Good (and humorous) point Clutch. Does anyone know if Soriano ever learned to layoff the low and away pitch? I've never seen someone swing the same pitch out of the strike zone so many times in a row.
how did soriano fall so fast? a year ago or so he's looking like a badass second baseman who is going to annually give you an amazing 40/40 and now people are saying "woah, not brandon backe" when talking about trading him. i guess when you can't field and strike out a ton that will happen but it still seems like he would be valuable. of course, $8M is a lot of money.
On the eight million....I'm sure the Rangers would pay a good portion of it considering they need pitching and the Astros have Burke.
LOL. I can't even watch him bat. I usually surf for a couple of minutes and come back to see the damage done. Sadly, he has become the butt of jokes with me and my sons, but realistically, he's done everything that management has asked of him.
That's one hell of a joke. I mean, even given the increasing strikeout totals and the perennial sucker-for-the-outside-slider, dude scores 90-110 runs every year, gets 60+ RBI from the leadoff position, 35+ doubles, and has a decent OBP. I wish your family were laughing at me for the same reason.
If the Astros are planning on increasing the payroll to acquire Soriano, Clemens, & Beltran then I say so long Backe. But sounds like a pipe dream.
This is unlike Dreyton to acquire so much payroll. Frankly, I don't see it happening. I like Backe. At this point in his young career, he is the perfect safety net. Unfortuantely, I don't see us signing Beltran either. 13.5 mil will not be enough. These players are all about the money. I hope I'm wrong.
I think I will give Brandon the benefit of the doubt. I like him and I want to see him become a great pitcher. He showed us something last season. I think he has the talent to be a lot better than what we have seen so far. Given the downside you'll are talking about regarding Soriano, then I say forget it. Besides, you get rid of Brandon and Clemens doesn't re-sign, then what? Now, we have some major pitching problems.
You can look at this both ways... but a pitcher is always just one throw away from his career being over. Brandon hasn't had any arm problems, because he hasn't been pitching for that long. Also, nobody knows if he can throw 200+ innings, because he's never done it before. Ask Roy and Wade how tough it is to adjust to throwing as much as you have to in the major leagues... hell, Roy was worn out at the end of THIS year, and he's been a full time starter since the middle of 2001. (he also similiarly wore out at the end of 2002... couldn't get the 20 wins that year in his last 3 starts). Also, Clutch brought up the EXCELLENT example of Scott Elarton... who once he started pitching full time, had all sorts of problems. The bottom line... I like Brandon, he's got good stuff, he's got moxy, and he's now shined on the big stage.... but if you can trade him for a very young perenial 40/40 talent, you do so. (even though I doubt the $$$ will work out to make this trade, since Sori wants a nice deal).
did the Rangers ever experiment with putting Soriano in the outfield? just a thought, maybe that is what they are thinking with Biggio and Burke at second already.
Not at the expense of the rest of the team. You have a fine young player at 2B in Burke and Biggio ready to step in until Burke is ready. Starting pitching or the lack thereof cost us a WS appearance. Why would you weaken us further at that position? Backe is a keeper and Soriano and his salary can stay away.
relief pitching (or lack thereof) cost us a world series. i realize it was clemens, oswalt, and pray for rain but nonetheless the starting pitching did good work most of the time (even if it wasn't for a lot of innings). but if damn near every set up guy didn't suck royally we might have made it.
If we had somebody other than Munro , OSwalt, Clemens, or Backe on three days rest, the bullpen would not have been depended on so much. Outside of Micelli, the bullpen was as good as could be expected. I know it would been nice to have one more stopper in the bullpen but don't you think it would have been greater value to have Pettitte and/or Miller available so you would not have to goto the bullpen so early in Munro's starts. Not to mention the tired Clemens and Oswalt who could not get deep into games due to the many innings they have piled up every three days.
