I'd love to see a team like Washington sign Bourn. Let LaRoche go in free agency (will he get them a compensation pick?), move Morse back to 1B, Werth to LF and start Harper in RF. The team has a lot of RH bats, so adding a LH like Bourn will help. And that team needs a good OBP lead-off hitter.

Bourn-CF-L
Desmond-SS-R
Zimmerman-3B-R
Morse-1B-R
Harper-RF-L
Werth-LF-R
Espinosa-2B-S
Ramos-C-R
PITCHER

Harper should hit 3rd or 2nd.

I don't understand the Michael Bourne love fest this off season. A 29 year old who's spent he bulk of his playing time in Houston's bandbox yet has a career SLG of .365, and not once has cracked an .800 OPS? He looks like a 4th outfielder to me, no matter how good his glove plays.

I don't understand the Michael Bourne love fest this off season. A 29 year old who's spent he bulk of his playing time in Houston's bandbox yet has a career SLG of .365, and not once has cracked an .800 OPS? He looks like a 4th outfielder to me, no matter how good his glove plays.

People have a misconception that Minute Maid Park is a high run scoring environment, which is not true. In 2012, MMP was the 11th lowest run scoring ballpark in the majors, with a park factor of 0.937. MMP has a high HR factor for the short LF wall, but that is offset by a very large and deep CF and an average distance to RF. Bourn is a LHB and, therefore, his slugging wasn't helped by the LF distance. Bourn has hit as many as 34 doubles in a year and as many as 12 triples in a year. Combine that with his base stealing ability, and his offensive value is pretty good for CF.

Bourn's value is in his legs. Completely and 100% in his legs. Base-running and defense. He'll slug a little to open the season, but fade into slap hitting to close it. His OBP is decent but nothing great by any means. He's an excellent defender and an excellent base-runner, but if his legs age poorly, he's meat.

Still, in Bourn’s case, there’s much more

Sounds like it should be followed by "two sets of steak knives and a sixteen-piece measuring cup set."

Sounds like it should be followed by "two sets of steak knives and a sixteen-piece measuring cup set."

This does seem to be the most obvious "Bourn's agent is paying for my drinks all year" sort of hackery.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bournmi01.shtml

Agents: Scott Boras, previously: SFX

Bourn's value is in his legs. Completely and 100% in his legs. Base-running and defense. He'll slug a little to open the season, but fade into slap hitting to close it. His OBP is decent but nothing great by any means. He's an excellent defender and an excellent base-runner, but if his legs age poorly, he's meat


Carl Crawford...c'mon on down! I'm pretty much in agreement with #3. As a CF he provides more value then Crawford ever did, but I think the lovefest is overkill and he will be overpaid this off season.

7 - If that were the case, it would be Heyman's byline. Bourn was always popular in Houston; he's also an excellent defensive CF who's only 29.

Desmond doesn't have the patience to bat 2nd behind Bourn, he's blossomed as a #6 hitter. They would probably have Bourn/Werth/Harper/Zimmerman/Morse/Desmond/Espinosa/Suzuki to start the season until Ramos was ok. That would also keep the Werth/Harper pairing that worked down the stretch. I think if they don't re-sign LaRoche, their emphasis would probably be on pitching rather than Bourn, unless his price tag was surprisingly low. Harper handled center much better as the season progressed, to the point where no move really needs to be made beyond the preference for another left-handed hitter being in the lineup.