an All Star Game. Stop being a douche.
uh, no he didn't. he had the personality and fire of a broomstick, and his defense stopped being above avg. 5 or so years ago. he should have been the one paying tribute to mclane and the astros for letting him linger around and play in the majors for about half a decade longer than anybody with a brain running a franchise would do. while i'm certainly not complaining, i think it's hilarious that he's turning his back on the franchise and saying he won't play here next year, but he's still interested in playing on the west coast. classless, imho, after collecting $10+ million from the only team in the league that would have been willing to pay and play him that much for that long. like i said, i'm not complaining because i wanted to see him off the team for the past 5 or 6 years, but at this point, you either retire, or go somewhere else when the astros tell you they don't want you anymore. here's to one of the biggest travesties of a ballplayer i've ever seen. good riddance, bradley.
I find it hard to believe that someone would give up ALL of those great Beltran memories, etc. to have f'n JOHN BUCK back the roster! Now THAT, is funny. John Buck! & low & behold, look who said it! This forum was nothing but BELTRANBELTRANBELTRAN for 6 months, LL ... but oh yeah ... you weren't here. Landlard - you're a pretty good sport to be hanging in here this long with your RIDICULOUS, ridiculous claims ... but here you are. You've been owned more times than Kunta Kinte.
Eh; I get attacking Ausmus's defense; it's just this ridiculous hyperbole that is senseless. "Worst hitter in the history of the game?" "Biggest travesty of a ballplayer I've ever seen?" Seriously, before the steroids era, Ausmus's offensive woes would have stuck out even *less*. We're so spoiled by the artificially produced offense of the late '90s and early '00s, anyone who doesn't have an .850 OPS is trash. It's ridiculous. Nobody--not even the Yankees--has nine silver sluggers in the lineup.
dont even understand how any of that would be applicable in response to my post. sounds like you've been waiting forever to pull that doozie out, and you just couldn't hold your load in any longer. you missed your mark on this one though. sorry, wordsmith. i don't play fantasy baseball, and i'm a loyal astros fan and formulate my own judgments and watch the games with my own eyes, but if all the boxscores and statistics also prove how worthless he was...uh...i support that too i guess? reload and try again tough guy.
