Yeah, it’s very odd...were they facing a tough lefty or something? If not, it makes me think he may be up sooner than later. Only issue is there isn’t a spot for him in the lineup so who knows. If they wanted to I guess Hinch could get creative and find a way to rotate Brantley/Springer/Reddick/Yordan/Tucker between the three OF spots and the DH. It wouldn’t be a bad way to keep the first three guys fresh and you’d probably try to get Reddick and Tucker an equal amount of ABs (i.e. less than the other three by far). Quite frankly we’re either going to have to do that soon because Tucker is ready and there’s not going to be a spot opening up for him next year either...so it’s either that or we trade him or Reddick (doubt he has much of a market).
One of the Astros podcasts a few weeks ago said they try to move guys at triple AAA up and down the line so that when they’re called up, they’re okay with the experience of hitting somewhere else than they’re used to. They don’t want Yordan or Kyle Tucker thinking “I’m a 3-hole hitter or cleanup hitter” only. If Tucker came up and started getting PA’s in the bottom of the line, that wouldn’t be entirely surprising overall, but it might be for him.
Tough place to make your debut. Hopefully Hinch will have Straw-Marisnick-Springer outfields for both games.... just so much ground to cover in that massive outfield.
Not significant but IF Juan Pineda and C Alejandro Flores were released. Including draftees not expected to sign, there are 28 guys in the system not showing up on a roster: 9 draftees not expected to sign: Rudy, Plew, Correa, Dias, Nix, Campbell, Murphy, Carvajal, Vainer 8 signed draftees: Brewer, Jordan, Krabbe, Arias, Gusto, Plumlee, Palmer, Martinez 11 others: J Ramirez, R Sanchez, J Castillo, Placencia, House, A Jimenez, Solano, F Garcia, F Gonzalez, Bojorquez GCL and Tri-City each have 1 roster spot (I presume for Gusto and Brewer). Still probably a couple dozen or so releases coming in the next few weeks; there are another 28 guys on the IL between QC and Houston.
Unless Yuli is healthy, Straw pretty much has to play the infield. It seems calling up Mayfield may be necessary for the moment with Yuli and Yordan ailing.
Kyle Tucker has been striking out in bunches lately. 14 in his last 33 at bats. Overall for the season 79 in 292 ABs which is much higher than his norm.
Which is why he should be a trade chip to get a young controllable SP. His swing is to long to be a star level player in MLB. IMHO
Tucker won't be called up before the trade deadline. His Super 2 status date would be 51 days (the number of service days accumulated from last year) after Alvarez, which is the day before the July 31 deadline. His higher K rate provides an effective justification for the FO to keep him down until then. We all know he can hit to the wall and over it, the question is if he can beat the shift. This may not mean anything, but he's hit more than one single in a game only four times [edit: the entire season], and never more than two. Altuve had three last night. I don't see how we can afford to trade him given that we can't even afford our own players next year, and only getting worse: Given our questionable track record developing pitchers (and really, pretty terrible so far), we're relying on our home-grown position players (e.g. Alvarez, Tucker) to keep costs down to be able to spend on established pitchers. IOW, trade anyone not named Alvarez, Tucker, Straw (and maybe Beer)... and Whitley of course.
Any guesses as to who the corresponding move is? Have to make room on both the 25-man and the 40-man. We have been running with a thin pen and extra bench bat for a while. Could this be a Kemp/White DFA? Or will we keep the extra bench player and make a move with a pitcher. Martin to the 60-day list means paying him a Major League salary. and messing with his service time clock, so that's unlikely. Would not be surprised to see a DFA or trade to make room.
Wait...you mean to say that the Astros front office and minor league staffs may actually have a plan in place for the things that they do? The Astros have a plan, they have reasons. We may not agree with them and it’s entertaining to argue and discuss them, but there is a reason for most every move they make.
