This has turned into something of a pet peeve of mine. Why was everyone so sure that Berkman was done after coming off one bad year in which he wasn’t completely healthy?

The guy posted a 140 OPS+ in 2009 for Frank’s sake. He shouldn’t be some sort of massive underdog story, just a great player coming off a bad year.

That is actually a quite respectable slash line. He had a wOBA of 356 and his BABIP was only .279. Heck, any player with an OBP of 0.370 that slugs over 0.400 is nothing to scoff at. If you regress that BABIP to around 0.300 (his later career norms), you’re talking a guy with a wOBA in the 0.360′s.

That is on par with guys like Tex (.367), Ryan Howard (.367), and Billy Butler (.372) It’s better than pretty much anybody than the elite 1B players in the league.

So… basically you’re complaining that because of an injury and age, he played slightly worse than some of the best 1B-men in the league while he was with the Astros in 2010? Boo-f-in-hoo. Get over it.

No offense, but whatever he was doing over his tenure with the Astros worked REALLY well. His worst full season still rang in at 3.5 WAR, and he was typically over 6 WAR. His worst batting performance was 130 wRC+ (Hint: That’s really good). It’s quite possible that he needed to diet and work with a trainer as the RESULT of his injuries. I see no evidence that says that because he worked with one that he somehow magically “wouldn’t get injured.” Nobody can say that, because we all know it’s not true. Guys get injured.

Berkman was old and he got injured, with worse performance as a result. It happens. Despite being injured, did he say he had to spend 2010 on the DL? Nope, he went out and played. Could he have gotten a worse injury as a result, and been unable to sign a contract worth millions of dollars as a result? Yep. Sure could. JD Drew wouldn’t play under those conditions, let me tell you. Bet you A-Rod wouldn’t either. Berkman played hurt.

Did he use his no-trade clause so he could spend more time with his family? Nope, he let the Astros trade him for part of a season- which I bet was pretty darn inconvenient. How would you like to get transferred from your job to somewhere else for half a year? What if you got no extra pay for it? What if you could reject getting transferred, with literally ZERO consequences for yourself? I bet you’d reject it. Berkman allowed the Astros to ship him out. If you want to finger point at someone, point your finger are Carlos Lee- who has openly said he’ll reject any trade.

I literally cannot fathom why someone would throw Berkman under the bus. The dude played hurt, he allowed a trade that offered him very little personal benefit, and he smashed the ball every year he was on the squad. Heck, even injured he was the best or second best hitter on the squad. What more do you want from a 34 year old first baseman?

The Astros didn’t trade Lance Berkman because they wanted to get rid of an Icon and let him go win championships for an in division rival. The Astros didn’t want to rebuild. But they had no choice. At the point where they traded him last season he was hitting .245/.370/.430 (and when I say traded the Astros payed a lot of money for the Yankees to take him and give us a middle reliever). Those numbers all represent career lows for Berkman disregarding his 34 game cup of coffee as a rookie. By dealing Berkman the Astros saved both sides the embaressment of not picking his option for this season. That number is double what the Cardinals are paying him this season.

If Berkman had done last offseason what he did this offseason, He would still be an Astro and would probably be signing an extension right now to remain an Astro for life. He was the team leader, well paid, well respected, and he didn’t think he needed to work out or follow a diet. So I ask again, what about this situation makes Lance Berkman look like a professional? Give me one reason to appreciate his effort.

Hell, I’ll say it anyway – I much prefer Berkman’s other nickname of Fat Elvis.

I think that’s hilarious because he does kind of resemble Elvis right before The King died while defecating.