If they only keep one it will have to be an infielder, so I say Villar. If they keep 2 I say they also keep Presley, for now. Presley's salary has always put him in the drivers seat, plus he's also much more versatile which for a reserve is important. Grossman's value comes solely in his bat, but he has had a spectacular spring and is gonna make it tough. If Grossman finishes strong I think he makes it. This was gonna be Dominguez's last gasp, and he's been terrible. Combine that with his lack of versatility, At this point I think Villar is a no brainer. Not sure what would become of Dominguez at that point. Honestly I don't see any potential value in Dominguez. His glove has been is sole asset, and all the metrics suggest he is at best only slightly above average
The team needs a trade. I'd like to see Presley moved for whatever we can get, and I'd love to see one of Carter/Gattis/Singleton moved to help give the roster more flexibility. I think Grossman deserves to be on the roster.
Blue Jays would seem to be a logical trade partner in that they have a couple of studs and a holes at 1B/2B. One of the DH/1B and Gonzalez would likely help them out a lot. Just don't see anyone MLB ready or any redundancy on the Blue Jays that they would part with that would help the Astros.
I'd take prospects for Singleton, and possibly Carter/Gattis. They definitely have the prospects to get the job done.
I'm pretty sure Grossman had a good spring last year and then stunk it up in the majors. He has been really tearing it up, but Presley is a better fielder and has produced more consistently in the bigs. However, I wouldn't be against trading Presley if that were an option. I think Villar has looked focused and a little more polished this spring. I like his versatility on the roster. If he can retain that focus (didn't last year), he can play at a high level for the club. As for the 5th starter, don't forget about the Peacock. Reports have been stellar (he lost weight, hip feels great) and he has better stuff than any of the other guys in the mix. I predict there will be some jostling between Fausto, Wojo and Peacock in the first month or two before Brad implants himself as the guy. Unfortunately, he will subsequently get some minor injury and be forgotten about. :grin: Question: If Fausto makes the opening day roster, but gets hurt or plays really poorly, and is replaced by Wojo: We can't option him right? What happens to him? How much would we pay him?
Package Villar/Grossman and trade them before whatever luster they've re-accumulated this spring goes off for good once the regular season starts.
Grossman posted a 1.2 WAR last season (or 1.0 if you use Fangraphs). Villar started last year looking great, then started falling apart. I wouldn't mind him in the majors, but how much playing time would he see? Almost none is what I would figure outside of pinch running. Fausto would be put on the DL if injured and would be placed on waivers if he pitched poorly. Either way, the team will be paying him $2.65M if he makes the team and isn't traded, or claimed of waivers (and he won't be claimed off waivers).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Wow, Jonathan Villar with a long run and tremendous diving catch in left-center. Guess he can handle center?</p>— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/580781690433470464">March 25, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Now, dumb question that I posed on Twitter a moment ago: Was he miscast as an infielder?
But what if it was a "spectacular" catch because he got a late jump on the ball and took a bad route??? Biggio made some crazy diving catches in CF as well. So did Berkman. Doesn't mean either was fit to play that position full-time.
Correa with a fabulous at bat ending in an RBI double. I am quite excited to get down to Corpus early this year, that is going to be an absolutely loaded AA ballclub.
he had another really good outing.... 4.2 innings pitched, 1 ER, 4 hits, 4 SO, ERA is 1.08 for the spring. I'd say if he doesn't get the 5th spot, he'll be the first called up.
I don't remember much of Jones except he covered a ton of ground and caught balls other guys wouldn't. Whether he took a bad route route and had to make a "spectacular" play to catch a ball doesn't change the fact that most CFs at that time couldn't get to the ball with a perfect route after a good jump on the ball.
