Whenever Mark Loretta came up against the Astros in an important situation, I found myself thinking – Get Back Loretta!  The lyric from the old Beatles tune came easily to mind after Loretta delivered a few two-out RBI.  The guy can hit.  He makes solid contact often, and sprays the ball around the field.  He’s exactly the kind of guy I didn’t want to face with two outs and a man on second when I was pitching – a guy who could get a hit off a good pitch on the corner.

 

When you make the corner pitches to Carlos Lee you get him out.  When you make a mistake, he kills you.

 

Loretta doesn’t kill you often.  He just stings.  But stinging is effective.  I don’t know of anyone who enjoys being stung.  Some people would rather be slugged.  It’s nice to have another stinger who can come off the bench like Mike Lamb and give you a good at bat most of the time.

 

The only problem is that Loretta is 36 years old and his best position is second base. If you agree with me that Chris Burke’s best position is second base, that gives you one guy who can only play second (Craig Biggio) and two guys who should play second.  My guess is that this won’t be a big problem.  Loretta is pretty good elsewhere on the infield.  Like Burke, he wouldn’t compare well with Adam Everett at shortstop.  But he can play that position. 

 

The thing that should minimize the potential playing time problem is that Loretta’s knows his own game and understands what the Astros need from him.  He has played the same role for Phil Garner with the Brewers.  It is likely that he has already accepted part time status, even though he has been an everyday player at times in his career (including last year).  I wouldn’t be surprised if he has given some thought to eventually replacing Biggio at second.  He’s no youngster, but he has yet to show signs of slowing down.

 

And that brings Burke back into the discussion.  If Burke performs well enough to justify playing in the outfield in 2008, second base will be up for grabs.  But to do that, he would either have to be a better hitter than Loretta and play a corner outfield position, or play centerfield as well as Wily Taveras. I’m not sure he can do either of those things.  If Burke even hits as well as Loretta, the Astros will have used a number one pick wisely.  But they may still be looking for another outfielder.

 

So, it’s not a perfect fit.  You seldom get one in baseball.  But for the here and now, the Astros are a significantly better team going into 2007 than they were last week.  And it didn’t even cost them too much money – in a relative sense.