<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"It was difficult but I feel good about the fact we gave him plenty of opportunities," Jeff Luhnow said of Grossman move.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/456466517194842112">April 16, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"We can’t afford to be developing and not produce at the major league level," Luhnow said."Every time they play they’re learning something."</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/456467048348913664">April 16, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"But if they’re learning something and not helping us win we can’t afford to that," Luhnow said.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/456467150773837825">April 16, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"We can’t afford that at the major league level. That’s what Triple-A is for," Luhnow added.</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/456467210777542657">April 16, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Complete 180 from last year... where I feel there were several call-ups who were attempting to learn at the MLB level, and not necessarily helping the team win. Glad to see Luhnow starting to sound more "aggressive".
What To Expect: George Springer April 16, 2014 by J.J. Cooper http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/what-to-expect-george-springer/ Every Tuesday, Baseball America will take a look at a prospect who is either just arriving to the majors or on the cusp of the majors to give a look at what can be expected from them both as a player and for fantasy purposes. This is a special Wednesday edition because of the promotion of Astros’ No. 2 prospect George Springer. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster, but the Astros didn’t wait long to promote George Springer. After watching Robbie Grossman play a particularly brutal defensive game on Tuesday night, the Astros optioned Grossman to Triple-A to clear the way for Springer’s first big league promotion. Because they waited a little less than three weeks to promote him, the Astros will control Springer’s rights through the 2020 season. However because he is coming up in mid-April, he will earn Super Two arbitration status after the 2016 season if he does not return to the minors in the future. Springer’s arrival should give a significant jolt to an Astros’ lineup that ranks dead last in the American League in batting average, on-base percentage and second-to-last in slugging percentage. SCOUTING REPORT In an Astros’ lineup that still is filled with role players asked to be everyday players and everyday players asked to be cornerstones, Springer’s arrival gives the team someone to build around. Springer has a rare combination of power and speed. Even with a 14-game handicap because of his late arrival, he could lead the Astros in home runs and steals this year. Last year, he came within three home runs of becoming the first minor leaguer to put together a 40-40 season. Springer has excellent bat speed that leads to plus power. He hits from an open stance, looking for balls on the inner half or the middle of the plate that he can drive. When he gets something on the inner half, his approach leaves him in perfect position to sting the ball. All three of his home runs this year and 31 of his 37 home runs last year went to center or left field. The Connecticut product joins the big league club on the heels of a particularly locked-in stretch in Triple-A. He has a six-game hitting streak and has homered on back-to-back nights, including this grand slam against Christian Friedrich Tuesday night. While he has power and speed, Springer is unlikely to be a high average hitter, even though he has a .302 career minor league average. Springer has kept his average up in part because he’s played in favorable hitting environments (Lancaster, Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City) and in part because he’s posted extremely high batting averages on balls in play (.382 in 2013/2014 combined and .455 this season). His speed and the screaming line drives he hits at times explains in part his high BABIP, but scouts who have seen him believe that he will be an average hitter at best. Springer is susceptible to quality off-speed pitches and his pull-heavy approach means that he can be pitched to by pitchers who can locate consistently to the outer-half of the plate. Springer has struck out in 27 percent of his at-bats this season, in line with what he did last year. Even in Triple-A, pitchers miss spots enough that Springer has gotten pitches to pull. At the big league level, he’ll have to show that he can adjust to pitchers who give him nothing to yank into the seats. If he was a lefthanded hitter, Springer would be the kind of hitter who would face shifts consistently, but as a righthanded hitter with speed and some bunting ability, Springer will likely face extreme shifts more sporadically. WHAT TO EXPECT For fantasy purposes, Springer is one of those rare players worth blowing most of your free agent budget to land. He’s coming up early enough in the season to make a significant impact on the stolen base and home run categories while contributing in RBI and runs scored. But expect that he might be a drag on your team’s batting average. In the real world, Springer is an excellent defender who can play all three outfield positions. With Dexter Fowler in center field, Springer most likely ends up playing right field on a regular basis in Houston—the Astros prepared him for that by giving him some time in right field in Triple-A this year. He played exclusively center field in 2013. He’s a better defender and has a better arm than the Astros’ current right fielders Alex Presley and L.J. Hoes. Springer’s best case scenario is as an Andre Dawson/Dale Murphy center fielder with power, speed and defense. A less rosy scenario sees his high strikeout rate leading him to end up like Mets center fielder Chris Young. Like Springer, Young has excellent power and speed and at his best, he’s an extremely valuable player who flirted with a 30-30 season in 2007 and 2010. But Young’s batting average and on-base percentage has generally been dragged down by his strikeouts, which has turned him into a nomad now that he’s reached the stage of his career where he’s more expensive–he’s playing for his third team in three years.
Tell that to Charlie Palillo. He's been whining about this every day since the opener when everyone knew the Astros were just waiting a few more weeks so they could get another year of club control. This guy hit a grand slam and scored 4 times last night for OKC. Nice way to (hopefully) end his AAA career.
Would be great news to me if only someone had not already picked him up in my league.... The same guy in facing this week urrgh!
Actually, Charlie was on board with keeping him down for these 2-3 weeks, as he understood the ramifications of an extra year of club control. He was more upset that he had to wait all of last year without a promotion... but once that didn't happen, he understands that you might as well wait the 2 more weeks for the debut.
After all the tanking & talk of prospects and future, ITS HAPPENING ...the prospect pipeline (a la Tampa Bay) is finally opening for us. Im lucky enough to have CSN but screw that, for a potentially historic start in our rebuilding process, I can't miss this. Cheers to the future! ...oh and $1 hot dogs lol
our bodies have been ready for some time now! we so excited. i can't think of any more internet phrases but my mind is blown . lets get a 3 winning streak started.
Charlie has been saying that Springer needs to be called up by May 1st....he's been saying that if Springer is still in AAA in May, then that makes absolutely no sense. For the most part, he has been okay with Springer in AAA to start this season, but he still b****es about Springer not being called up last season. And I think his stance is pretty normal. EDIT: Crap, Nick pretty much said what I wanted to say. Beat me to it.
