2025 juggernaut: LF Altuve 2B Paredes DH Altuve 1B Walker C Diaz RF Smith 3B Arenado SS Pena CF Meyers Bench: Dubon, Guillorme, Caratini, Gamel
Love it, but poor Altuve will get completely worn out, especially if he singles to lead off the game.
Altuve is going to start out this year very slow. Hovering around the .250 mark for the first month or two.
I like what I'm seeing from Pena and Dezenzo in ST. Whitcomb has been solid. Guillorme doesn't look half bad as infield depth. Chas and Dubon have been garbage. Meyers started off rough but has picked it up somewhat.
Odds of starting in right field in my opinion. 40% C Smith* 30% C McCormick 20% Z Dezenzo 10% K Corona
If a guy who has never played RF in the minors or college was going to play RF on opening day, they would have given him work there in ST. if Cam is on the Astros on opening day, it will be as our 3B.
Today both GM Dana Brown & MGR Joe Espada made it clear Cam Smith will be given every opportunity to win RF job.
Their actions belie their words. There are maybe a dozen games left in ST, let’s see how many starts he gets out there. The bat looks ready, the glove is unknown.
Left field and right field are the easiest positions to learn. A baseball player with some athleticism should be able to pick up either and play well enough even without having ever played out there. Learning curve should be no more than 3 or 4 practices and fungo sessions.
I think this roster is down to 7 guys vying for 3 spots on the position player side: Gamel, Singleton, Guillorme, Rodgers, Dezenzo, Smith, and Whitcomb. I don’t think Hummel or Short have a realistic shot to make the team, and the other guys still in camp are destined to be reassigned. I also still think there’s a small chance Houston adds Arenado before opening day.
My preference is Dezenzo in right, Cam at 3rd, Parades at Second. I’d keep Cam in the minors to start the season though to give him a little pro seasoning, refine his defense at 3rd, hopefully get an extra year of service time. I don’t want to start his clock unless he’s absolutely ready, and wouldn’t want to send him down if he’s struggling.
If Walker ends up starting the season on the IL then that simplifies it a bit. Dezenzo makes the roster as the everyday 1B and if he hits then can stay on either as the everyday RF or primary backup at 1B, RF, LF, and 3B. I have a hard time seeing Smith make the roster because they’ve not played Paredes at 2B and they’ve not played Smith in RF. I think he starts in AAA and sees time at both 3B and RF and comes up to play whichever is a better fit after he has 100-200 good AAA pa. If I were the GM and the season started today, and Walker is ready to play, the 3 guys I put on the roster from the group I listed are Dezenzo, Rodgers, and Guillorme. Dezenzo would play mostly RF, Rodgers would play 2B, Guillorme would back up 2B and SS, spelling both starters against occasional tough righties. It would suck to see Gamel and Singleton go but they’re too limited to fit on this roster. Rodgers would be on a short leash; if he didn’t hit, then Whitcomb or Smith would be called up to take his roster spot.
He really can’t play CF or 1B so he’s limited to RF/LF only, and he’s not very good against LHP. So he’s a corner OF who doesn’t hit for power and needs a platoon mate. That’s a pretty limited player. If Houston didn’t have some pretty exciting young guys knocking on the door then I’d be fine with Gamel being on the roster to mitigate McCormick’s weakness against RHP, but as it is he just doesn’t hold enough value to justify keeping him.
