El Gran Color Naranja wisely asks what a comparison of the teams' fourth outfielders reveals. Ryan Church's VORP is 16.7, and his OPS is.843. The Astros don't really have a good fourth outfielder option. Mike Lamb's VORP and OPS are -3.7 and .654, and Chris Burke's are -6.6 and .616. (Lamb plays 1B, but Berkman can move to the OF when Lamb starts.)
Church's stats raise the question of why he isn't starting over Preston Wilson. This is probably another case (Cristian Guzman being the other) of Jim Bowden not wanting to sit one of his acquisitions and thereby admit a mistake. We've said here and here that Wilson wasn't an offensive upgrade, and we continue to believe that playing Church every day makes sense. Yes, Church has been in a slump and we don't think he's a long term answer, but he's a better hitter right now than Wilson.
Sitting Wilson and Guzman and starting Church and Carroll would improve the Nationals' offense significantly at a time when they really need better bats. While we're talking about rushing minor leaguers to the show, why not try some existing options?
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