Championship contenders(atleast threats) with him. Lottery/8th seed(1st rd exit) without him. Just my logical... We have won without Schaub and AJ(To a much lesser degree) plus the team hasn't even been over .500 Berkman goes down and the offense sucks but if he were to go down for an extended period of time we could in theory go out and get another bat and also the team is 2 games under for the season with him along with a high water mark of 3 games above before he went down. Oswalt has been the second best pitcher on the staff so how can he be the cities MVP?
Well, we're with him, but we're actually without him. With or without him on the court, he still gets those max dollars. Yao's value is a negative for this coming season. MVP my ass. Every Rocket who touches the floor will have more value.
Ok my understanding was that the question was "Which team would be hurt most by their best player missing?" So you're telling me that Yao's loss has less of an impact as lets say AJs? I understand we went 2-2 without him and won 10 in row in 07-08 without him but look what happened when teams exploded our weakest link in the playoffs? Game 5 and to a larger extent game 7 vs the Lakers was a clear example of the issues we will have next season without the big guy. If we were to lose AJ we still have a number of players at skill positions that can pick up the slack but ill give you guys this if AJ does go down for the season we would go from playoff contenders to 8-8 at best again so ill give you a push but I wouldn't say Yao going down would be less of a hit then AJ going down.
Not in the least. I agree wholeheartedly -- the loss of Yao is much more debilitating than the loss of any other superstar in Houston sports. It's just that I freaking hate looking at "value" that way. The sum total of one's value includes whether or not his fragile ass was actually on the field. Schaub, for example, even though he was a victim of a not-so-common cheap shot, really needs to put in 15 or 16 games this year. See: "Ok my understanding was that the question was Which team would be hurt most by their best player missing?" just kills me. If the team is freaking paralyzed because Yao IS missing -- A LOT -- then that kills his "value" to me. Yao Ming, in the 2009-2010 season, is worth less on the court that the two logs I just flushed this morning. And, the Rox are paying 8 digits for that crap!!! He's not going to play, and he's going to drain a huge chunk of the salary cap. How in the hell is that valuable? Sure he's a great player--but that only matters when he actually plays.
I see your point and you make a great argument when saying if there not part of the "team" for different reasons how do they have value to the team?!?! I believe its just how a person looks at "value" because in my eyes while Yao has been hurt so often its not like he has become a Luxury to have him on the court but still a necessity to our overall goal of contending for a title. I guess its value vs valuable to a team and while AJ has more value then Yao because he actually stays on the field I still think Yao is more valuable to the Rockets success and short term goal.
berkman has yet to lead this team to the playoffs when the stros last made it he was second fiddle at best if shcaub is out it wont cripple the texans that being said, you can see how far a healthy yao ming took the rockets
God forbid you include teammates into it. Berkman has only been a part of 2 losing seasons in his career, and he has been the best offensive player that entire time, even helping to lead his team to a World Series. He was a dominate offensive force in 2004 & 2005 during the playoff runs. Pre-Berkman Astros: 6 playoff apperances, but 0 series wins. 40 years. Don't disrespect what Berkman has accomplished.
Puma has 2 of the biggest HRs in Stros history both in 05...the Slam vs Farnsworth and the 3 run shot off Carpenter problem is people forget because of the HRs that came after those. In 05 he was the man in the playoffs and consider he was doing it on 1 leg...Puma gets my respect for sure!
wow... this is quite possibly the silliest, most ill-informed statement ever posted in this forum that did not include the words, "vince" or "young."
Sorry, you don't get that choice. You get Yao Ming, period. Yao Ming took the Rockets into the second round of the playoffs for the first time in like ever. Then he broke. Again. So how far can Yao Ming carry the Rockets? Up to his next fracture--that's how far. Which, for this coming season, isn't even as far as the starting line. MVP my ass.
Aside from the absurdity of one baseball player "leading" his team anywhere... Take a look at the 2005 Astros. Mind telling me what everyday player contributed even close to as much as Berkman? The only one comparable was Ensberg, and he was limited in September and October due to the hand injury. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2005.shtml
well... ensberg *was* better (144 OPS+ to berkman's 143) that year - but berkman also missed a month and took another month to get up to game speed. and he was, of course, an absolute beast in the postseason. as usual. carrying the team to its first-ever world series appearence. the real silliness, though, is denegrating his 2004 season when he was *far and away* the team's best offensive player, both in the regular season and postseason. that's right - *post*season. i know most people have fond memories of beltran - but check the numbers: in the nlds, beltran posted a 1.091 OPS; berkman - 1.071. in the nlcs: .958/1.150. it's really not even close - berkman was by no means a "second fiddle." trying to assign "value" to players playing different sports is silly but he's inarguably the city's best player right now with oswalt a solid #2. whoever's #3 is a distant third.
No offense to the Yao fans but I have no idea why he's even on that list. Same goes for Schaub (the fact that so many people can't even spell his name properly is telling). Berkman is one of the best switch-hitters of all-time. No major league pitcher has more wins than Oswalt sine he joined the Astros. It would be one thing if he pitched for the Yankees or something but it's been quite a while since the Astros even had a league average offense. Out of that list, it has to be Berkman or Oswalt or Other.
Berkman in the 04 NLCS was a monster just sucks he couldn't have gotten that was last hit in the 9th of game 6 it would have capped off a remarkable run! I still remember the Homer in game 5 in 05...the ballpark went ballistic even more then Kents blast!
