Comments on: Astros now showing “willingness” to trade Hunter Pence

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:14:00 +0000

I remember when baseball games were free to watch on tv and hear on radio and seats were reasonably priced. Now we have $2000 seats at yankee stadium, no free radio or tv and players get multimillion dollar salaries for hitting .250 or having 5.00 era. How has this enourmous increase in salaries and forced payment to hear or watch the game benefitted the fan? What value extra has been added to the game to legitmatize this?

By: foreverchipper10

foreverchipper10 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:39:41 +0000

Somebody needs to call the WAAHHHMBULANCE here.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:17:01 +0000

Apparently he just had an upset stomach. Would have been nice to get that report prior to 2 hours ago.

By: hittfamily

hittfamily — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:08:24 +0000

Ultimately, a trade for a player with 1 year of eligibility left or one who will be a free agent isnt about next year or the year after. It is about trying to win the maximum number of games in the 70+ games remaining this year. I’ll take the one with the higher OPS.

By: thekingdave

thekingdave — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:04:05 +0000

A) Pence is younger and under team control
B) Imagine those numbers in a lineup that actually has major league hitters

By: prionogenic

prionogenic — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:32:57 +0000

Just because a player has a higher BA than another doesn’t necessarily make him a better player than one with a lower BA. Your examples of players that have won MVP’s that have top 3 BA is not a convincing argument because they probably also had a very high OPS as well.

The logistical reason I would rather have Beltran is because he’s a rental that will be free for the team trading for him, he might cost fewer/lesser prospect than Pence, and you’re not on the hook for a couple years if you have talent in the upper levels of the minor leagues. Moreover, Beltran’s hitting better now than the beginning of the season, which if you just look at the entire season as an average you don’t appreciate the upwards trend in his productivity. With more power, he could provide a bigger boost for a contender down the stretch run.

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:29:28 +0000

I don’t want a Mets cast off who is finally healthy. I used to call the Mets gay, but thats an insult to gay people. The Mets stink worse then my nuts do. Give me Pence, throw him behind Howard and watch Howard explode. And give up whatever you have to. Brown, or any prospect we have to give up. Brown is young and may be a stud, but it isn’t happening this year. When he is a stud if he ever is a stud we will probably need pitching at that point. Who cares trade every prospect! Go for it now! The Red Sox are loaded, the Yankees are stacked (and they didn’t even get there 2nd stud pitcher yet) Lets go for it all now. GO PHILLIES!

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:16:27 +0000

The dude is batting .297 on the road……since when is .297 a bad batting average?

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:15:11 +0000

But instead you would rather give up top end prospects for a two month rental? Makes no sense at all. Also, 10 million for Hunter Pence is a very fair number, especially when you look at guys like Dan Uggla, Jayson Werth, Adam Dunn, etc who are just stealing money.

By: aclassyguyfromaclassytown

aclassyguyfromaclassytown — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:07:54 +0000

I think Beltran is over hyped. His best years are way behind him, and he’s injury prone. I wouldn’t want him on my softball team. I’m serious about that. What can I say, I’m a Phillies fan.

By: jbartdavis

jbartdavis — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:35:22 +0000

His ops away is 65 points lower, which stat is irrespective of games played

By: ajbarrell

ajbarrell — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:26:38 +0000

He does but far less doubles, Mostly wanted to point out the BA diff since thats thebaseballgods main stat it seems. Pence doesnt walk, doesnt hit for great power plays average defense. Give me the guy that hits for the same power, Walks a ton more and plays a decent RF and risk/reward wise is far less risky for simular or more reward anyday.

Only question with beltran is will he get hurt otherwise hes one of the better hitters in the NL. if we assume he wont hes by far the better choice, and the risk he will lowers the price to aquire him.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:19:15 +0000

Umm… he has more HR on the road and the other numbers sans AVG just might be done a tad because he has played 11 less games and had 42 less at bats on the road.

By: ajbarrell

ajbarrell — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:17:01 +0000

thats just this year also which is greatly better away from home then for his career, maybe hes figured out hitting away from home but betting 10mil per year PLUS top end prospects for that gamble is pretty steep imo.

By: ajbarrell

ajbarrell — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:15:39 +0000

G AB H 1B 2B 3B HR R RBI BB SO SB CS AVG
Home 51 207 68 45 17 2 4 25 35 16 43 5 0 .329
Away 40 165 49 35 7 0 7 20 26 8 39 2 0 .297

Pences home/away hes hitting .30 worse, 10less doubles walks half as much thats a pretty good split difference, from being a “Allstar” to being “above average” Would you give up tons of prospects and pay him 10+mil each of the next 2 years to be Above average for your team?

Beltran started slow but hes been on fire in july has the better post season track record and if your wrong dont resign him. The lesser cost norisk on future contracts and the mets picking up most of his tab make it a no brainer

By: jbartdavis

jbartdavis — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:15:24 +0000

Why dont you talk about his other away stats? Or do you feel you won the argument? Pence has a career .789 ops away from cracker jack park. Pedestrian at best.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:58:20 +0000

….interesting….excellent reporting.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:56:35 +0000

I meant “blanket statements”

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:56:16 +0000

Melky Cabrera pulled mid game and seen shaking hands with his teammates.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:55:59 +0000

I don’t know. No one knows what Amaro will do. It’ll make us all say holy sh!t, I’m pretty sure of that. It’s like a game with this guy. Him and Gillick in their PJ’s handing baseball cards back and forth and building line ups “how about this guy?”, with a cell phone on each ear. Well, that’s how I envision it anyway.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:54:03 +0000

Do you do any research before just making blank statements? Beltrans numbers are actually better at home than on the road, and Pence has more HR’s on the road than at home in 42 less at bats.

By: ajbarrell

ajbarrell — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:48:49 +0000

Id rather have beltran, He will cost less to get and his offensive stats arent inflated by playing in houston half his games. The mets home park suppresses offense a bit also look at David wright’s hom/away splits for solid proof of that.

Look at pences home/away splits vs beltrans. Thats why stats like fwar and some of the other newer ones are better then BA/OPS since they dont factor the places they play like the newer stats do.

If im the pirates i wouldnt touch pence with a 10ft pole because right handed power is destroyed at there home field for example.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:45:09 +0000

I said in another post, I think Jon Singleton, Cosart, and somebody like DeFratus get the deal done for Pence I believe. In my opinion, the only trade in which Brown goes the other way is in my pipe dream trade for Matt Kemp.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:40:14 +0000

I disagree completely that they would have to give up Brown. Once again they would be dealing with Ed Wade who isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to trading away big names. The Mets will hold the Phillies hostage for Beltran and he would just be a rental. The biggest difference is money because supposedly the Mets would eat most, if not all, of Beltrans salary for a better prospect haul. Pence is due to make at least 10 million next season through arbitration.

By: royalsfaninfargo

royalsfaninfargo — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:36:25 +0000

Ken Rosenthal + Buster Olney= 0 for trades untill they happen, my “sources” say they are full of s***. Instead of citing “sources” I wish either of these two guys would actually call a trade before it happens. After that I will believe their “sources”.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:34:40 +0000

In the Phils position Beltran for a lesser sacrifice may be the smarter move than Pence. Just because to get Pence we’ll probably lose Brown. Beltran? Probably not.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:07:36 +0000

….and every NL MVP winner since 1990 has had a batting average over .300. Also, the only AL MVP to have a sub .300 batting average since 1979 was ARod in 2003 when he hit .298 (excluding pitchers that won the award obviously).

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:04:01 +0000

BTW paperlions….the last two MVP winners in the AL were Josh Hamilton and Joe Mauer and both had the highest batting average in the AL. Last year Joey Votto won the NL MVP and he had the second highest batting average in the NL. In 2008 Pujols won the NL MVP and had the 2nd highest batting average in the NL. So I’d say there is a pretty significant correlation between batting average and being the best hitter in the league.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:57:33 +0000

Personally, I would rather have Pence; however, I do not understand why Houston would trade him.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:55:02 +0000

Oh paperlions….why don’t you actually read the other posts before claiming that nobody said batting average was an empty stat. Drew Silva, who wrote this post, specifically said “And citing batting average when comparing two players is pointless. It’s an empty stat.”