Two pages in, and I'm the first to mention sample size? Let's hold off building the DDJr wing in Cooperstown...
He wouldn't have been in Houston to start the season if we kept him, so there's no telling what he would have done, or what he still may do. Having said that, we protected guys that have since washed out. It may not end up being a terrible screw up, but it was a screw up. DD would have likely played well in the minors, and had good trade value at least. Regardless of what he does, it won't bother me personally, but i would like to avoid the constant "why did we let him go" comments that will invariably come if he has success.
Yeah, its really a moot point... and nobody is declaring him HOF bound... but it was a mistake that its ok to admit this front office made. He probably would have gotten a callup around the time we were shuffling Santana and then Hoes up and down, with some Pressley in between... at the very least, he would have been our best pinch runner (much better than slow-ass Marwin!). Could he have been the missing link to trading for one of those closers? Who knows... all we can hope is that this front office files it away and doesn't make a similar mistake again. (and we all need to remember that while Luhnow was a great head of the minor league development/draft overseer in St. Louis, this is still his first go-around trying to build/maintain/push-over-the-hump a MLB roster... he's doing remarkably, but shouldn't be expected to get it right the first time, every time.).
I'm comfortable with this being a screw-up from the Astros' perspective; teams shouldn't be so quick to let 21-year old first round prospects walk (or languish in the minors... coughsingletoncough). But this idea that his minimal success with the Rangers is why it's a screw-up? Way premature.
Well, his time on the Rangers validates that it was a screw-up in that, at a minimum, he has now proven that he can play an ML-caliber CF. And I feel like that was always a question once they moved him off 2B, and one that ultimately helped pave his way off the 40 man. Agree that his hitting there shouldn't yet validate anything. Plenty of guys have shown a lot in a short time and gone to nothing (Castro over a whole year?) and done nothing for a while and then turned it on later (JD Martinez). Things can change quickly for young guys without a ton of data who are still learning
