Wallace is a guy who you can really picture turning into something special. His thighs are like damn tree trunks and if he manages to pull the ball more without tanking his OBP, he'd easily be a .300/20hr player. As it is he's a straight line drive player which doesn't translate to the necessary power at the corner positions he's limited to defensively. Being a Jeff Luhnow pick in STL, I imagine he'll get every opportunity to make the roster.
I'm a bit excited for J.D. Martinez's season. It might be a good one! http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2012/03/19/j-d-martinez-doesnt-know-when-to-quit-working/
Some of the minor leaguers' tweets suggest that minor league cuts are beginning today as well. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Today was my first experience with people being released. honestly one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Good luck to all of them!</p>— brandon meredith (@bmeezytrain) <a href="https://twitter.com/bmeezytrain/status/182210989465415681" data-datetime="2012-03-20T21:04:19+00:00">March 20, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>I miss my boys already. rough day.</p>— Adam scott bailey (@abailey025) <a href="https://twitter.com/abailey025/status/182177583268507648" data-datetime="2012-03-20T18:51:35+00:00">March 20, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I agree, but none of them have looked all that good this spring, even though I know there is no correlation between how pitchers do in March compared to the real season.
I just hope Wandy doesn't have the same problem as last year when his poor spring training flowed through to April, especially after saying he wasn't comfortable with his mechanics after his most recent start. AAAA players are often the guys that play best during Spring Training. Travis Buck has 117 career ST games, and has an OPS of .969.
I'm thinking espn might be a little out of touch on who still plays for the Astros... Astros SP fantasy projections
At the beggining of spring I was in favor of Lyles being in the rotation ... but with Happ practically guaranteed a spot and with Livan looking like himself this spring I would like to give that fifth spot to weiland who has been pretty sharp. Also it is apparent that Lyles is not as much a finished product as I thought ... which bodes well for his upside . I would like to see him go to AAA where he can work on his new curveball and try to pump a few extra mph on his fastball while maintaining control ... I would rather him workout the kinks at AAA than at ML. Also they can cut his innings and rest his arm a bit ... he has been really overworked for a guy his age ... maybe the reason why his fastball velocity has been declining is the huge amount of innings he gets ... if he is at AAA then dropping him from the rotation doesnt affect anything at the ML level.
Just like last year. With us looking to move him at the deadline, he needs to be ready to go for the 1st half.
Camp gets a little smaller. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Astros sent the following players to Minor League camp: Cedeno, An. Rodriguez, Jose Valdez, F. Martinez, Paredes, B. Snyder.</p>— Alyson Footer (@alysonfooter) <a href="https://twitter.com/alysonfooter/status/183180597605314561" data-datetime="2012-03-23T13:17:12+00:00">March 23, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Paredes injury and CJ's strong Spring cemented it. Just like Lyles, a step back isn't really a bad thing since he was rushed to the majors.
I was hoping Martinez would show strong enough to take Cust's spot this spring. I'm also pretty surprised that Paredes didn't make the club...must be do-or-die for CJ now. He's played well this spring; hopefully it carries over to the regular season.
Cust isn't guaranteed a spot yet. They still have J. Martinez, Schafer, Bogusevic, Shuck, Buck, & Ruggiano in the OF, plus Bixler, Lee, & Downs have played the OF. Martinez started hot, but really cooled off, plus he had an option left and they figured they would get him the ABs. Paredes either had to win a starting spot or was going down.
I think Matt Downs will be the new Billy Spiers...who was my favorite Astro during his time. Play hard no matter where they put you and hit well enough that no one sighs when you come to bat.
