Nice Article on Bidge

by Stros Bro on Mar 7, 2007 10:09 PM CST in Events

Andrea Adelson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 7, 2007

KISSIMMEE -- Craig Biggio looks the part, doesn't he? Looks like he was born to be a baseball player, born to become the current face of the Houston Astros franchise, to one day end up in the Hall of Fame.

What other way is there to explain what he has done? He has been loyal, consistent. He knows how to get the clutch hit, make sacrifices for the team without disagreement and always plays tough.

As Biggio enters his 20th season with the Astros, it wasn't ever certain, or obvious, that he would wind up here, on the brink of 3,000 hits. He nearly ended up in a much different place altogether.

Back in high school on Long Island, Biggio thought he was born to be a football player. He set the school record for single-season rushing yards, which stood for 22 years until a kid named Joe Montemurro broke it this year.

More...

I just thought this was a pretty decent article on Craig. Not really anything new that I didn't already know . . . but still a good article nonetheless.

John Lopez (not my favorite writer all time, but there are worse) seems basically shocked that the Astros probably won't have Pence on the opening day roster. Ya he's batting .750 for the spring... all what, 5 games? I still think it's too early to be shooing Pence into the 3000 hit category... but I'm by no means saying that if he keeps up his torrid numbers, that he shouldn't be on the opening day roster.

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Lopez's article...

is silly because it arrives at "obvious" conclusions about Pence's readiness for the majors based upon 12 at bats, with only two at bats against Glavine forming the apparent principal basis of his conclusion.

However, I haven't figured out the headline "yeah, but what about his on base percentage?" Is he taking a swipe at sabermetrics or (his peception of) "moneyball" advocates? Is he sarcastically mimicking criticism that Willy Taveras had too low an on base percentage? What am I missing?

by clack on Mar 8, 2007 8:18 AM CST 0 recs

I'm with ya

I think he just needed something to write about and couldn't think of anything... you'd think with his radio show now that he could be a little more thoughtful and at least wait a few weeks to start pulling for Pence.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Mar 8, 2007 8:52 AM CST up 0 recs

What gets lost in all this Pence talk

is that if he makes the opening day roster, somebody's got to go. I personally don't have any qualms about seeing Lane take a hike, but even if Lane is gone, somebody ELSE needs to go to keep the position player count at 13. Bruntlett seems like the next in line, unless you're bumping Lane AND Scott (Luke at least can head to Round Rock, Eric and Jason would have to pass through waivers). I think that's why the front office is cautious. I think they'd rather keep what they have in known commodities and allow Pence to play everyday against another higher level of pitching and continue to put up good numbers. I think the argument could have been made to move him up to AAA before the end of the year last year, which would have put him in a better position to make the ODR out of ST this year.

Pence is only going to make the club out of ST as a starter. For that to happen two of Lane, Scott, and Bruntlett would get bumped. I'm going under the bold assumption that Eric or Jason would get picked up, but maybe that's off-base. If Pence struggles, they'd probably send him down so he could continue to play everyday, but then we may not have a real major league RF available or we'd have to sacrifice a quality utility player.

by littlevisigoth on Mar 8, 2007 10:03 AM CST 0 recs

Bruntlett, Scott, etc.

Lopez has a column about Bruntlett, which you should check out if you haven't seen it.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/lopez/4611753.html

Bruntlett seems pessimistic about making the team, saying that he doesn't see that he has a place on the team as it is constructed now. I hate to see him go, and I would advice him to hang in there. But the fact is that he is definitely "on the bubble."

In the unlikely event Pence were to make the team, I think Scott is the most likely odd man out. I think he can still be optioned to Round Rock, unlike Lane. Also, if Pence is on the team, he will be the starter, and Lane probably is better suited for a backup role than Scott.

by clack on Mar 8, 2007 10:19 AM CST up 0 recs

No matter how good Pence does

If Scott has a decent sprint training, he'll be on the big club... Unless Scott just sucks it up and Pence does really well, I don't see Luke starting anywhere besides in the bigs.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Mar 8, 2007 12:35 PM CST up 0 recs

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Chicago Bleed Cubbie Blue	97	64	.602	0	Lost 4
Milwaukee Brew Crew Ball	90	72	.555	7.5	Lost 1
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