not to worry, villone will be back around the all star brake, he allways does, now seriously, the astros made pettite a three year 30 million dollar deal, but the yanks made him a 4 year 50 million dollar deal, we can't outbid the yanks, but one can only hope.
You'd think a guy with the last name "White" would be guaranteed a roster spot with McLane running the show...
If Blum costs Ensberg at bats then that is not a good thing. Not saying Blum is not worth money. Just that here he is redundant with Vizcaino signed. If they put Blum into the outfield some and let him take Merced's role then okay. Ensberg has earned afulltime role. I think I read where Blum may get as much as $3 mil.
Zing. Here's to hoping for season of full health for Oswalt and Miller. The rest of the rotation will work itself out, I'm sure.
If they would give it to Biggio why not to Blum he's a good player can play anywhere in the field you keep some bench players that can truly help the team not sticking with only the old dogs.
First, giving Biggio big bucks to finish here is a separate and frustraing issue. He will cost us a shot at the playoofs this year. Regarding Blum, he has talent and showed he can produce in the clutch. He is not Morgan Ensberg with a bat and should only rarely be used at third base if Ensberg is healthy. As a utility guy I say hell yeah, sign him up. As a platoon with Ensberg, I say don't sign him so that Jimmy is not tempted. He may well, over the course of a season, be an important piece. If Ensberg goes down and Blum is playing full time third the he may help keep us in it but will not put us over the top. Ensberg can put us over the top. Ensberg will be critical to this team, particularly if Doggie is traded. Blum will be an important role player, particularly if a regular goes down. It all depends on what management plans for Blum are.
ummmm...i think biggio gets paid like $2-3 million this year. not exactly breaking the bank for this season's payroll.
Yep, 3 million plus 1.5 in incentives. It seems some folks don't appreciate what we have had in Houston. Two guys, Biggio and Bagwell, who each have a good chance at the Hall of Fame. There will be arguments as to whether or not they will make it, but there is at least a good chance each will. What other Astros players can we say that about? Each guy plays hard, plays to win, and doesn't get into trouble. Biggio is still a solid player who didn't publically gripe when asked to change positions (at an advanced age). How many other players with the respect he has earned would have done that? How many other players at his age and established place on the team would have put in the extra hours and effort? How many other players could have even done it? Regardless of his center fielding problems, he did have a solid year out there.
Which is it, did he have center fielding problems or did he have a solid year? I know he did not kill us out there but he will still start and we can do a lot better. He does not have the range to play out there. He is playing there at Draytons pleasure, otherwise we could have a FA upgrade or youngster out there who has major league centerfield range and arm. The fact that we cannot upgrade because the job is Biggios this year is what may cost us a shot at the playoffs. We can do better. If Biggio can hit like he did in late August and early September last year then great. If he hits like he did the rest of the year then that along with being a below average centerfielder will cost us.
Sorry, I made the assumption that anyone who paid attention to the Astros last year would get my meaning. The answer is yes to both questions. He has range problems, but he handled every single ball he got to flawlessly except one. He has arm problems but still managed to finish 3rd among all NL center fielders in assists. In other words, he has some problems, but he played a solid center field. If he didn't have those problems, he would have played a spectacular center field. Now do you understand?
So I guess Andruw Jones played worse defensively than Biggio since he had less assists? People who point to assists and the fact that Biggio had one error meant he was good defensively, obviously don't watch the games. I bet Biggio had 3 times the amount of baserunners run on him than any other centerfielder. Plus, outfielders hardly ever get credited with errors these days. The only time they get an error is on a bad throw. If a flyball bounces right in front of the fielder, they'll still credit the hitter with a hit saying it was the sun, or that they can't give an error since he didn't touch it.
Going to agree with you on the range issue here. Obviously, Biggio isn't better than Andruw, but he does a fine job at what he gets to nonetheless. It's kind of like Derek Jeter in that respect, practically everyone thinks that Jeter is a great shortstop defensively because he makes a flashy play here and there, but in actual fact he is pretty poor b/c his range is so awful. The guy can't get to any ball more than just a few feet away and half the balls that he has to dive at to make that spectacular play would be routine plays for decent defensive players like Adam Everett. Having said all that, I ain't about to bash Biggio, he's doing good enough for me.
henri stanley??? huh??? yeah, cause he went on to a stellar career, didn't he?? man...if you're gonna complain, at least complain about something good.
