Well considering we were a couple of clutch hits away from winning a game or two in the FREAKING WORLD SERIES with no offense besides Puma on one leg, the many stances of Morgan Ensberg and the one hit wonders better known as Willy T, Chris Burke and Jason Lane it makes it all more remarkable along with showing everyone what a great rotation can do to an avg squad.
Loney is about 150 OPS behind Puma in a down year for Berkman. He's an OK first baseman, and a native Houston guy, but he's a poor replacement for Lance. If you're talking about getting rid of both Oswalt and Berkman, you'd better be getting some premier prospects back...
Very true Loney isn't Puma RIGHT NOW but the hope would be that he would continue to improve offensively and defensively along with the fact he would be out of a pitchers park which should increase his production. Remember Loney is 25, Puma is 33 and IMO has started to decline...so this would strictly be a move for 2 years down the road. Saying that its the pitching that would do it for me as they have a couple of nice arms(Mcdonald I belive is one) that would look good in Stros brick red.
Ha re: Ensberg, I've googled on many occasions desperately searching for a picture of him which I *know* I've seen--taken from behind home plate and just to the right, you can see Ensberg's wide-eyed, fat-cheeked face staring at the catcher's mitt with the bat on his shoulder. This, to me, is quintessential Ensberg.
Agreed. Even in his big 2005 season, I got so tired of him watching fastballs over the outside corner get called for strikes. New flash Morgan: That pitch is a strike. You aren't fooling anyone by nonchalantly shifting the dirt under your feet back and forth after you take the pitch.
Don't know about Loney. The other problem is, there are 0 1B prospects in the Astros system. If you did this and Loney doesn't pan out, there is absolutely nothing behind him.
But he's already been told that his best chance to make it to the majors is as a super utility player. He might get more starts at 1st, but he's also going to get significant time in the outfield.
Ed Wade Live Chat: Highlights Sep 29, 2009 1:58 PM CDT Bobby Heck has pushed hard for Koby Clemens to be moved from catcher to first base exclusively. It sounds like Ed Wade agrees with him. He obviously won't be competing for a roster spot y
Hopefully Clemens' season wasn't solely due to the park he played in. If it's not an anomaly, then the Astros do in fact have a 1B prospect.
1Bmen are not hard to find. The only position Clemens can play on a big-league level is 1B, he couldn't hack it at 3rd, catcher or LF. Whether he can hit enough remains to be seen, it will be very interesting to see how he & Gaston do outside of the Lancaster launching pad (though they both hit quite well on the road this past year).
I had that pic on my old computer, know exactly which one you're talking about. Best nickname I heard for post '05 Morgan was "Pigeon ****"...as in "statue covered in".
I agree completely. There's just no one in the organization right now in case Lance goes down long term or is traded and one isn't brought back...exactly the kind of forward thinking no one in the front office has. I'm still of the opinion that Berkman and Lee should switch positions. I know it will never happen, but wouldn't it really be best case scenario? Lee is a former infielder so defending the position shouldn't be that difficult of a transition for him. Berkman wasn't the best outfielder, but he'd get to a heck of a lot more balls than Lee does.
Lee's defensive liabilities would be far more exposed at 1B (which he played 5 games at in 1999 and 1 inning at in 2009) where he would get many, many more fielding chances than he does in LF.
It better be. He sucked this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason Bourgeois and Yordany Ramirez are the backup outfielders next year. They both are have mutliple seasons at AAA and would cost the league minimum. Brian Bogusevic should have a chance but I would rather have get some ABs in AAA for more seasoning. However, I doubt he becomes more than a 4th outfielder in the bigs.
Considering Berkman had a better 2009 than 2007, it's pretty silly to argue this started his decline. If you want to make an age-based case, perhaps, but not based on on-field play to this point.
