Everett called up from New Orleans

Anyone know what Everett's stick has been like in the minors lately? I got the impression that he hadn't been hitting all that well...

Besides, Lugo hasn't been <b>that</b> bad a defensive SS this season. But it will be fun to see what Adam can do in the big leagues.

 

From all accounts Everett has elite defensive skills. I think this is a good move...maybe Everett can be a late-inning defensive replacement like Barker.

 

Lugo has been absolutely terrible in the field this year. He regularly boots routine ground balls and makes errant throws. If Bagwell wasn't as good as he is at scooping out bad throws and stretching we'd be in alot of trouble. Also, Lugo has a VERY poor on-base percentage and strikes out entirely too much for the #2 guy. He is the exact opposite of Bill Spiers. Lugo tries to hit homers, but usually ends up striking out or hitting shallow pop ups.

I say give Everett a chance at the next level. I'm willing to ignore his lack of hitting skills as long as he can play some D at short. He just needs to move runners up and bunt occasionally, something that Lugo hasn't done all season.

 

The move has little to do with Everett's defensive skills or even batting ability. The team just needs another shortstop, so they can double-switch and pinch hit late in the game. Say Viscaino started and batted 7th. The pitcher's sent to the showers after 6 1/3 but is due up in the bottom half of the inning. So they double-switch and Lugo is placed in the 9th spot. Now the 9th inning comes up, we're down by 1, runners in scoring position. Without another backup middle infielder, Lugo has to bat. With Adam Everett around, Merced or Ward can pinch-hit for Lugo, with Everett coming in to play short afterwards. The Stros were hurt recently in just that situation because they only had 2 guys on the roster who had much experience playing SS.

 

He's replacing Pedro? I thought Pedro was fine? This isn't just your normal September call-up?

 

I am all for giving Everett a chance. If he is the future at short let him get his feet wet now. He will provide more defensive stability than Lugo does and that is a plus when the season can come down to the fewest mistakes made by a team.

 

The difference between an average SS and a very good SS in terms of runs prevented is rather small, but it does exist.

I'm half-way sold on Vizcaino starting instead of Lugo (although I still like the guy), but Everett? He hits .250 in Triple A without power? That's atrocious. That's going to hurt the Astros more than a few errors over the course of a season.

If he's meant to be a 9th inning defensive replacement... fine by me. But if they're thinking about a 3 headed monster situation... well, bad idea.

*shivers*

 

No offense taken bobrek, but it is completely irrelevant whether the Stros bat the SS 7th. I was trying to draw a hypothetical, and you're quibbling about the actual batting order. My point was depth at SS can be useful in pinch-hitting situations. I heard Hunsicker on the radio specificially reference that game where Ward was left on-deck to end the game because they couldn't take their only SS out (before they brought up Truby).

I agree that taking a prospect out of the minors for that reason is somewhat unusual. But I'd point out that (1) the Astros are in a pennant race, and should be in the playoffs soon - every game counts, and even if it will help the club out slightly a move will be made. (2) Everett's not some sort of phenom. He's a slick-fielding, non-hitting SS who is no longer very young for a prospect. Further he's had a couple of seasons now to improve his bat in AAA, to little result. (3) Castilla is a poor option as a backup SS. He's played it what, one or 2 games in the last 5 or 6 seasons? For that matter, Biggio could catch in a pinch, but the Stros would rather have a better option in an emergency.

 

I guess the whole Astros organization has really changed their mind about briniging up the kids. Every move has worked out thus far and now they are bringing up the rookie specialists.

 

It's about time something worked out for Houston. Luck certainly runs in cycles sometimes...

Last season, the Astros made a few bets, most of which had a fairly decent chance of working out. They needed:

1. Their veterans to produce as expected
2. Roger Cedeno and Dotel to fulfill the promise they showed with the Mets.
3. Stay relatively injury-free.

If they had done those three things, I really believe they could have made the playoffs. Instead, Cedeno was mediocre at best, Dotel flopped, Reynolds went down, Biggio sucked and went down, Wagner sucked due to injury and missed most of the season, the 3B was a position of complete insecurity, Lima bombed, Ward didn't pan out as well as hoped, their nominal staff ace had a 4.82 ERA.

...their pleasant surprises were the emergence of Lance Berkman and Richard Hidalgo.

This year they gambled (throughout the season):

1. That some rookies could pitch in starting roles (big gamble).
2. That Biggio's bad season was a fluke (big gamble at his age)
3. That Berkman could hit well for an entire season (not too bad, he had a big role in 99).
4. That Wagner would recover and that Dotel could emerge in the bullpen (some risk).
5. That Vinny Castilla really didn't suck after 1.5 crappy years in tampa (huge gamble).

In my opinion, their gambles were every bit as risky this year as last year, probably more so. Yet this year, every single one of them came through. The rookies pitched far above expectations, Biggio's an elite lead-off hitter, Berkman's a fringe MVP candidate, and Wagner and Dotel are the best 1-2 punch bull-pen in the league. Even Vinny Castilla's playing pretty well at 3B.

I don't think that management did a bad job the year before. And I don't think they necessarily made smarter moves this year. But last year they had almost unbelievably bad luck, and this year most moves worked out, and when they didn't (Bottenfield), someone else stepped up in place.

 

Everett is supposed to be the real deal defensively at SS. He was good enough to CUT Jimmy Rollins to make the Olympics roster.

Also, the MLB/AAA difference may not be that great- New Orleans is a big time pitchers' park from what I hear, and Lugo plays in Enron.

Everett also can swipe 'em better than anyone on our current team-I bet he wouldn't get picked off, or make a blunder half as much as Lugo and Barker do. Everett is also supposed to be a good bunter.

What's so confusing is they just drafted a SS first round (Burke). Burke is supposed to be mediocre (better than Lugo) defensively, but was a real stud in college offensively, and a future lead off hitter. His shortcoming is his arm, and I've heard he could be moved to 2B. I recall a Hunsicker quote that said they'd keep him at SS, though.

 

Huh? Signing Castilla off waivers for minimum wage was a huge gamble? I think you mean it was unlikely, but in no way was it a huge gamble; there was almost no risk at all. It was just a smart move.

 

From what I've heard about Burke from Peter Gammons is that he plays a lot like Craig Biggio, and that the Stros are going to groom Burke to be Biggio's replacement when Biggio retires.

 

Dylan:

No, I meant it was a gamble. In financial terms... you're right.

But in taking any given step, the team is risking at-bats and development for other players. Giving Castilla fair time to prove himself would take quite a while... and if he sucked, then he would have been a liability... and that might have prevented the Astros from making better moves.

 

Maybe he will pull a Hernandez, Oswalt, or Miller and be extremely awesome right away. That'd be cool

 

Things have gone well this year overall but there have been some bad luck spots. Ausmus's horrible year with the bat comes to mind quickly. Also, Doug Brocail and Billy Spiers haven't played at all this year. If not for Brocail's injury we probably never trade McKnight for Mike Williams. It's been a great year though, hope it continues into the playoffs.