Jon Singleton up! Agrees to 8-year, $35 million deal.

Wouldn't surprise me, Tucker has been heating up at the plate and at his more advanced age definitely is worthy of a AAA opportunity.

Other moves I would like to see in the coming months...

White, Moon, Feliz and Brunneman to Lancaster
Correa, Kemp & Hader to Corpus
Fontana, Shirley and Robinson to OKC (along with Tucker)

 

Is the next free CSN game Tuesday (3rd) or Thursday (5th)?

 

In 5 years of playing every day, Singleton will have made as much as Scott Feldman made for pitching 40 games this season

 

Singleton was held down as it allows Astros best chance to win more baseball games over the long run. Winning baseball games, especially in seasons a team is good, should drive decisions instead of whether a player in AAA is better than the guy in the majors the first two months of a season. Ideally, playing the best guy in your system at the majors should lineup with winning games over the long haul, but it doesn't. MLBPA pushed for a FA system that rewards veterans and punishes guys in minors. By paying as little as possible for OTJ training in the majors for guys like Singleton and Springer, the Astros will have more money for guys like Feldman.

Granted CSN and just suckiness of team, spending money in FA hasn't been a need as the Astros would have been one of worst teams even with FAs.

 

GREAT news! Got tickets for Thursday, if I can't go I may end up selling them instead of giving them away like last time.

 

Tell me if any of those guys they replaced was putting up what these Astros first baseman are this year... or what our RF du-jour was doing last year.

Its ok to admit they're all being held down for service time issues... its just that the Astros could use the offensive help more-so than any other team doing the stashing.

I don't think its a great argument to say its ok simply because every other team is doing it... I'm against it in all cases, and if I was a fan of those teams, I'd be complaining as well. As I'm a fan of a team that has experienced as little MLB success in the last 5 years as any other team in baseball, I'm going to have issues with it.

 

That's not really known... nothing is really known till the player is up, and the team clicks. If Singleton/Springer spark this offense to the point where they can really start to threaten to post a winning record, things "should" be escalated throughout the system/team.

Hell, as innovative as Luhnow's front office has been, they "should" be trying to do things that other teams aren't doing. I guess that's where offering guys multimillion dollar deals without playing a MLB game comes into play.

 

Pirates have received 0 WAR from RF. Their starting RF has an OPS of .617.

 

He was a 1B at Florida. He was moved to the OF to increase his value as a hitter and to make him more valuable by giving him multiple positions.

 

And the Astros shouldn't be emulating a franchise that has been as poorly run as that one has. Or I'd rather they not emulate any franchise... be the franchise that others end up emulating (and they're getting there, with these ultimatum contract offers that's another way of getting the player up sooner).

Field the best team... draft well (i.e. - sign your picks)... don't hand out egregious contracts that could limit you spending elsewhere (or spending in the draft)... be buyers when you have a shot, and sell aggressively when its clear its going nowhere.

This market has a little bit more to offer than Pittsburgh and Tampa when good, and the team-building should (or is) somewhat reflect that.

 

nope, for tomorrow vs the angels

 

I'm just saying, that we aren't the only ones. Polanco is just an easy example as he is so high profile, and I can pull up the Pirates current stats.

I think the team had to expect better performances from the 1B players this year. I'm guessing they figured a platoon would lead to better than replacement level.

I wish Marc Krauss could have gotten it going. I love his patience at the plate, but at some point, you have to start assuming he's just never going to hit enough to justify his spot.

At what point to they cut Jesus Guzman? He has a .508 OPS against LHPs this season. He's also about to turn 30.

 

I hear you... I just hate that as a reason why teams do things, or why a decision is justified as "right".

As far as Guzman goes, Singleton should be getting the bulk of the everyday playing time... with Carter there to spell him for slumps/injury. If they cut him, they need to think about possibly promoting an infielder to provide more value at SS till Villar figures out what is bothering him (or simply gets in shape... he's gained a lot of weight since his debut).

 

The thing about Polanco, he barely has any time at AA and AAA. 68 games at AA and 57 games at AAA. It's perfectly reasonable to give him more time. Singleton has twice as many games at each stop. The Pirates are obviously stashing Polanco and their fans should be pissed but there is an argument for not promoting him that isn't just money.

 

Just recently, you were complaining that what the Astros are doing is unprecedented and that they should have been emulating the Marlins. Now you're saying they should be doing their own unique thing and not emulating crappy teams. It seems like whatever they do, you're just complaining about it.

 

Some people love to complain

Anyone who is mad about teams "stashing" players should be mad about the CBA, not individual teams. If the CBA allows something that is beneficial and teams don't take advantage of it then they are stupid

I have a unique idea....Springer is kickin A, Singleton is here at age 22 to hopefully do the same, let's enjoy it

 

Singleton was terrible at AAA last season. You can't really count those.

If the Pirates have an argument, than the Astros have theirs all the same. At the end of the day, we know what the #1 factor for both have been.

 

And it seems that no matter what they do, they get a free pass/defended by certain posters in here.

Again, I like the front office and I do believe they're going to at least get this team to respectability eventually (and faster than the Pirates took, but slower than the Marlins)... however it doesn't mean I have to agree with every single decision they make simply because "other teams do it".

As per your above point, I said what the Astros were doing is not particularly "innovative" (suck royally to get the #1 pick year after year)... it has the uniqueness of never having been done before simply because most other markets would reject it (vs. the apathy that ends up being shown here), and the salary slot structure makes getting the #1 pick allows you to plan out your draft better (and not always pay for the best player available).

Getting these guys to sign prior to MLB time is a unique promoting strategy... albeit only one player has taken the bait thus far. A mixture of that, and flat-out aggressive promoting is making me more content (along with the ability to escalate this whole rise if Springer/Singleton end up turning this team into a potential offensive powerhouse).

 

Who says we're not enjoying it?

At the end of the day, no front office is mistake-free or has the perfect blueprint. And no fan should just take whatever the organization sells them without looking at everything, and coming up with their own likes/dislikes (and not simply just retrospectoscope stuff, but actually go out and make the call as it happens).

I was a big fan of the Correa/McCullers/Ruiz drafting (when everybody wanted Buxton or Appel). I was "ok" with the Appel drafting... (but not ok with his development plan PRIOR to the recent sucktitude). We all know where I was on the Springer fiasco (his crappy start only furthered my theory that all players need adjustment time, no matter how much time they get coddled in the minors). And personal/behavior issues aside for Singleton, he definitely merited the early call-up vs. what the Astros were getting out of their non-first baseman first baseman (but I understand why the organization wanted to give him more time for other reasons).

 

There are still a lot of stupid teams taking advantage of it.

I'm worried that the innovative ultimatum contracts that Luhnow and co. have devised are going to be outlawed/negotiated out by the players union (or the MLBPA will somehow get to the prospects and instruct them all to not sign). They're going to present them to nearly every single one of these future call-ups/young players.

The union is that strong... the owners are that weak (and have no justification for crying "poor")... and the players always prevail.