Taveras....

[jaklewein]

Been wondering about this....

Is Taveras ever going to take up switch hitting again?  I'm almost suprised that he didn't give winter ball a go, even if in a limited role to get some ABs in....so he could decide come March-April.

[CDastros]

I wanted to see Taveras switch hit as well.  I was surprised to see that he hit right handed hitters better than left handed hitters.  I guess if he hit left handed, his BA would be even higher vs right handers because of the extra couple of steps he would get out of the box.

Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

I think its been a long season for all the Astros players so I am not to upset that Willy is not playing winter ball.  His game is so dependent on his speed that I want him to have fresh legs for the start of the season.

[Limey]

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Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

This would be nice.  So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  You can lead a camel to water, but an old dog can't change his spots.

[MusicMan]

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Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

This would be nice.  So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  You can lead a camel to water, but an old dog can't change his spots.

I think just responding with your sig would have summed it up nicely.

[Jacksonian]

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So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  

I don't think Taveras has time to work for Habitat for Humanity during the season.

[S.P. Rodriguez]

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Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

This would be nice.  So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  You can lead a camel to water, but an old dog can't change his spots.

I think just responding with your sig would have summed it up nicely.

Yes, but we would have missed the beauty of mixed metaphors.  Pure genius...

I have a Jar-Head buddy who lived by that little saying about wanting and shitting (his other favorite was "Not cocky, just confident").   Always figured it was a Semper Fi thing.  Regardless, the wisdom in that statement is awe inspiring!

[Limey]

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I have a Jar-Head buddy who lived by that little saying about wanting and shitting (his other favorite was "Not cocky, just confident").   Always figured it was a Semper Fi thing.  Regardless, the wisdom in that statement is awe inspiring!

I only know it from the movie.  I had a hard time choosing a favourite line for my sig., but settled on that one because it seemed particularly appropriate given all of the hot stove discussions going on currently.

The runner-up was "You ain't gonna shit right for a week".

[Froback]

*WARNING - HIJACKING TAKING PLACE*

speaking of Hot Stove, I did a really quick (slightly flawed) numbers crunch for the Salary for 2006.

I still have 1 pitcher left to sign (no Clemens yet) and 1 batter (have Chavez and Quintero as catchers and no Ausmus)... And I have currently just under an $81 Million payroll. (and I think I am off by about 3 mil on the big 5, salary-wise)

I have the following figures to some arbitration guys:

Mike Lamb: $2 Mil
Brad Lidge: $3.5 Mil
Morgan Ensberg: $5 Mil
Adam Everett: $3 Mil

And I gave some minor raises to most of the other <500K people.

This year will be really skewed as far as Salaries given Bagwell and Pettitte's balloon year.  But almost nobody is signed beyond 06 other than Berkman... This is Roy, Andy and Biggio's last year under contract and Bagwell has a probable buy-out/renegotiation for 07.  So this year will have a really high salary, unless some contracts are renegotiated and extended which just puts off some other bad year.  I figure they take a major hit salarywise this year to get into a better situation for 07 and beyond when they are likely to be adding FAs or re-signing players.

I expect Roy to be involved in some long term deal which will keep him for another 3-5 years.  But not to kick in until 07, since 06 he is already under contract.

[EasTexAstro]

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Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

This would be nice.  So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  You can lead a camel to water, but an old dog can't change his spots.

I know not everyone reads these posts the same way, but I thought it meant some line drives to the gap or something. I would like to see Taveras stretching singles into doubles rather then grounders into singles. All it takes is lifting the ball over the middle infielders. When I read Willy and driving the ball in the same comment, that is what I am thinking about.

[S.P. Rodriguez]

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Personally I am starting to think Willy needs to learn how to drive the ball.  Its great to pound the ball on the ground and get on base, but I would like for him to be able to drive runs in when he gets in that situation.

This would be nice.  So would 30 - 35 homes a year.  You can lead a camel to water, but an old dog can't change his spots.

I know not everyone reads these posts the same way, but I thought it meant some line drives to the gap or something. I would like to see Taveras stretching singles into doubles rather then grounders into singles. All it takes is lifting the ball over the middle infielders. When I read Willy and driving the ball in the same comment, that is what I am thinking about.

From all the feedback Jim and some of the other Austin posters have offered, I'd be surprised if that line drive power doesn't develop.  From all reports, he hit the ball hard in the minors.

[Limey]

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I know not everyone reads these posts the same way, but I thought it meant some line drives to the gap or something. I would like to see Taveras stretching singles into doubles rather then grounders into singles. All it takes is lifting the ball over the middle infielders. When I read Willy and driving the ball in the same comment, that is what I am thinking about.

Willy's strength (in the majors, at least) has been his ability to beat out a ground ball.  Having him hit ground balls, and then expect him to be able to lift it over the infield at will just seems like eating the cake you have...or something like that.

Next week, we can discuss why Berkman doesn't lay down a bunt more often when we just need a runner on base.

[Froback]

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I know not everyone reads these posts the same way, but I thought it meant some line drives to the gap or something. I would like to see Taveras stretching singles into doubles rather then grounders into singles. All it takes is lifting the ball over the middle infielders. When I read Willy and driving the ball in the same comment, that is what I am thinking about.

Willy's strength (in the majors, at least) has been his ability to beat out a ground ball.  Having him hit ground balls, and then expect him to be able to lift it over the infield at will just seems like eating the cake you have...or something like that.

Next week, we can discuss why Berkman doesn't lay down a bunt more often when we just need a runner on base.

I would say that the ability to get more "normal" hits would be a good thing and something he should be able to do.  I don't think anyone has ever been very successful in the Majors when 40-50% of your hits are bunt/infield hits.  I think Willy came close to the Major League record for those type of hits for a season.  His stroke looks like he could develop into a line-drive type hitter.  This does not mean he gives up his groundball/bunt approach when he thinks is right to do that, but when he comes up in a RBI opportunity or just to keep the defense honest, he needs to be able to hit something other than ground balls.

I think early in last year you saw him surprise alot of teams with his speed and ability to beat out some plays, but later in the year you saw hyper-agressive play by the infielders when he was up, knowing they could take chances cause he wasn't going to hit it by them.  And then he was beating out plays less and less.

I am not looking for Taveras to hit HRs... I wouldn't care if he NEVER hits one (unless it is inside the park variety).  But he needs to work on spraying the ball to the gaps or at least soft "ducksnorts" that fall just beyond the infields and infront of the OFers.

[HudsonHawk]

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I only know it from the movie.  

My grandmother used to say that all the time.  Along with:

"He/She/You couldn't pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel."

One of my personal favorties.

[NeilT]

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I know not everyone reads these posts the same way, but I thought it meant some line drives to the gap or something. I would like to see Taveras stretching singles into doubles rather then grounders into singles. All it takes is lifting the ball over the middle infielders. When I read Willy and driving the ball in the same comment, that is what I am thinking about.

Willy's strength (in the majors, at least) has been his ability to beat out a ground ball.  Having him hit ground balls, and then expect him to be able to lift it over the infield at will just seems like eating the cake you have...or something like that.

Next week, we can discuss why Berkman doesn't lay down a bunt more often when we just need a runner on base.

I would say that the ability to get more "normal" hits would be a good thing and something he should be able to do.  I don't think anyone has ever been very successful in the Majors when 40-50% of your hits are bunt/infield hits.  I think Willy came close to the Major League record for those type of hits for a season.  His stroke looks like he could develop into a line-drive type hitter.  This does not mean he gives up his groundball/bunt approach when he thinks is right to do that, but when he comes up in a RBI opportunity or just to keep the defense honest, he needs to be able to hit something other than ground balls.

I think early in last year you saw him surprise alot of teams with his speed and ability to beat out some plays, but later in the year you saw hyper-agressive play by the infielders when he was up, knowing they could take chances cause he wasn't going to hit it by them.  And then he was beating out plays less and less.

I am not looking for Taveras to hit HRs... I wouldn't care if he NEVER hits one (unless it is inside the park variety).  But he needs to work on spraying the ball to the gaps or at least soft "ducksnorts" that fall just beyond the infields and infront of the OFers.

If nothing else, Willy has to expect his startling speed to slow a bit as time goes by.  It seems to me that if he can't work more walks and get better hits, he's going to have a short shelf life.  I think that's the real reason he lost the ROY.  He sure is fun to watch though.

[cc]

Ground balls - hard ones, soft ones, bunted ones - will be this guy's meal ticket.  Fly balls will lead to a quick demise similar to that of Gerald Young.

[VirtualBob]

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Ground balls - hard ones, soft ones, bunted ones - will be this guy's meal ticket.  Fly balls will lead to a quick demise similar to that of Gerald Young.

Agreed.  An interesting comparison is Maury Wills.  Both stole lots of bases in their first full year at almost an 80% success rate; both had only about 20 XBH's in first 600 ABs; very similar AVG,OBP,SLG; and very similar ability to get on base on almost any contact ... usually on the ground.  Willy K's more and walks less, but he is also 23 (vs. Maury's 27).  Wills was not exactly an offensive terror, but he contributed regularly with his speed ... 104 SB's one year and arguably the one key ingredient on a series of Dodger teams even more anemic than our home town favorites.  

I do think that Willy will develop a little more line-drive power as he matures, but speed is his game, and I (for one) hope he is a fixture in CF for quite a while.

[Limey]

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I don't think anyone has ever been very successful in the Majors when 40-50% of your hits are bunt/infield hits.

See Castillo, Luis.

[homer]

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I only know it from the movie.  

My grandmother used to say that all the time.  Along with:

"He/She/You couldn't pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel."

One of my personal favorties.

'Sometimes I want to kick him/her so high that the bluebirds build in his butt before s/he comes back down.'

'S/he doesn't know his/her asshole from a hole in the ground.'

[JaneDoe]

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I only know it from the movie.  

My grandmother used to say that all the time.  Along with:

"He/She/You couldn't pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel."

One of my personal favorties.

'Sometimes I want to kick him/her so high that the bluebirds build in his butt before s/he comes back down.'

'S/he doesn't know his/her asshole from a hole in the ground.'

Well, I'll be John Brown.

Quit looking at me like a calf at a new gate.

[lc_db]

"You can put kittens in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits"

[Cnote]

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"You can put kittens in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits"

"Gravy Train on Biscuits wheels"

"So ugly she has to sneak up on a glass of water"

"Never thump a free watermelon"

[CJM]

"You don't know shit from Shinola."

[HudsonHawk]

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"You don't know shit from Shinola."

"Shit fire and save matches"

"Uglier'n a mud fence"

"Wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful"

I miss my grandmother.

[Browneye]

Classics I learned from my basic training drill sergeant:
 
There is only one thief in the Military, everyone else is trying to get their shit back.

What is the max effective range of an excuse?

Thought, thought he farted but he really shit his pants.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

You guys are as funny as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

Spottswoode: Remember, there is no "I" in "Team America".
Intelligence: [pause] Yes, there is.

[VirtualBob]

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Classics I learned from my basic training drill sergeant:
 
There is only one thief in the Military, everyone else is trying to get their shit back.

What is the max effective range of an excuse?

Thought, thought he farted but he really shit his pants.

If the army had meant you to have a life, they would have issued you one in basic training.

[Browneye]

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 If the army had meant you to have a life, they would have issued you one in basic training.

or a wife..

That boy is happier than a puppy with 2 peters

[Rebel Jew]

I am not looking for Taveras to hit HRs... I wouldn't care if he NEVER hits one (unless it is inside the park variety).  But he needs to work on spraying the ball to the gaps or at least soft "ducksnorts" that fall just beyond the infields and infront of the OFers.


He tried this a lot last year, and it seemed like most of his non-infield hits were like this.  A problem I see, however, is that he seems to only be able to spray hits into shallow right or right center, while it's the left side of the infield that plays so far up on him.  Conversely, he only seems to hit bunts or soft grounders to the left side of the infield, while it's the right side that plays back on him (relatively), especially with men on base.