Pence actually really impressed me the way he handled the pressure of being "The Guy" for the Astros this year. Perhaps he just lucked into a long hot streak for 3 1/2 months, but he stepped up and produced as the #3 hitter way better than I thought he would.
Not that I am saying he has any baseball sense whatsoever, or that I think the trade was anything but a brilliant and necessary move...
The problem I have with "the Guy" is it is a foreign concept in baseball unless you're the ACE pitcher (or stopper). Unlike the NBA, where it is one or two superstars and a bunch of guys who rebound, the idea in baseball is the *best team* wins. Pence never showed (to me) he understood *team* as much as he understood "play hard and all out and let the rest take care of itself". We often said that if you could place Bagwell intelligence, Biggio's intensity into Pence's skill set, you'd have the player who could lead this team forever. But somehow, somewhere Gunther got the idea is that all he had to do is play hard (and recklessly) and the *team* would benefit.
Well, yes and no.
A team benefits when a #3 hitter knows how to handle the situation beyond "grip it and rip it". A right fielder who plays balls to the wall will serve the team best when he hits a cut off man and takes correct routes to a flyball to make the job of a pitcher easier. A situational hitter knows that with less than two outs, a pitcher struggling out on the mound and the bases loaded, you don't swing at the first offering from the pitcher just because you're impatient and unable to be anything other than a cocker spaniel with a bat. I saw enough GIDP to end rallies from Pence to know he did not understand how to be a leader on a team that needed a team concept to win. Andy is right, Pence is about being around others who will lead and extend him the grace to be the crazy-eyed, aloof, but very talented goof-ball that makes himself a fan favorite (much like others who endear themselves because of their goofiness). Without the others doing the professional job of a team baseball player, Pence is way out of his element and will be what we saw in Houston.
Very frustrating as a waste of talent.
