Willy is my boy will always be my boy, I was extremely pissed off when we dealt him. Seeing him making that game saving grab yesterday did nothing but bring back great memories of him being an Astro, damn Pupura.
I happen to like Pence better. He's as good a fielder, has a stronger arm, way better bat and more upside. Josh Anderson is nice also. I'm happy for Willy, but he's no superstar. Remember Chris Burke's homer against the Braves???? Look at how big a superstar Burke has become!!!
I like Pence too, but his arm is not NEAR as strong as Willy Ts...and he is slower to boot. Willy T is a good leadoff hitter, Pence should be a nice 2-5 hitter....or a Biggio style leadoff. DD
Eh, I wouldn't necessarily say Pence's arm isn't strong. More like inaccurate. Anyway, you're right that they have different roles in terms of where they fit in a lineup. Still, Pence is so much more valuable that it's not close.
Around and around we continue to go.... and nobody still ever mentions pitching (which is a huge reason of why the Rockies won last night, and why the Astros struggled this season).
I'll save us all a little time. The Rockies had the best staff ERA in the National League since the break... with Taveras missing more than half the games. Their pitching was also very solid in this recent run, with the team winning 17 of 18 without Taveras taking a single at-bat or inning in CF. Their pitching (and overall team) is very good, independent of Taveras.
New cases of HIV are down 1000% percent and World Hunger has been cured since Willy T returned to the lineup. The Astros have made a grevious error once again.
I'm happy for Willy. Not to take anything away from him, but that had to be the worst NLCS game I have ever seen. That game almost makes me believe in the "NL is AAAA ball" concept. I'm not trying to take anything away from Willy. He made that amazing catch and walked in that run on 4 pitches... If you just glance at the scoreboard, you would think it was a pitcher duel. But if you watched the game, I just don't even know what to say... But if you thought that was a good effort from either pitching staff or nice timely hitting or good eyes on those walks... Your so fooling yourself. I don't even think I'm going to watch another NLCS game at this point. Boston is going to sweep whomever comes out of there. Might as well place your bets now. It's going to be an ugly WS for the NL.
game sucked because Davis is a boring pitcher. his delivery is so slow and he throws a lot of balls... long counts and average stuff.
i knew something would be said about Willy when I saw that catch made last night. However, I thought I'd hafta look in the playoff thread to see it. This is ridiculous. The guy makes a couple of nice plays and everyone does insane. We traded from a position of (relative) strength. i.e. we had Scott, Pence, Willy all ready (or close to it) for a MLB job, but only 2 spots for them. Trade from the position in order to improve elsewhere. Even if you want to factor in speed and stronger arm at a rate higher than I would...I'd still say that the OPS offsets that and at BEST, Willy is on the same level as Luke. Given that, I'll take a trade of either one in an effort to improve the team. In fantasy, I had Chad Johnson, Steve Smith, Hines Ward, Anquan Boldin to start the year. 2 WR spots and 1 flex. And yeah, I decided to make a move to help my RB situation instead of sitting on the 4 WR's. No, Ahman Green hasn't really panned out yet...but it was the right move to make.
Pence has more to his game than just speed. Willy brings little other than speed. When Willy loses a step in a couple of years, he'll be essentially done. Pence can lose a step and still be a good hitter with some power.
Again, I LIKE Pence a lot, no issue at all with him, but Willy is a better center fielder than he is.....and is a better leadoff hitter. What is upsetting is we traded Willy for NOTHING...Jennings was gawd fricken AWFUL this year. Bad trade. DD
Both are questionable. Pence has a higher zone rating, range factor, and revised zone rating than Taveras. Taveras has a better arm, but at least in terms of overall defense and getting to balls, Pence was the better defender by all available accounts. Also, better leadoff hitter? So given the choice, would you rather have Taveras leading off than Albert Pujols? The leadoff spot is only guaranteed to "lead off" once per game. Beyond that, it's similar to any other spot. You want efficiency. You want hitting. Pence is a significantly better hitter than Taveras -- it's not even freakin' close -- and your weak attempts to trivialize that through the lame "leadoff hitter" excuse don't fly. Comparing Hunter Pence to Willy Taveras is roughly equivalent to comparing Albert Pujols to Mike Lamb. There is not a comparison. I'm sorry to inform you of that.
Write it down: I agree with Aces. I think I ticked him so bad once that he put me on "ignore", so he won't even see this. But one of the things that exasperated me about Garner was his continually benching Scott this season. It made no sense to me.
Doesn't another guy's story mirror that? Juan Pierre--is he still productive, or is he playing a much more diminished role now? I didn't follow him very closely, but I remember he was very fast and had Coors-inflated numbers.
Once again... things that are far far (FAR) down below of "needs" for the team this year include "center fielder", and "true leadoff hitter" (which Willy T was not before this past injury-plagued year). We know Pence can play a serviceable (if not above average) Center Field. We know that they have a bonafied 3-5 every bit as good as Colorado's. What they need is a #2, #3, and most likely #4 starting pitcher.... as well as another dominant bullpen pitcher. Until then, bickering about Willy T is a waste of time. They dealt from a position of strength to attempt to fill a position of weakness. The trade didn't work out... the Astros really wouldn't be that much better off with Willy T right now... and overall, the Astros will recover.
He is on his 4th team in 7 years in the bigs. He cannot seem to stick. Pierre batted .326 in 2004 (his 5th year in the league). Since then, he has consistently batted much lower. Taveras will meet much the same fate.
