A few weeks ago we heard that Lance Berkman was leaning towards retiring after the season, but yesterday he told Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is still "not real sure" about his future. He will file for free agency after the World Series just to keep his options open, however.
"I think it would behoove me to at least listen if there is an offer out there," said Berkman. "But honestly I don't know what is going to happen or what's going to be my thought process."
Berkman, 36, was limited to 97 plate appearances this season due to a pair of right knee surgeries, the fourth and fifth knee surgeries of his career. Just a year ago he hit .301/.412/.547 with 31 homers while starting over 120 games in the outfield with the Cardinals, good enough for a seventh place finish in the MVP voting.
There has been speculation that Berkman could return to the Astros as a DH next season since the club is shifting to the AL. He went to college in Houston and spent the first 12 years of his big league career with the 'Stros. Berkman recently said he won't come back unless his knee is 100% though, even if he is healthy enough to just DH.
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said "it's hard to imagine finding a fit" for Berkman with the club next year, and Berkman admits that he has a long way to go with his conditioning before getting into playing shape. "My plan right now is to treat the offseason as if I was going to play next season by continuing my knee rehab and getting my legs back under me," he said.
The Astros are such a young team, and they could use some veteran leadership. The DH role is perfect for him if he’s healthy. Even if it’s only for a season, he can retire a member of his longtime, home town team.
Definitely makes sense. Unless he just want to go to a stacked team and try to win a championship
Back to St. Louis. Juice. N.L. Triple Crown.
needs to DH.. would love to see him go to tampa.
What LB? You think Tampa is tired of Side burns man himself.. AKA Luke Scott?
coming from a rays fan yes we are sick of him
I’d love to see the Phils extend an offer. A switch hitter with some pop coming off the bench would serve them better than Jim Thome whom they signed last off season. By the time the weather warms up, the Phils should know if Domonic Brown can handle every day work in RF. I could see Berkman making maybe a dozen starts in right, a dozen starts spelling Howard against lefties, some DH’ing in interleague games and pinch hitting. Berkman could make himself quite useful at the right price. Phils paid Thome $1.25 M last year and should be prepared to double that for Berkman who has no sentimental ties to the City of Brotherly Love.
He could help any team in need of a bat, but could he possibly hold up over a full season even as a DH? He doesn’t seem to confident about that himself. Maybe he returns to Houston as a DH and finishes the season in the broadcast booth. I think he’d be great at that.
Berkman has been a class act everywhere he’s gone. He can still hit and is an Astros icon, he should return as a DH.
“But honestly I don’t know what is going to happen or what’s going to be my thought process.”
“My plan right now is to treat the offseason as if I was going to
play next season by continuing my knee rehab and getting my legs back
under me,”
Sounds like a thought process to me.
Astros make all the sense in the world. Would love to see them go after both Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee. Get fans to come to the Ballpark in this inaugural 2013 year in the AL by bringing back two of the most well known Houston Astro faces. Platoon both of them at the DH position and give them some time at First as well. On short commitment contracts that would mean a lot to the fan base as it improves the offense and look of the lineup
They were desperate to get rid of Lee. No way this is happening. And platooning those two for what they would cost? Makes no sense at all.
Berkman would not want to come back to an awful team like the Astros
Yankees Orioles and Rays are my 3 best fits for DH
The Yankees won’t be in need of a DH, or a good fit for one for a few years, They have Jeter coming back from a busted ankle, and A-rod. Not to mention, they seem to like the idea of rotating their regulars to keep them fresh rather than have one person for the role.
The Rays I can see, but they’d look to him later on, as they have more pressing needs to prioritize.
The Orioles will probably look to Chris Davis as their DH, or Thome again.
You can’t rule out the Rangers of whom got little production out of Michael Young/Mitch Moreland
olt?
No, you can rule out the Rangers. Berkman hates the Rangers and would never play for them.
Not that the Rangers would have any interest in pursuing anymore aging veteran batters.
Berkman isn’t quite the class act that people make him out to be. He made several negative criticisms of the Rangers, including them signing Beltre–he was dead on wrong about the move as nobody can say that Beltre is a bust as a Ranger. Berkman also has ragged on the Astros about outfield changes at Minute Maid & moving to the AL. It wasn’t like the Astros had a choice either way.
SO FAR the Beltre deal has looked great. Just remember that there are 3 and possibly 4 years left on that deal. Plenty of time for Berkman to be vindicated.
We need you in Oakland, Big L!!!
Eh, not really. Leave the DH role for one of the outfielders who’s not starting or Moss/Carter, whoever isn’t starting at 1B. He’d be too expensive for the upgrade over the incumbents, if there is any upgrade at this point.
The only kind of aging veteran the A’s should go after is an inning-eating backend starter
I was sort of joking because he’s a personal favorite of mine. I agree, our bench depth is fine. In fact, if we could get a backup shortstop, it would be a pretty impressive bench. If we didn’t have Smith and Coco though, we could continue the trend of signing one veteran bat every off-season:
2011: Hideki Matsui
2012: Jonny Gomes
2013: Lance Berkman
Before that, Giambi for round 2, Piazza, Frank Thomas, Eric Karros, Durazo, etc.
Regardless of what lance does I am very proud of what he did for the Cardinals. His 2011 season was awesome & he got a ring, good luck in whatever you do
Not to mention the clutch postseason hitting. People don’t realize it until they look it up; he’s done nothing but mash in the postseason his whole career, Astros, Yankees, Cardinals.