Lyles proved himself in AA and AAA. George Springer has only proven himself in a hitter's paradise in A+ ball. No need to rush him, or waste years of control at this point.
agree. I'd gladly see him do well in AA, early promo to AAA this year, and Sept callup if he's progressed as expected/hoped. I don't see that path affecting his development negatively compared to throwing him in the ML now
I really don't mind seeing DeShields run at every opportunity he has this spring. Let him get the timing down while playing against ML talent. If he gets caught, so what. I would rather see him get the experience and timing in.
He's 23. Older than most of the current young stars. How many more years do you want him to be "developed"??? Chances are, he's going to progress as a hitter the same regardless of whether or not he refines his skills against AA and AAA pitchers, or gets true OTJ training against MLB pitchers. If he starts the year well in the minors, wherever he is, he's coming up this year... Astros said they won't hold him back simply due to his arbitration clock starting.
I'd like to see him take the path that Pence did. Perform well in ST and start season in AAA. Tear it up there and get a call up sometime in around Memorial Day. That way, he's coming up with confidence rather than start him in the majors, have him hit .190 with tons of k's, and have to start over in the minors.
How about we see him handle AA first? His age is pretty irrelevant to me. It isn't like he's spent 5 years in the minors. He's had 1 season. If he's mashing in AA come June/July and we have room for him, I'm open to it, but not right now.
FWIW, Pence played a whole season at AA, but that was the year before his break out performance during ST where he batted over .550...
I know. Springer is on nearly an identical track as Pence was...age and level wise. A year in AA wouldn't be terrible. If he's mashing, you promote to AAA and then maybe see him later in the year. I'm just anxious to start getting things moving in the right direction at the upper levels. I want to see that stopping point of being all-out sellers and to start building the core.
If he's progressing the same as a hitter regardless / if he hasn't proven himself at AA or AAA, I say you hold him back and let him make that progress. Especially when you're not even remotely competitive. They won't hold him back *simply* due to the arb clock. But if he has nothing to gain (progressing the same as a hitter in either system suggests that) at this point, and if the team won't be competitive either way...then maybe those factors + the arb clock start to matter
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a> are showing everybody why the AL is called the Junior Circuit</p>— Astros County (@AstrosCounty) <a href="https://twitter.com/AstrosCounty/status/306877001137016833">February 27, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That guy cracks me up. He's my favorite of the Astros bloggers/tweeters...much less of a drama queen than some of the others.
I'm really excited(albeit early still) with Matt Dominguez picking up where he left off last season. He's young and has world class defense so if he can display a decent offensive game( 15-20 homers, 70-90 rbi's) you'll be talking about one of the more underrated additions by Luhnow becoming one of the most important that he's made. Once again, still early on but I hope he keeps it flowing into the reg season.
Well in a sense, we are already there in that we have really nothing left to sell But I and probably every Astros fan want the tide to turn. When our top 20 prospects are all major league ready, its going to be a very different club.
He's going into his age 27 season and been amazing everywhere he as gone. If he can stay healthy, he'll eventually be our closer.
Baseball is here...Astros will sneak up and a few teams this year.I cannot wait...Opening day lets go
