I'm not sure how he didn't catch it, or get closer to it, or at least sell out for it. Wow. Go Carolina!
Everyone knew that Dubon would be the most productive on the list with Sanchez being a close second...
Looking at Bregman it looks alarmingly the same curve as with in same age range Bogaerts, Betts, Machado. Both team and Bregman might regret this deal. Getting offended by Red Sox 160m offer and going for extra 10-15m and going from park he rakes doubles off the green monster to cold warning track killer park for 5 years. Chigago ain't Philly or NY but it ain't Colorado either so pressure starting to rise and it's only first year. Sanzhes hitting .300 with 800 OPS in Toronto. He looked just so confused in Astros.
Sanchez is doing what he always does, hitting RHP well. I'm gonna give the Astros the benefit of the doubt that they expected he would do that this season but made a choice based on roster and salary constraints. If they actually traded him because he struggled in his cup of coffee last season this organization really is in trouble.
While looking up other stuff on B-R the other day I was a bit struck by this: .296 .410 .549 .959 .297 .408 .540 .948 Berkman and Bagwell as Astros. Still strange to me that Lance never even got a sniff at the HOF, he got something like 1% of the vote his first year and thus got kicked off the ballot. eta: here's Yordan .298 .392 .578 .971
He never really was the "best" hitter in the league. Led the NL in RBI once and 2B twice, that's it. He was just really, really good. The HOF **** is just ridiculous. To not even be considered?
I loved Berkman but he needed 1-2 more good years. Bagwell played 15 years= 2150 games. Berkman only had 1592 for the Astros and finished with less than 1900. Bagwell had 1500+ Runs and RBI. Berkman had fewer than 1100 of each as an Astro and finished with fewer than 1250 of each. Bagwell 449 HR. Berkman fewer than 350 as an Astro and 400 total. Bagwell 969 extra base hits. Berkman fewer than 750 as an Astro and 800 for his career. Bagwell 202 SB. Berkman didn't get to 90. Bagwell MVP votes in 10 seasons winning once. ROY, gold glove, 3 silver sluggers. Berkman MVP votes in 7 seasons with his best finished 3rd (twice). None of the other honors. I love Berkman but he was simply short on the resume.
I never said he was a HOF, I said the dismissal of him was ludicrous. .293 .406 .537 .943 .298 .421 .557 .977 Lance Berkman vs Mickey Mantle, since they're both switch hitters
I always got the impression that Bagwell and Biggio treated Berkman like the little brother. My opinion was Berkman was overlooked even on his own team, even when he was the best player on the team. by the time it was Lance Berkman’s team, the team was dealing with the Carlos Lee contract and other bad decisions. Lance never got his true chance as the face of the team. Even though he was plenty talented to do so. Berkman definitely had the talent to be a HOF guy, but I don’t think he had the commitment from ownership to push his case. McLane absolutely loved Bagwell’s and Biggio, and he pushed their marquee status to no ends. So much that Biggio eventually got himself in the conversation. McClane would yap about how Bagwell was going to be the 1st Astros Hall of Famer. Berkman was a happy go fella, never appeared salty like some of his peers.
The HOF is very much a club -- and Lance was liked by some of his teammates, but he doesn't lobby for the HOF and the guys he was close to (Bagwell) really don't lobby for guys and are not in that inner group that has access to voters. It also doesn't help him that he wasn't on a team with a lot of national exposure, and he also did not exactly have the best work ethic and was overshadowed by others in that era. I think that a number of things came together to keep Berkman out of the HOF ...... if he had played on another team, if he had taken better care of himself and played longer...... if he had cared about his numbers.... he was and is a HOF talent and his numbers are vastly under-rated for all those reasons. I have said before when I worked for the Astros and in baseball many moons ago that steroids were beyond rampant, no one discusses pitchers using them.... players cycling them properly and using certain drugs to avoid detection.... and in some cases guys getting other people's samples tested as their own. There are only two guys I would bet my life on having used steroids....... Tim Bogar and Lance Berkman. With Berkman you got what you got -- he wasn't going to do or change anything, he was going to play like he did in Little League...... eat what he wanted, take the field when he wanted, workout when he wanted ....etc. Taking PED's was just too much effort.
Exactly, athletes have pushed the limits of performance ever since physical competition has been around! And when they can’t get any further naturally, they’ve tried everything known to man to circumvent nature. If the stuff was around, people definitely tried it; now the little caveat of properly testing was the only hold up to policing the athletes. Plus if there was no vocal upheaval by the public, why even stir the pot? Even Vince McMahon was giving out steroids to his wrestlers until the feds came calling! But people have to stop thinking that older generations weren’t pushing the limits of what they could get away with. Of course they were, maybe the economic incentives were not that high, but if someone was willing to risk their life to perform at their peak, they were going to try anything!
