ESPN.com's Buster Olney is not buying Boston's slow start, though no World Series winner has ever opened the season with four consecutive losses. Another 0-4 team, the Rays, entered the year with a fragile equation for success and may be more vulnerable than their struggling division rivals, Olney says. Here are more rumblings from around baseball:
- Rival scouts don’t see much MLB caliber hitting on the Astros other than Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn and Carlos Lee. The over/under for Astros wins in 2011 should be 60, according to one scout. Houston won 76 games last year and has a solid rotation, so I'll take the over on that one.
- A couple of years ago, Cubs GM Jim Hendry described Starlin Castro as someone who could remind us of Edgar Renteria. The 21-year-old shortstop already has 10 hits this season and could become one of the top shortstops in baseball.
- The Dodgers are paying some deferred money this year, but Olney points out that their payroll has dropped from $118MM to $92MM since 2008. Owner Frank McCourt is trying to come up with $200MM to maintain the rights to the franchise.
Castro looks like the real deal. It’s been far too long for the Cubs to actually produce top-end talend from a position player. Now they have 4 playing nearly everyday that are contributing: Castro, Soto, Colvin, Barney. And next year we could see a young 3B (Vitters if he can figure it out finally, or Marques Smith) as well as a Brett Jackson knocking on the door for an OF spot. Things are looking up for the Cubbies in 2012
The frustrating thing is that the Dodgers are 1 or 2 great hitters away from being a really great team. A solid LF or 1B puts them leagues ahead, IMO. That $26 million could go a long way.
Agreed, though 1 or 2 great hitters would make a lot of teams really great. I think Sands fills first base next year and Robinson an outfield slot, but I’d like to see an upgrade at third base at some point – no real in-house options there.
Castro is going to have some growing pains (see the throw vs. Pittsburgh), but he is an ELECTRIC talent. I think he ends up being our 3 hitter by the end of the year.
He is already the Cub I want at the plate in a clutch situation. I trust him more than anyone else on the roster!
Lee , bourn , and pence are the only mlb caliber hitters on the astros? That maybe true at least for now. Johnson is going to break out , hopefully this season and castros will break out as soon as he is recovered.
Unfortunately nothing in Johnson’s history indicates that he will break out. Hopefully, I am wrong though.
Except for the second half of last season
Look at Johnson’s month by month stats from 2nd half of 2010. You will notice a severe downward trend (pitcher’s found him out)! So, please do not site the second half of last season. Any player can have a hot month. Again, I hope I am wrong. But math can be too honest at times.
If you would like a larger sample size, compare his minor league numbers to his one and a half month of success in the majors. But maybe he found major league pitching to be easier than minor league pitching. Or maybe his numbers were escalated because he was surround by the Astros prolific hitters. Dumbass.
The Astros would have a much better team if they didn’t cut payroll substantially in order to sell the team.
Still, considering that, I don’t expect them to even come close to 100 losses with the starting staff they have.
They cut payroll, but they’re still at 80 million.
If they fail again, then it’s gonna all be on Ed Wade for putting the roster together.