other than arm, which scott's wasnt great I call b.s.
Last I checked Wigg played 3b for the stros last year. I also don't think he is worse than Morgan at 3rd. Both average.
Whatever "waaaaaaay" means. And that is a huge assumption that Everett is healthy.
Well I think it hard to seperate Scott and Pence. I think Pence has more range, but Scott is better at judging balls and reacting a bit quicker, so I think it probably a wash overall. Neither has a great arm, but Scott was a better fundemental thrower (ie his throws were such that they hit the cut-off man, or could be cut-off better). I actually think Pence's arm strength isn't less than Scotts, but that makes the difference between them defensively. They about balance out with strengths and weaknesses.
Wigginton probably doesn't have the range that Ensberg did, but then I think Wigginton is much more consistent where as Ensberg could look great one play and terrible the next. Wigginton is about the same on each play. There is something to say about that. And with Ensberg's shoulder issue, I think he lost what ever advantage he had in strong throws. So again since Wigginton played most of the time after he was acquired, I don't see where this is even something to consider when comparing defenses. Ensberg was NEVER going to be the 3B in Houston this year, so why even think about it.
Tejada vs Everett is interesting because we have ZERO idea of what Everett will be able to do this year. Based on the fact that he WAS about the best in the game defensively it is very easy to assume that even less than 100% after the injury he would be better than Tejada. Also I don't know if anyone really tracks this (and if they do, how to pull it all together) but I wonder what the age progression/breakdown is for defense. Does a player hit there peak defensively around the same time as they do in batting? And thus have a similar downward trend as they get older? I am sure everyone gets worse as the get closer to 40, but I have seen quite a few guys keep doing A class defensive work long after their bat has shown considerable decline. The reason I bring this up is that Tejada was a very good defensive SS at one time. And it really has been over the past couple of years you have seen (and heard) about his decline defensively. I wonder if some of that might be related to injuries (which he did play through last year) and not staying in the best of shape during the off-season (which is also something said about him recently). I don't expect him to return to his best defensively, but I do wonder (much like I do with his bat) if this trade might rekindle the desire in him to be the best he can. If so, I don't think it any more unreasonable to expect a bounce-back year defensively since I am also expecting the same offensively.
That all being said it will still be a big drop off from Everett Pre-injury to Tejada this year. And Bruntlett was really good defensively. Not Everett Level, but probably about as good as Tejada was during his better defensive years. And we all know Loretta doesn't have nearly the range needed to play SS everyday, but in a pinch, he is better than their other options (because I doubt Matsui is moving to SS).
So there will be a big drop off at SS, but a big improvement in CF and 2B. So it is really hard to judge how the overall team defense will be impacted. The problem is you don't know where the balls put in play will go, although we know more go to SS than anywhere else. This does not mean that just because SS is less defensively that the team defense will go down, because now more balls will be played at 2B and in the Outfield (because Bourn will make Lee and Pence better because of his range to help cover some of their limitations).
I think you should expect some improvement in defense, but not a ton from 07. But then with the great unknown in Everett, you don't know how much worse it would be with Tejada instead of him. Then there is the other side of the ball too (which is what Drayton and SMITHWADE is counting on), where Tejada SHOULD be a huge improvement over Everett. Again we really don't know what to expect because Tejada is comming off a down year and one he was battling injury during. AND we now know he was a Steroid and Greenies user. The fact that he (in theory) will not be on them anymore what impact will that have to his expected production.
I think the team is banking on the loss of post-injury Everett in favor of Tejada will be a net gain in offense more than the net-loss in defense. Until they actually play, you just don't know. IF that works out in the Astros favor, than this team is vastly better because there is no question they are better defensively when looking at everyplace OTHER than SS.
