Lance Berkman - Should He Return to Houston? Do You Want Him Back?

1) Berkman tried to come back in the offseason but ownership said no due to all spots being taken up. I would love him back but we cant with el buffalo and his bloated contract grazing in LF and the young wallace at 1B. Like OremLK said its probably not best for berkman to come back due to younger players getting close. I would love Lee to go away and bring Berkman in for a year to man LF but whose to say he has the same kind of year like 2011.
2)Its too early to write off Johnson, no one expects him to hit .300 again but they do expect .270 – .280 from him which hes not far from last i saw he was at .230 and it was climbing due to him starting to hit to RF which is what hes best at. Ensberg got power happy and started trying to pull everything which is why he fell off the earth. If by the end of the year hes still hitting in the low .200’s then maybe theres a red flag thrown but for now we need to stick with him, or would you like pedro feliz back, because we have no young 3B close in the minors.
3) yes i have also noticed wallace’s power numbers or lack thereof, but he still a kid its his first full season and power usually develops later. My concern is him chasing balls in the dirt and not being able to turn on the inside pitch. Everyone pitches him in and when they miss he makes them pay (with singles), but when they do make their pitch he looks like hes lost at the plate.

Berkman’s on a team competing to win a world series. If he REALLY wanted to come to Houston b/c he likes it and he’s a Houstonian I wouldn’t want him on the team. I would want a winner that isn’t comfortable with losing.

I still think there is enough free agent depth coming this off season to reasonably remake the team in to a potential contender, and these two could be a part of that, preferably both. Roy is having a great year too, and if these guys are healthy at the end of the season and leading up to the next, get them. Them and someone to play third base and, I would even look for second impact bat for the infield or outfield. Bench Lee, and have Berkman split time at left and first but only to give Wallace a day off or have Wallace make a handful of starts at third to break the third baseman, that kind of thing. Of course they would need a second reliable and good starter along with some bullpen pieces but again, there should be many arms and bats available after this season. My thing with keeping Lee around as a bench player is I want a guy that can come in as a pinch hitter that has power that makes the pitcher work more, at least when he doesn’t ground out on the first pitch. I think being a more situational hitter would force Lee to use more discipline at the plate, at least one would hope. Same could be said of Berkman to an extent if used slightly more as a bench guy to keep him in better playing shape longer. There will need to be progressive and solid free agent moves the next two seasons along with other things for the Astros to either one, be competitive or two, building for a run in 2013 or 14. I don’t think they need to wait that long. Houston is a good baseball town and if the new owner bolstered the payroll and turned loose on some quality players they could put it together. Think of Bud Norris being your number three starter behind two really good pitchers and Myers and Wandy filling out the back. The Cardinals are going to hurt if they sign Pujols because he will be eating money, they have four impact players that are or could become free agents next year, Carpenter, Wainwright, Molina, and Berkman, that are not named Pujols. Matt Holliday’s signing was a bugger as far as timing with Pujols coming off the books unless they planned to keep both and build around them down the road, the uh, road that ends in the fall. Good post ToyCannon.