Trivia Question Answers:
Question #1: Jose Cruuuuuzzzzz
Question #2: Phil Nevin
Good guesses, all. I need to raise the difficulty of these questions, still...
In a move that is probably in his best interest, Roy Oswalt has pitched his last inning of 2009. The degenerative disk in his back is not improving, and rather than have the issue linger on into 2010 the prudent move is sit Roy for the duration of the season. Surgery, Oswalt noted, is an option, but the team is going to try to avoid it by putting Roy on a strengthening regimen involving swimming and other activities. Yorman Bazardo is tentatively the man to take Roy's slot in the rotation, and Wilton Lopez is another candidate to make a start if need be.
Speaking of injuries, Mike Hampton is the unluckiest man alive, apparently. I can't really argue.
Jerry Crasnick gives us his top nine emerging star outfielders, and guess who's number one?:
"He's been our most valuable player," Houston general manager Ed Wade said of Bourn, who is turning out to be everything the Astros hoped for when they acquired him from Philadelphia in the Brad Lidge trade.
Baseball America released it's list of the top 25 college and high school prospects heading into the 2010 draft. (Yes, I realize there is a long way to go before the draft, but come on- we just got swept by the Reds!) Worth taking note of is, the first high schooler on the list- Jameson Taillon, a pitcher for The Woodlands High School. DQ, I'm sure, is happy to read that...
TRIVIA TIMMMMEEEEEE
Ok, people. The past couple questions I've shelled out have been too "easy", apparently. Only a Lad basically mocked my question about 1970 Astros' MVP Joe Morgan. That's cool, that's cool. I'll step my game up to another level.
I like two part questions, because...well, as co-manager/writer of this here blog, I gets to do things like make up the trivia questions on Thursday. So, without further adieu:
Part One: Who is the Astros' career leader in triples?
Part Two: A former Astro was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1992 College World Series. Like the first question, the number three has significance with this player in some way.
0 recs | 62 comments
Answers: For triples, I was going to say Metzger, but instead I’ll go with longevity and pick Jose Cruz. For 92 WS MVP, I’ll go with Phil Nevin.
clack - September 17, 2009
Good job there. Metzger holds the single-season triples record for the Astros, which is probably why you thought of him. Cruz is career triples leader.
AstroAndy - September 17, 2009
Phil Nevin
Geez – What a bust for the Astros. He did straighten up his act and have a decent career with the Padres I believe .
Joe in Birmingham - September 17, 2009
We’ve talked about this before, but the Astros’ scouting director quit in 1992 because the Astros’ selected Nevin over is recommendation of Derek Jeter. The Astros opted for the “quick fix” draft pick, getting a college guy who could get to the big leagues quicker and whose name was well known to fans. Nevin made it to the big leagues before Jeter, but Nevin was immature and showed an anger management problem. After he tore up the clubhouse, Bob Watson had seen enough and shipped him off to Detroit.
I don’t know if there is a lesson for our current Astros or not. It’s interesting that the Astros’ misjudgement in that draft had to do with player character. Scouts loved Jeter’s “make up,” which was off the charts. Sabermetric oriented fans often make fun of scouts and GMs who rely on “character” traits to judge players. However, even Jeter’s critics would admit that his character has a lot to do with his HOF-in-waiting career. The Astros executive who quit over the Nevin decision had comments about Jeter that sound a lot like the things that Heck said about this year’s first round pick, Miers.
clack - September 17, 2009
Mier is getting a ton of priase
most believe he’ll be a top 100 prospect for next season, along with castro and lyles
Evan Hochschild - September 17, 2009
From who?
MLB’s scouting report says Mier has below average speed, an average arm, a free swinger that “might” be a 10-15 homer player at the MLB level. He hit .276 in his rookie league this summer with an ops around .800 (ho hum).
I’m wondering what’s so “first round” about him. The Astros (Drayton McLamebrain in particular) ran off Drew Stubbs a couple of years ago because Stubbs wanted $900,000. Stubbs declined and was drafted by Cincy the next year and is about to be their starting center fielder. So what’s the deal? McLamebrain rejects a prospect (Stubbs) whose arm, speed, defense, and bat were all rated exceptional to outstanding, who wanted only $900,000 signing bonus. Now he signs an 18 year old for $1.4 million who is rated with below average speed, average arm and a “maybe” decent bat. No wonder they haven’t made the playoffs 4 straight years. Looks like its going to be at least 4 more before any of these high school “studs” can produce.
l34w29 - September 17, 2009
Well, since you asked so politely:
This is from Baseball America:
Mitch Dowden (Pickering, LA): Well it seems that Jason Castro will be in the top 100 but who else will join him? Possibly Jordan Lyles?
Ben Badler: Castro, Lyles and Jio Mier are all top 100 candidates. I saw Tim Beckham in the Appy League last year and saw Mier there this year. Beckham had more bat speed, but Mier had a better approach at the plate, was a better defender and a faster runner than Beckham. So yeah, I’m a Mier fan.
I guess us Astro fans would ok with Mier ending up like Tim Beckham…only better.
If one of the most reputable scouting/baseball talent websites and organizations isn’t enough for you, John Sickles has himself a nice blog, MinorLeagueBall. He’s working on his own top 100 prospects list, where that guy with “below average speed, an average arm, and a free swinger” is again on the radar for a top 100 spot of at least one of his readers.
Nice job recalling his batting average though….his .864 OPS is a little better than your guess of “around .800 (ho hum)”. thanks also for letting us all know that an .800 OPS is just ho-hum. guess his iso of .208 is just ho hum too..
ill give you that drayton makes some dumb decisions, but i don’t know how much say he had over this move. besides, he was only signed for $25,000 over what mlb recommends his slot to be paid…people criticize drayton for not overpaying, then when he does, they criticize him for that too.
bobby heck was high on mier, and it looks like most people are coming around on him too.
Finally, the Astros’ most ardent of critics, Baseball Prospectus, has nice words for Mr. Mier as well:
Evan Hochschild - September 17, 2009
beat me by a few seconds
good one.
AstroAndy - September 17, 2009
Your glasses are fogged
Drew Stubbs is 25, about to turn 26. He is just now showing the skills to be a damn good pro. Mier is 18. According to my calculator, the Astros have roughly 6 years to wait before Mier “might” turn into something useful assuming he has the same potential as Drew which is a HUGE assumption. The Astros need PITCHING… and lots of it. Spending your 1st round pick on “below average speed”, “average arm”, and “infielder” is a waste of the 1st round for a team with an emergency need for pitching. All the rhetoric about Miers “upside”, “intangibles”, “approach at the plate” is nothing more than 8 inches of whipped cream topping on a rutabaga pie to make it look more attractive. There were at least 2, maybe 4 pitchers, that should have been seriously considered by the Astros before Mier. Kyle Gibson, Missouri, was “slightly” below Strasburg in rating before his forearm stress fracture. I know all about stress fractures in the forearm as an indicator of “maybe” elbow ligament problems. The fact is that most pitching forearm stress fractures are simply a sign of over work and DO NOT lead to surgery. And even if it did, Gibson is just 22 and has plenty of time to recover from Tommy John surgery. His 4 year potential is outstanding and would have been a much better pick. And even if McLamebrain didn’t want to take a chance on Gibson, Eric Arnett, Indiana, throws 96mph, is completely healthy and in 3, maybe 4, years projects to be one of Milwaukee’s starters. And there are other pitchers taken after Mier that would have been smarter picks.
Houston’s scouting purge a few years ago doesn’t seem to have done much good. With McLamebrain and Wade calling the shots they are still drafting like their pitching staff is solid and set.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
OK, so you are one of the guys who got real excited when the Astros picked Phil Nevin over Derek Jeter because the Astros has such an immediate need to get power in the lineup?
clack - September 18, 2009
...and 6 years for Miers?
If the Astros get lucky, it could be considerably shorter. I would put the range at 2-6 years. Jeter only took two years after he was drafted out of high school to make it to the majors.
clack - September 18, 2009
at least 6 years.
It’s all a guessing game. To say Mier will be ready in 2 years puts him in some very, very exclusive company. The odds say that’s very wishful thinking. Hell. if we’re going to indulge in wishful thinking lets do it right. In 2 years why not project Miers as a 30 HR, 60 SB, 110 runs, 90 rbis, and oh… hell, why not… a .998 fielding %. Unfortunately, reality always sticks its unwaivering head in the door and screws up our dream. The odds are what we have in Mier is another Adam Everett (1st round pick, #12 by Boston). And we all know how well Adam worked out for Houston.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
Yeah, he was really really good until he crashed into Carlos Lee and broke several important things.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
And before you start with the bullshit
Yes, Everett was a good overall player. He was worth about 3 WAR when he started getting playing time. And since defensive contributions tend to mean more than offensive contributions (to put it simply, a run saved is worth more than a run scored because of the way games work), he may very well have been worth more than that. He was an above-average player in his prime.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
Oh hell. Let's start with the bullshit.
You mean .245 lifetime avg Everett? You mean 6 whole homeruns per year Adam? Oh, you must be talking about .298 lifetime obp and .335 lifetime slg% Adam. Just how in the hell did Houston justify letting this HOF short stop get away? Damn good thing he could play defense because he sure as hell couldn’t play offense.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
easy, man
make your points without dropping unnecessary profanity, please.
Evan Hochschild - September 18, 2009
I'm talking about
the +30 UZR/150 Adam Everett.
Look, just because you don’t know what defense is worth doesn’t mean that defensive players are bad.
It just means that you’re a baseball fan who isn’t very knowledgeable.
Because after his injury he wasn’t the same player. Now he’s basically replacement level.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
Astros don't get to the World Series...
without Everett’s defense. It’s as simple as that. Clemens, Pettitte, and Oswalt don’t have Cy Young quality pitching seasons without the best defensive player, at the time, in baseball behind them.
clack - September 18, 2009
PITCHING is the name of the game
Unlike football, you cannot score on defense in baseball. And in case you don’t realize it, if you don’t score you can’t win in any sport. So offense, in baseball, is 50% of the equation. Pitching, in my opinion, is 85 to 90% of defense. You can put 8 hall of fame defenders on the field but if the opposition keeps hitting screamin’ meemies over the fence those 8 hall of fame defenders are good paper weights. So, to me, pitching is the key to the other half of the equation. My 1st round pick would be a pitcher “almost” all of the time. Derek Jeter is great because he played for the Yankees. Phil Nevin is not great because he did NOT play for the Yankees. I have always pulled for Houston to draft pitching in the 1st round… UNLESS… there is a guaranteed hall of fame hitter waiting to be drafted which does not happen very often. And even then, take the HOF hitter ONLY if there are no HOF pitchers also waiting to be drafted. Offense is important but pitching is more important. You can always pick up good hitters any time of the year. You cannot always find good pitching.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
Getting good pitching in the draft isn’t about taking the best pitchers at the top…it’s about taking a lot of pitching throughout the draft. Bats are surer bets than pitching in the early rounds. This is a pretty well-recognized point.
Google Victor Wang, read his research on the subject, and then come back here to make that argument.
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
So what you’re saying is exactly the opposite of the fool below your message that says it’s ridiculous to draft pitching just for the hell of it. You’re saying you have to take a shot gun approach, blast as pitchers many as you can get and weed out the trash as time permits. “Bats are surer bets…”. That means if you had a choice between Chris Carpenter and say Chase Utley in a draft, you would take Utley. Good for you. I take Carpenter every time, thank you. It’s much, much better for my winning %.
Never heard of Wang (except for the defunct computer company). I’m certain he’s another one of those guys who passed statistics in college and thinks HE understands Chebyshevs Rule. Yawn.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
This post is a bunch of ad hominem and putting words in other people’s mouths.
It took me a while to figure it out, but you’re not here to talk rational baseball. You’re just a fucking troll. Please take your shit somewhere else, like astrosdaily or spikesnstars.
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
Look, as a troll
I can tell you that this guy isn’t one. Trolling message boards takes skill. It takes time and precision to draw out the lulz.
This guy is just painfully stupid.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
incredibly disrespectful
you can make your points without being overly snarky and uncivil.
Evan Hochschild - September 18, 2009
Look, I’m not trying to be mean here. But, to put it simply, this is monumentally stupid. I mean, there are plenty of other silly things you are saying (fielding isn’t important, Mier isn’t any good, etc.), but this view is profoundly and utterly stupid.
We do not know who is a HoF player. We don’t. Nobody does. Scouts and statisticians look at the draft, they see players who look like they can succeed because they have a lot of talent and previous success, and they their best bet. That’s pretty much how it works. You don’t just draft pitchers for the hell of it. That’s ridiculous.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
Look. I am trying to be mean here. But, put simply, I never said defense is not important. What I said was that there are more important things than defense to address in the 1st round of a MLB draft. And if you could read half as well as you jack jaw, then you would see the truth of that logic. Yes, you DO draft pitchers “just for the hell of it” (as long as you have done due diligence of their pitching credentials) because good pitching is far more important then a freaking short stop.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
"jack jaw"
epic.
You know nothing. Please leave before we ridicule you even further.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
"epic"
oh my Gawd. Can you say “nerd with a geeky accent”? Don’t bend over. Those 40 ball point pens will fall out of your shirt pocket.
Knowing nothing is still 10,000 times your superior.
Trajan - September 18, 2009
wait, let me guess
Here’s your next pathetic post:
Dance, puppet, dance.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
I agree pitching is important...
but defense is a big part of getting good pitching unless you have Sandy Koufax, or some other incredible strike out pitcher, on the mound. As an example, look at a pitcher like Jeff Suppan who was very good in St. Louis when he played behind a good defensive team, but became a borderline bad pitcher when he signed with a worse defensive team in Milwaukee in 2007.
clack - September 18, 2009
Your Calculator is Broken
First, how did you get 6 years for Mier to contribute? Stubbs only took 3 years once he got into the Reds system.
Second, your repeated reliance on a SINGLE source of OLD scouting on Mier, even after being presented with more recent and conflicting reports, is killing your argument’s credibility.
Even more damaging to your credibility is your argument that the Astros have an emergency need for pitching and that should have dictated their first-round pick. Try floating your “drafting for need” theories on any serious baseball website and you will get laughed right off.
Moderators: is there an ignore button on this thing?
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
Stubbs played 3 years @ UT
Stubbs was 22 when he was drafted. He had already played 3 years at UT… You know… UT… Big 12 baseball… World Series winners, WS runner up, Big 12 champ, etc. etc etc. Lets see… the difference between 22 and 18….. Yup. It’s still 4 and I’m using my professors calculator now.
Old scouting… New scouting… Does that mean an old scouting report is less reliable than a newer scouting report? I think “who” did the scouting, what regional motivations were involved, and a host of other factors determine the reliability of a scouting report versus it’s timeliness.
Pitching is NEEDED by every major league team. THEY ALL rank pitching before position players as a general rule. Then vary off that methodology depending on the depth of quality of pitching in a given draft. When it boils down to Mier versus some of the pitchers that went after Mier, Houston missed the boat… again.
From the moderator: Yes there is an ignore button. It’s called the power switch on your CPU.
l34w29 - September 18, 2009
Your calculator: predicting the career path of Mier, a shortstop drafted out of high school, based upon the career path of Stubbs, an outfielder drafted out of college, is stupid. First, that’s comparing apples and oranges. Second, each player determines his path by his own performance. Nobody knows how long it’s going to take for a player to contribute at the big-league level. Not even you.
Scouting reports: a single scouting report of a single showcase filed less than a month into the senior year of a high school player is less reliable than a more recent report based upon multiple viewings of a player. Basing your opinion of a player on multiple scouting reports from multiple reliable is a better way to go.
I’m not refuting your assertion that pitching is important and valuable. I am refuting your assertion that it is valuable to the exclusion of everything else.
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
I never said pitching “to the exclusion of everything else”. I basically said that pitching had a much higher “draft priority” than everything else. You’re trying to put “your” words into “my” mouth. No thanks. I have literacy standards to uphold.
Trajan - September 18, 2009
MLB’s scouting report is ancient in baseball scouting terms…from early February 2009, which doesn’t give you any information about most of his senior year of high school, nor does it give you any information about his first summer on the farm.
Your ho-hum OPS of “around .800” is actually a .864 OPS and is made up of a .380 OBP (which is excellent), and a .484 SLG (not too shabby). But stats are far less relevant at that level. What matters is how a guy works and how he approaches becoming a better baseball player. Those are development leagues. I just wanted to show that your version of his stats are a bit misleading.
Ben Badler from Baseball America said less than a week ago:
As a reminder, Beckham was the #1 overall pick of the Devil Rays in 2008.
The Stubbs draft situation is old news…2003…and Drayton has since shown signs of change.
As for your “wondering what’s so "first round" about him”, here are some more recent updates and evaluations of the guy:
BaseballAmerica back in July:
Baseball Prospectus in July:
And Jim Callis in July:
Your writing style is nice, your content needs work.
AstroAndy - September 17, 2009
great minds think alike, andy
Evan Hochschild - September 17, 2009
There is nothing misleading about a .276 batting avg. in a rookie league where the pitching is less than stellar. Anything below .900 ops in a rookie league does not, personally, draw my interest. I really have no opinion about Mier except that there exists another view than the way overly optimistic view you and those of your disposition relate.
Badler said he was faster than Beckham. Being “faster” than “slow” doesn’t tell me much. Badler said he didn’t have Beckham’s bat speed but had a “better approach at the plate”. The bat speed comment should be a concern and the “better approach” is about as clear as mud.
The rest of your quoted Mier critics were early in the rookie season. As I said he eventually finished .276. But I agree. Rookie stats are meaningless. But that does not deny the truth that Houston should have drafted Gibson or Arnett before Mier. Houston badly needs to start building a pitching staff. Otherwise we’re going to see Hampton and Ortiz (or their equivalent) again on the mound in 2010, 2011, 2012 and maybe 2013. Mier doesn’t fill the need. The other 18 year old college drop outs they signed are at least 6 years away. Houston has missed the playoffs 4 straight years. I, for one, have no intention of buying yet another box seat until management shows a committment to winning on the field instead of winning on the income statement.
Trajan - September 18, 2009
Batting average alone, no matter the level, is not exactly the best measure of a player’s offensive ability. The other rate stats are better, but below AA, statistical output generally isn’t a good indicator of how good the prospect is.
Setting a .900 OPS as one’s low-water mark is pretty harsh. Jeter didn’t get above .900 OPS until AA. His 18-year old season in the rookie league, he OPS’d .611.
I understand the desire to take college-level pitching early in the draft in the hopes that they help the big club sooner, especially when the big club badly needs consistent pitching. But very few ballclubs draft for need. Most of them take “best player available”. Plenty of honest debate could be had about who the best player available is at any given spot. That’s a lot of the fun of the draft, right? But I don’t think many people had Arnett higher on their boards than Mier. As for Gibson, the injury scared off a lot of teams.
As for building up pitching in our system, we’ve got a pretty good little corps that just finished up the year in Lexington.
You say “Mier doesn’t fill the need.” But the system is threadbare in more than just the pitching department, and middle infield was no exception. The 2009 draft looks like it might have gotten some decent middle infield prospects into the system finally. Quality defense up the middle helps every pitcher.
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
as for Drew Stubbs...
According to Richard Justice, the Astros had a deal in place for him. But Bud Selig intervened and persuaded McLane to withdraw the offer because it was far over slot (he was a lower round pick who was committed t UT). At the time, McLane and a lot of other owners were trying to follow Selig’s slotting system for the draft. Since that time, more and more teams have ignored Selig’s draft guidelines, which means that it will probably become meaningless at some point.
clack - September 17, 2009
Can't blame them
since it’s just going to force them to spend more money in the future… much like higher and higher priced free agents.
entropic soul - September 17, 2009
Stubbs had agreed to "below" slot money
The amount of money Stubbs agreed to with Houston’s scouts was “below” the slot money at that time. Houston’s scouts were estatic about the possibility of signing him for so little. Why would Selig step in if Houston’s scouts were more than happy with the money involved. I think Justice source of information about Selig being the culprit is a bit suspect at best. According to my sources Houston offered approximately $900,000. Stubbs accepted that amount. When in came time to sign the contract, the amount was all of a sudden $500,000. Stubbs declined, played another year for UT and was signed by Cincy the following year. If you know another story please let me know. Justice relies on the Astro organization for all of his Astros data. He has a vested interest in not relating too much controversial information.
Trajan - September 18, 2009
all I know on it is from Justice's columns....
which appeared a long time ago. He could be wrong. However, I don’t think the Astros and McLane were happy with his account; so I don’t think he was stating an “official” Astros line. It is possible that he was getting information from people within the Astros’ organization who disagreed…again, I’m speculating. Justice said the offer was above slot, and Selig complained to Drayton.
clack - September 18, 2009
here is a column in which Justice recounts the story of Stubbs.
Link here (look midway or so through the column).
Some excerpts:
[reader question]Can you explain what happened with the Drew Stubbs deal. I know the deal was nixed by Bud but not sure why or how that was done.
You’ve come to the right place. I am the foremost authority on that topic. And the Astros are appreciative everytime I explain it again.
“Please don’t mention Drew Stubbs to me,” a club source said. “I get sick thinking about the way we handled that.”
They handled it badly.
Before the draft, Stubbs and his dad, Rick, told any interested team their asking price was $900,000. Otherwise, Drew was headed to Texas.
In other words, he wanted second-round money no matter where he went in the draft. The Astros discussed the matter internally and agreed it was a good deal.
The deal fell apart when a representative of commissioner Bud Selig’s office telephoned McLane and told him the price for Stubbs was too high.
In baseball’s new economic world, the commissioner’s office essentially sets the prices teams can pay draft picks. Some teams such as the Yankees, Dodgers and Angels ignore the guidelines.
What’s strange is that the Astros also ignore them. In 2003, they used the 389th pick on Jimmy Barthmaier, a high school pitcher from Georgia. He was taken in the 13th round but got second-round money ($750,000).
Selig’s office ignored Barthmaier’s deal, but when the Astros wanted to sign Stubbs for second-round money, the phone call came. Stubbs, McLane was told, should be paid $450,000.
“I think Drayton panicked,” a club source said. “He didn’t want the commissioner mad at him. Barthmaier was such a low pick, it kind of flew under the radar. Stubbs was a third-round pick getting second-round money, and I guess they noticed.”
clack - September 18, 2009
Never heard that about Jeter. Is that really true? If so I hate myself.
Astrosws20 - September 17, 2009
well since you asked....
Wikipedia entry for Phil Nevin:
A Buster Olney book review about the Yankees has a discussion of the 71 year old Newhouse, who was the AL MVP in 1944 and 1945, and told the Astros that whomever drafted Derek Jeter would play in numerous World Series games. Some excerpts:
O’Brien, mentioned above, is Dan O’Brien who would later leave the Astros to become the Reds’ GM. I think he was Asst. GM for the Astros.
clack - September 17, 2009
I want to cry
Astrosws20 - September 17, 2009
meh
on the grand scheme of silly things the Astros have done (even in the early ‘90s) that’s minor.
Besides, I like hating that smug bastard too much.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
And imagine Jeter having to play 81 games on Astroturf.
Ground balls don’t transfer as much energy to Astroturf as they do grass. His horrible range issues would only be compounded in an environment like that.
I hate that the Astros traded away Kenny Lofton, or that they didn’t give Curt Schilling a shot in the rotation (to be fair, he had the prima dona complex even as a young reliever), or that they didn’t protect Bobby Abreu, but the Jeter thing never really bothered me.
Only_A_Lad - September 18, 2009
When we had that article a couple of years ago asking what would the Astros have been like if Jeter had been drafted by them, I suggested that the Astros might have ended up putting him in CF, where he would have been a HOF worthy CFer, too. The reason I said that is because it seems like the Astros had a tendency to pigeonhole fast, athletic young hitters into the CF position, perhaps to speed up their advance through the minors.
clack - September 18, 2009
Newhouser would have been unhappy, though, if the Astros would have made him a CFer, though. Newhouser said that Jeter had the best hands he had seen in 50 years of scouting. Hmmm…how about Jeter as a 2d baseman. Biggio might have been converted to CF instead of 2d base (the Astros considered making his a CFer when they decided he should convert from catcher), and he would have been a plus-plus CFer when he still had speed. Oh, well…speculation….
clack - September 18, 2009
Career triples has to be Cesar Cedeno. As for the 92 WS MVP Phil Nevin sounds right.
Astrosws20 - September 17, 2009
Hampton...
Thinking about the Neyer column on Hampton….
realistically we got as much as we could expect out of Mike Hampton. If you had asked how many innings we would get out of Mike when the season started (we may have had a poll, for all I can remember), I would have guessed 100-120. We got 112 innings. Neyer talks about how bad Hampton’s 5+ ERA was, but I think that is deceptive. I think most of us would have taken his 4.59 FIP before the season started. Unfortunately, Mike Hampton’s groundball ways made him take his lumps after the Astros infield defense declined dramatically last year.
clack - September 17, 2009
Drayton might learn something from the Rockets
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6622733.html
Turns out, if you put a good team out there, people want to see them play.
Only_A_Lad - September 17, 2009
An in-law works part-time in Astros group sales
When Astros win,bBusiness is good; much tougher when they lose
Joe in Birmingham - September 17, 2009
Oh, and the 2010 schedule was apparently released
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/6620554.html
Opening day is at home against the Giants. Interleague is against the AL East again.
Only_A_Lad - September 17, 2009
Okay, after all this talk about signing pitching staff
We’re pretty well-set on pitching compared to infield prospects. Norris, Paulino, Lyles, and Seaton all have a good chance of being solid starting pitchers, and a few other names jump out as well. Wandy will likely be here and reliable for at least three or four more years.
I don’t know about Mier specifically, but I do know we hardly have ANY decent infield prospects. We need to be focusing heavily on all four positions with an eye toward both offense and defense.
OremLK - September 18, 2009
One guy you might keep your eye on is 2B Jose Altuve. He’s 19 and just split his season between Greeneville and Tri-City. Eyewitness reports from folks up in Greeneville say that he’s really small, but very quick, giving him great range on defense. He’s had a good eye at the plate, too…only 26 strikeouts in 295 plate appearances this season. He managed 34 walks as well.
Seeing his transition from Greeneville to Tri-City makes me think he’ll have a slow climb up the organizational ladder, but his plate discipline is encouraging.
AstroAndy - September 18, 2009
Could definitely use more speed.
Sounds like a guy who won’t be ready for a few more years though.
OremLK - September 19, 2009
i hadn’t noticed his splits between Greenville and Tri-City, cause the last i looked he was doing fine up there. The sample size at Tri-City is small but still indicative of struggling some. The worrisome part is it could just be regressing back to his mean, he wasn’t impressive last year then all of a sudden burst on the scene then back after his promotion. I like his discipline at the plate and stolen bases totals. I dont’ really care that he’s small, that usually gives people like that a little something extra for motivation.
Subber10 - September 19, 2009
if he is only 19 years old, it’s hard to even use the term “regression to mean.” He, and all of his peers are evolving and developing, rather than moving toward an established level. We just have to be patient and see how they develop.
clack - September 19, 2009
regression to mean is probably not the correct term, your right, i meant more along the lines of playing at his actual level and that his success was more of an abberition and not indicative of his development. I hope otherwise cause i like the fact that he’s small, i like guys that go against the protypical mold of a baseball player or any athlete, who can honestly say they hate doug flutie or mugsy bouges.
Subber10 - September 19, 2009
One thing that the baseball reference and fangraph stat pages don’t show is that after his 2008 season at Greeneville and before his 2009 “breakout” in Greeneville, he went and played in the Astros’ Venezuelan Winter League. That’s where he first showed signs of improving.
<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ligaparalela.com.ve%2F%3Fejecutar%3Dequipo_stats%26id_equipo%3D10&sl=es&tl=en&history_state0=" >In his time there, he batted .341/.441/.480 over 142 plate appearances. He K’ed only 15 times, and walked 19 times. He also stole 9 bases for a 75% stolen base percentage. He had 8 doubles and 3 triples.
AstroAndy - September 19, 2009
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