I took in the first game of the Stros-Giants series last night, and it was probably the best game of the season to date. The Stros took a 3-0 lead, only to blow as the Giants went up 5-3, then the Stros’ rookie CF Hunter Pence tied it with a two-out, two-run yak that hit the left field foul pole in the bottom of the eighth, and LF Carlos Lee (who had two taters, two singles and a walk) finally won it for the Stros 6-5 with a walk-off moonshot in the bottom of the 10th.
Despite the excitement, however, I found myself feeling a bit sad for Stros 3B Morgan Ensberg, who struck out in a pinch hitting role. Ensberg is clearly on the trading block after a slow start to this season (-4 RCAA/.323/ OBA/.330 SLG/.653 OPS). 2B Chris Burke was recently sent to AAA Round Rock to play 2B as he prepares to replace Craig Biggio, hopefully as soon as possible after Bidg gets his 34 hits to attain the 3,000 hit level because that .306 OBA at the top of the lineup sure is getting ugly. Meanwhile, Brooks Conrad — the only remaining position player-farmhand at the high level of the Stros’ minor league system who has a legitimate shot at becoming a regular MLB player — has slid over to 3B at Round Rock in contemplation of getting a shot at that position with the Stros. Meanwhile, Mike Lamb (7/.455/.521/976) and Mark Loretta (4/.412/.403/.815) are currently getting the starts at 3B in place of Ensberg.
I can’t help but think that the Stros have mishandled Ensberg and that his career could have turned out quite differently had he been treated more fairly. Ensberg burst on the scene as a 27 year old rookie in 2003 (20/.377/.530/.907), but was inexplicably platooned by former Stros manager Jimy Williams at 3B with the notoriously unproductive Geoff Blum (-23/.295/.379/.674) in a move that probably cost the Stros a playoff spot that season (the Stros finished one game behind the Cubs for the NL Central title that season).
Laboring under the incompetent Williams during half of the 2004 season, Ensberg struggled that season (-12/.330/.411/.742) for his only truly subpar MLB season, but then rebounded in 2005 with his best season (39/.388/.557/.945), although he faded late that season after suffering a hand injury from a pitched ball. Ensberg took off like a rocket again in 2006 and looked like he was going to repeat his 2005 season, but he hurt his shoulder in early June and never really recovered, although his overall hitting statistics for the season were still well above-average (16/.396/.463/.858). In fact, Ensberg’s career numbers (55/.370/.478/.848) are much closer to that of the Stros’ $100 million man, Carlos Lee (80/.340/.496/.836), than Lee’s career numbers are to the Stros’ best position player, Lance Berkman (362/.417/.562/.978).
So, why are the Stros — a team bedeviled by poor hitting over much of this decade — getting rid of the club’s third or fourth best hitter? Yes, he is off to a poor start, but that happens to even great hitters sometimes (Berkman didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard during April this season, either). Ensberg’s decline in power since the shoulder injury last season is a legitimate concern, but are 125 plate appearances really enough to conclude that Ensberg is such damaged goods that the Stros should give up on their last homegrown position player to reach the majors before Pence?
Count me as skeptical. By the way, Ensberg’s replacement last night was Mike Lamb, whose career numbers (-18/.339/.426./765) are nowhere near as good as Ensberg’s. Lamb was 0 for 5 with two strikeouts.