Astros still have Mark Appel as a big chip to trade if the want to. Hopefully I'm wrong but Appel has Clowney 2.0 written all over hm. He throws in the mid 90's but his fastball tends to get straight at points during a game. Plus he tips his fastball a lot, like the hitters know when its coming on times. Breaking stuff looks solid tho but if the Astros have to give up a prospect or two Appel would be my first choice giving what we know about him, he still has a lot of value among the majors.
We can take this to the Texan board if you want. Where I will own you. I'm not in to child molestation, but I will make an exception for you.
I wonder how the Alex Bregman situation is going to work giving that he plays SS and second base and the Astros right now have 2 young star players there. Bergman is still in the Minors but damn if you follow him since getting drafted dude been raking and has the it factor as a winner and its not that far away from reaching the Majors, maybe as soon as opening day in 2017 season no doubt if he keeps doing what he's been doing. Even Swanson the 1 pick didn't look as good. A bigger Pedroia 2.0
On Bregman, haven't seen him play in the minors as a caveat; however guys that don't strikeout with even just a touch of power can fly through minors. I would think mid 2017 would be the likely call up time if he remains healthy. Not sure if he can play OF, but if he could play OF, he could get starter plate appearances as a Zobrist player.
Last year Carter was the warning track king. I think you're begging for a lower BABIP when you're trying to get under the ball all day. Last month and into the playoffs more of his swings were line drives, and the homers he did get were of those line drive no-brainer variety. Too bad he never had the mental disposition over the past three years to be consistent enough to be a positive for this team.
^^^^ This I really want to see Tucker get a shot at 1B. Singleton is going to get the 1st shot at 1B. (They are hoping he can justify his contract.) Hope he doesn't cost them too many games. (I've got no faith in Singleton)
Let's see how Singleton looks this spring. He's still just 24, and has yet to really been given consistent PAs. No doubt, if he struggles for a month or so into the season, it may be time to cut bait. Just thinking out loud, but I'd like to see him in front of Correa. He's shown that he can handle pitches. Maybe he'd get more pitches to hit with Showrrea behind him. Sidenote, maybe it's just that Singleton is a young, jacked, lefty, black 1B, but how cool would it be if we had the next "Hit Dog" aka Mo Vaughn.
Singleton's been a big disappointment. He needs to figure it out in Spring Training and get off to a hot start. We can't risk letting him figure it out over a period of months during the season. Potential gets coaches fired.
If Reed is the "to be" first baseman of the future, we have months at least to figure out how to bridge the time gap. If Singleton has a horrible April, then we will only need someone serviceable there for 6 months to a year (until Reed is ready). A one year contract to a FA could be the answer if Singleton bombs early as well.
My guess is some combo of Tyler White, Marwin and Gattis get a shot if Singleton bombs and we don't make any additional moves.
What's the consensus on whether Reed has a chance to break camp as the 1B (assuming singleton shows no life and is not an option).
My one fear is that we end up with 1st base being under productive for another year. The rebuild is over and our time is now. Trying out Singleton/Tyler/Gattis/Marwin could take the better part of the season. Of those guys, Marwin's offense is probably the most reliable.
If its true that Luhnow said its Singleton's position to lose, he would have to do something pretty dramatic to squander his opportunity before the regular season even begins.
I think there is zero chance Reed starts the year with the team for service time reasons. But i think he will be up extremely soon, probably only a few weeks in. I think White has a better chance of starting opening day if Singleton is garbage in the spring. Somebody has to play 1B in that time, so Singleton will get one last shot, Reed will come up regardless of what Singleton is doing IMO. If Singleton has figured it out, then one of them will start getting AB's at DH. The only way Reed could be held down is if Tucker Gattis and Singleton are all raking, if that scenario plays out, the Astros will look to move one of the 3, but they won't give them away, so he may have to wait a little in that scenario. IMO Reed is coming up very soon regardless of what guys on the MLB team are doing. The only way he doesn't is if the guys in the show are building a brick wall of production.
In a different obervation, I think we could get pretty good production out of 3B without making a trade. I never realized just how good Valbuena and Marwin have been against RHP and LHP respectively. Valbuena had posted an OPS over .800 in the last 2 years against RHP, and Marwin has posted and OPS over .800 against LHP. While I don't expect Marwin to maintain that level of production, I still think if we platoon the 2 correctly we could get an OPS near or over .800 from 3B. If either one of them get hurt, we can plug in Duffy against LHP and possibly Colin Moran against RHP. It's the reason why I don't think Luhnow ever really targeted a 3B.
Still too risky. I haven't seen a 10 year contract worth it besides Derek Jeter's. And its Derek Jeter, not Jason Hayward.
