Should the astros "sell high" and trade Singleton for Pitching help?

Can any of you make an argument for him not having been the worst first basemen in the entire mlb up to this point in the season?

 

He has for sure been the worst so far, but the question is moving forward. Given last year's performance, you've got to think we have invested so much time in him now that we need to continue giving him time to turn it around. It is frustrating... but I think 2015 warrents more time for him.

 

So we've confirmed that as of today Chris Carter is the worst 1b in all of mlb and it really isn't close.

For argument's sake let's say Singleton has prospect status.

Who are the top 5 first base prospects in mlb and what do you think their future potential value is?

WAR isn't the fairest stat to judge a 1b/DH on I think OPS and wRC+ are much bettter indicators.

So you are all willing to live with him being the absolute worst 1B/DH by a fair margin in the first half (3 months), guaranteed worst player not a chance here. You are accepting this for the chance, CHANCE, that he is top 5ish for 2 months, and ****ty again for another month. Resulting in a player who, for the full season, still falls below the median 1b/dh IF he has to months where approaches .1000 OPS?

 

He has yet to be picked off or caught stealing.

 

you're ignoring what we get out of it. If he shows up, we have a trade piece. If you cut bait now, you get nothing (and you have the risk still with Singleton).

Neither side is a sure thing in either direction, but waiting gives you a chance to net assets out of both players instead of only from 1

 

I think you miss the part where this thread is about trading Singleton and keeping Carter/

 

I agree with all of this - but I don't see why waiting for the "hot month" would make a difference. A GM that is trading for him already knows he has hot and cold streaks. Being in the midst of a hot month shouldn't change his value much at all.

 

Singleton? This is a thread about Singleton, right?

 

If you are commenting about Carter, this should assist in your errant thinking:

 

This is a good point. And interestingly, Carter has a 1.000 OPS with runners on base so far this year. He's oppositely terrible (0.389 OPS) when no one's on. Small samples sizes and limited predictive value, but he's done well so far in the higher-value situations.

 

So first, you are ignoring the fact that Carter has been the worst 1b/dh this season? Okay? Then you are going to cherry pick the date where he hit his first homer of the season and try to present that as what he's been doing all season? Like the 13 games before it didn't happen? But my logic is misplaced because I look at a man's entire body of work? Did any of you graduate from a real college? I'm guessing not.

 

You keep bringing up where people went to college (or if they went at all). Please explain what this has to do with anything.

Univ of Houston class of 2003 btw.

 

I think that was the first time.

 

And it's because of the blatant straw manning a lot of people on this forum are doing.

 

If you're looking at the entire body of work, why would you choose to conveniently ignore 2013 and 2014? Why is all of this season the only valid metric, but more recent history and more distant history are horrible to look at?

And why would you bench a guy now for sucking in the first half of April?

 

I've already acknowledged what he did in 2014 but your reading comprehension is really lacking so I get how you didn't understand that.

 

Yeah well that's the kind of respons you get when you just disingenuously respond with "he hits rbis and we are winning"

 

To everybody that has already given up on Singleton or are too young to remember let me remind you guys that even Lance Berkman had to go down..does that mean he will be Berkman? Well no but one stint in the MLB does not mean anything. It would be foolish to trade him without giving him another shot. As is he won't get much return in terms of established major league pitching help. If he were to come up and do at least 75% of what he has been doing in AAA out might

 

If you guys would quit feeding Dankush we could go back to having baseball discussions, instead of random insults

As for "selling high" on Singleton right now, I think that would only be the case if you feel like he won't hit at the big league level. If you feel like he will be able to be successful at the mlb level, then moving him right now wouldn't really be "selling high"

Fact is the real MLB GM's aren't so knee jerk like fans are. Carter has a good deal of value in the real baseball world, he hits for power and drives in runs, but is very streaky. There is value in that to a real baseball team, especially in this era of baseball without a lot of power.

Singleton is a good (not great) prospect. Thing about a good (not great) prospect, is many of them turn in to All-Stars, and many of them never make it. Real baseball GMs understand this. He has value, not the kind of value that would make him the #1 piece in a major trade (Hamels type of deal) but probably the kind of value that would make him a #2 piece in a deal like that.

Luhnow's situation isn't simple when it comes to a guy like Singleton and what to do. If it was ONLY about getting max value out of him, you make a decision on bringing him up based on how you feel a call up would affect his value (if you feel it would at all). With the start we have had though, he has to weigh when he thinks will help this team right now, along with how he feels Singleton would best be developed and what a move would do to his value.

I think as long as the team is playing well and there is no major deal in the works, Singleton stays at AAA. If the team starts to struggle and Carter isn't producing then seeing Singleton come up would be a lot more likely.

 

I agree with what you are saying about Singleton, and there are many examples of those who came up and struggled big time, and still became great. You mention Berkman, there is another guy named Trout would didn't get it done his first try also.

I would say, though, that if you need to move him as the second piece in a deal for a guy like Hamels, then you move him.