Feb. 15 - Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 20 - Entire squad reports Mar. 8 - Astros vs. Team Venezuela
Three big battles to watch play out in spring 1. Backup catcher between Lee and Diaz. I would guess going in Diaz is a tiny front runner with the better bat. Could pinch hit for Maldy late in a close game. This one likely goes down to the end 2. CF. Does Jake have a big spring and win the job or does Chaz become the everyday guy? I really think Chaz could be an above average offensive player if he got regular playing time and especially vs LHP 3. Fifth starter, or do we go with 6? Framber, Javier, LMJ, Garcia are locked in assuming health. Urquidy is a strong favorite for the 5th spot but does a dominant spring by Brown overtake Urquidy? Or force a 6 man rotation? These are the three biggest story lines for spring
Good summary. My predictions: 1. Diaz is the guy. He doesn't prefer to play catcher but his bat makes him worth having on the team and he'll just be backing up Maldonado, so he won't have to catch all that often. 2. Chaz is the starter out of spring training, though I think Jake does perform closer to pre-injury seasons than what we saw when he came back last year. It won't be enough to take the job, though I think Chaz will get fewer starts than other typical starters that are written in ink on the lineup card. 3. I think Urquidy pitches well enough to be the 5th starter, and gets the job. But I also think Hunter pitches quite well also and rather than doing an either/or thing they just roll with the 6 man rotation again.
2. I think Leon poses a bigger threat to Chas right now for the starter spot at CF than Jake. Though, I think Chas is pretty safe as the starting CF. 4. I think the 26th man spot is still a little open. Do the Astros trust Hensley enough at SS for spot duty? They played him there a lot in AAA and a couple times in the majors. If they are willing to have Hensley back up SS, that makes Dubon expendable for a bat. If they had Yainer up as the backup catcher, they could add a third catcher to allow Dusty to use Yainer in a varierty of scenarios without having to worry about having him available to catch...or they could have Lee be the backup catcher and just have Diaz be a bat. 5. LF. I think it is still up in the air who the primary LF will be and who will be the DH. I'm guessing Alvarez is the LF 60% of the time.
All I want for spring training is two things: 1. Good health 2. A picture of Dana Brown that's Luhnow/Moreyesque that we can post every time he makes a good move.
I would have agreed with you about Leon if he didn't get the sports hernia that put him behind. Jake will make the team. If he struggles I could see Leon replacing him midseason but not before. Dubon is on the team. He has no options and Astros are paying him $1.4M but he has 3 more years of control as a super 2 guy, so he's no longer a min salary guy to just release. I hope they see Dubon as the 3rd player at 5 or 6 spots but not the 2nd at any. A bench of: Meyers, Hensley, b/u catcher, and Dubon allows for this. And FTR. I think Dubon has very good value and helps this team during the regular season. He should just be limited to late inning substitutions and 1 or 2 spot starts per month. And insurance.
Leon is out and will be for the spring, so he poses no threat at the moment I’ll be really surprised if Dubon isn’t on the team As for a hr LF/DH, a lot of that will be who Dusty feels needs a bit of a breather.
I can't see Leon threatening to make the team until sometime later this season if he is able to continue to develop. Maybe there is more development left in him than his age would indicate, but just being an average hitting CF in AAA at 24 years old would not seem to bode well for his prospects of becoming an average or above average major leaguer. One thing that sticks out to me about the CF situation is that Chas and Meyers appear to be fairly redundant players. It seems like the Astros would be best off picking their favorite of the two and trading the other for a younger minor leaguer before they reach arbitration.
If they both become plus hitters you have CF and LF covered for years. Hell, maybe one could play RF someday if we lose Tucker. I wouldn’t trade either of them for a minor leaguer, unless they underperform which will just make them part of a larger package.
