He played 3rd for us at one time. My assumption is that they'll try and
keep Burke primarily in center and use Loretta as they would have Burke in
backing up Biggio. He might even take over 2nd if we see the same type of
"away" and "2nd half" struggles that Bidge had last season.

We also probably acquired him to put pressure on Ensberg or as a backup
plan, however one wants to put it.

2.5 does seem a lot as a utility player but I suppose you can't pay a guy on
how you are going to use him. Loretta has been a starter (i believe) for
the past few seasons and an All-Star at that. He is probably considered as
a big insurance player for Purpura as he'll be able to fill in a couple of
holes (2nd 3rd) permantly if need be without having to disrupt Burke in
center.

With Palmeiro, Lamb, Bruntlett, Lane and Loretta, we certainly have some
depth. Of course, you never know, this acquisition could mean that we'll be
dealing a couple of said players that Loretta might be replacing...

On 1/4/07, JJMeadows3@... <JJMeadows3@...> wrote:
>
> Okay, I have to admit that I have no memory of him playing for us in
> 2002
> and was surprised to hear that he played for us at a previous time.
> He has good career numbers but I certainly wouldn't write home about his
> power numbers (5 homers). However, he is a career .308 hitter with runners
> in
> scoring position and is a career .312 batter with 2 outs and runners in
> scoring
> position. He is also batting .374 with a .525 slugging in Minute Maid
> Park.
> Any thoughts on where the Astros are going with this acquisition. The
> article on Astros.com seemed to indicate that he was going to be a utility
> player
> but if that is so 2.5 million dollars seems like a bit high of pay for a
> utility player. Though he apparently has good pitching stats (pitched 1
> inning
> in 2001 and recorded 2 strikeouts), I am pretty sure the Astros didn't
> pick
> him up as a reliever. :)
> Nevertheless, he can play Shortstop (he has played 328 games there with a
> .988 fielding percentage and a range of 3.93 at that position for his
> career).
> This numbers are clearly not as great defensively as Everett but with all
> the heat Everett has taken about him bat, I wonder if they are folding
> under
> some of the pressure. Anyone have any thoughts?
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>


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