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2026 Astros Minor League Thread

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by tellitlikeitis, Sep 28, 2025.

  1. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    62-65 Mets have an argument but they were an expansion team. The 23-25 Rockies were nearly as bad. Otherwise you’re looking at pre-ww2.
     
  2. BlindHog

    BlindHog Member

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    "...where he oversaw the worst stretch of baseball in history"
    That was his intention, by doing so he may have had the best stretch of baseball drafts in history. Best or not they produced years of winning teams.
     
  3. juicystream

    juicystream Member

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    Detroit 2001-2003 (and honestly, it was a pretty brutal stretch before that)
    The Rays first 10 years of existence
    White Sox 2023-2025
     
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  4. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Tigers over .400 in 2001.
    White Sox would be close but were never even bad enough to have the #1 overall pick.
    Expansion teams don’t count. ;)
     
  5. snowconeman22

    snowconeman22 Member

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    further on that , he benefitted massively from the new slotting rules and penalties taking place right as we tanked.

    Harper and Cole ( the two previous number 1's ) respectively ~10 and 8 million . Correa was signed for 4.8 . Beyond that we were able to get guys like McCullers and rio ruiz for overslot deals due to the savings that in years past would have been taken by Yankees / redsox etc earlier in the draft .

    It was innovative , but also lucky.

    He got extremely lucky with the Aiken situation . And completely blew Appel , though in retrospect that was not a great draft.
     
  6. juicystream

    juicystream Member

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    The Tigers did have Lima Time, so they were at least entertaining every 5th day.

    Somehow Detroit never had the #1 pick during their putrid stretch, despite setting the then record for losses in a season. I'm guessing they used to swap picks between NL & AL. They got Verlander at #2, so I think it worked out just fine for them.
     
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  7. juicystream

    juicystream Member

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    He benefitted from the rules, but he knew the rules. He was the right GM at the right time to know how to use the rules to his advantage, and that led to other teams copying the strategy. All that losing did give us 2 great drafts, and 2 terrible drafts. And when you look at the Luhnow drafts after that, it is not pretty.
     
  8. tellitlikeitis

    tellitlikeitis Canceled
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    Astros player development department launched an Instagram account

     
  9. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    J
    Jack Winkler is new. Was in the Marlins system last year. Looks like a weak bat versatile defender.

    https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jack-winkler/29830/stats/batting

    Also interesting they have Caden Powell listed as an outfielder.
     
  10. BlindHog

    BlindHog Member

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    I have Powel as 1 of 4 Short Stops at A ball while outfielders are a little thin across the board above Fayetville. The move makes sense.
     
  11. tellitlikeitis

    tellitlikeitis Canceled
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    The Astros signed C Hemmanuel Rosario on Monday.

    Rosario is from Puerto Rico and he signed with the Yankees as an undrafted free agent out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy after the 2017 draft. Rosario was 16 at the time, but he apparently started school when he was 3 years old. It wasn’t preschool; he started his formal K-12 education at age 3. Scroll to the Yankees section in this link for more info on that.

    Aside from cameos in Class A Advanced and Pulaski in the Appalachian League, Rosario never advanced out of the complex leagues and he elected free agency after the 2022 season.

    Rosario spent the last two seasons in the Frontier League and he slashed .299/.354/.455 with 10 home runs and 60 RBI in 90 games with the Brockton Rox.
     
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  12. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Maybe a Jancel Villarroel replacement.
     
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  13. IdStrosfan

    IdStrosfan Member

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    I have checked the rosters of all 5 U.S. based minor league teams, the minor league mini-camp roster, and the NRI invitees.

    It totals 172.

    If my information is correct at some point around opening day ( don't have exact date) the Astros are allowed a total of 165 minor leaguers excluding those on the 40 man roster.

    28 active players are allowed in both AAA and AA ( But can include those on 40 kan so don't count toward 165)

    30 active players are allowed on each A ball team.

    Complex level twams have no limits outside of the 165 organizational limit.

    There are various injured and restricted players who don't count toward the 165 but I don't know details of that.

    Any help is welcome
     
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  14. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    Here’s what I’m pretty sure of:
    • 165 player limit applies to players assigned to US minor league rosters, except players on the 60 day IL, Full Season IL, Restricted, or Ineligible lists
    • Players on the MLB 40 man roster who are optioned to the minors count against the 165 man limit; players on the MLB IL who are rehabbing do not count against the 165 man limit
    • You are right about the roster limits of the individual minor league teams.
    On opening day Houston has to be at 165 or less including guys on the 40 man who have been optioned.

    My spreadsheet that I maintain currently projects to have 183 players for 165 spots. That includes all the players currently listed on stateside minor league rosters, plus 9 future optioned big leaguers, plus Kevin Alvarez, who is the only DSL guy confirmed to have come to the US this offseason. Houston would need to have 4 guys from the big league 40 man either DFA or on the big league IL and 18 guys in the minors released or on a list that exempts them from the 165 man limit. If you total 172 then my guess is your list doesn’t include JP France, Kevin Alvarez, and the 9 guys to be optioned.

    I could be easily missing some guys. There may be more players who came over from the DSL who haven’t been announced yet. The IL will take care of most of the gap, but I’m sure there will be a group of minor league guys released toward the end of ST.
     
    #294 Snake Diggit, Feb 6, 2026 at 4:57 PM
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2026 at 5:21 PM
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  15. IdStrosfan

    IdStrosfan Member

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    The biggest difference I have here is that I thought none of the players on the 40 man count toward the 165, so thank you.

    What about the 9 future optioned big leaguers? If the roster has 40 now and needs to be 26 wouldn't that be 14 instead of 9?

    I actually do have Alvarez and France but not ANY players from the 40 man.
     
  16. Snake Diggit

    Snake Diggit Member

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    The MLB active roster limit is 26, but players on the IL aren’t on the active roster even if they haven’t been optioned. So on opening day, Walter, Blanco, and Wesneski will be placed on the IL (but not optioned to the minors), so they won’t count against the 26 man MLB limit but they also won’t count against the 165 player minor league limit. My current expectation is that Houston will have 5 players either DFA or on the IL, so they’ll only have to option 9 guys.
     

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