Chronicle Headline: Lance McCullers, Rio Ruiz and Josh Hader key players not invited to major league camp Astros.com Headline: Correa, Appel headline Astros' spring invites
Astros still have some work to do before came starts. Lowrie, Altuve, and if the Astros continue to be comfortable, Fowler, in center. That has to be the worse projected defense up the middle not counting catcher. Lowrie is obvious stop gap. Altuve's got the bat to make up for defense. Fowler's bat makes up for his defense too, but would play better at a position he could play. 3B is open. Gonzalez has some value at 3B. Astros are still catcher heavy. Conger looks to be a great fit for both Keuchel and McHugh. I expect Castro to be better than last year, but not as good as the year before. Singleton and Springer both need to make more contact this year to improve. For Singleton, he needs to improve just to be MLB replacement level. Astros just have a weird roster right now.
I hope they inform Bo Porter, JdJO, and the rest that Appel will be practicing in the same city as the big league guys. Hell, he may even pitch in a game with some of them.
I find the criticisms of Fowler in center to be overblown. He's still a plus player and makes 98.5% of the plays. Altuve and Lowrie is a weak combo - I'll give you, but they'd counter with the fact that they incorporate the most infield shifts in the league to reduce the impact of their limited range.
No... no he most certainly is not. Not only is he not a plus, he is routinely a negative. Last year he was a major negative. He gets very poor jumps, and therefore has sub-par range. It's quite possible we have the best defensive outfielder in baseball, and if we keep Fowler we are gonna play him in LF to cater to Fowler.
Fowler was a -20 in defensive runs saved last year (in only 111 games). Meanwhile Marisnick was +8 in his 17 games in CF. If you average over 1200 innings, Marisnick would have been worth 90 more runs than Fowler defensively. It would be like if the Astros put Hunter Pence in Center (although Pence actually had good defensive numbers in CF) and asked Michael Bourn to play LF.
The overall lineup quality, Fowler's reluctance to not play CF (with impending free agency), and Marisnick's bat, is ultimately what will keep Jake from being the everyday CF. If they can get consistent production out of Castro, Carter, whoever plays SS, AND Singleton... then you can accommodate Jake. If not, there are just far too many potential holes in the lineup to automatically give a spot to a questionable bat/elite defender.
Is the pitching coach going to be working with him?!? Spoiler Spoiler Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?!?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Gattis might be going to the Astros... stay tuned.</p>— gondeee (@gondeee) <a href="https://twitter.com/gondeee/status/555411001517301761">January 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> have brought <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash">#Braves</a> catcher Evan Gattis into Houston for a physical today. They are one of 3 teams aggressively pursuing him.</p>— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/555440438794924032">January 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
if we assume Gattis happens, what does that mean for Carter? Or would Gattis maybe platoon with Singleton at 1B? edit: to address the above post, I can't see Gattis playing catcher here. I don't think that's why people are bringing him to the AL
Good point. I guess it's nice to have that versatility. Gattis fits perfectly to take over 1B, DH or C on any given game. IMO, I still think Castro still gets traded or is at least being shopped.
The Braves were planning on having Gattis in LF, so perhaps swapping Fowler for Gattis opens up the spot to use Marisnick's glove in CF?
I would love for Fowler to be the main piece going back. Keeps farm talent in house, paves way for Marisnick to be the everyday CF. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Braves?src=hash">#Braves</a>’ Gattis in Houston for physical with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a>, as <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale">@BNightengale</a> first reported. Braves say still talking with other clubs...</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/555446846383206400">January 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rival exec says trade agreement must be in place and commissioner’s office must be notified BEFORE team consents to player having physical.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/555446851810627584">January 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That would be great...but we can't realistically have Gattis in LF full-time, can we? It's be Carlos all over again.. I suppose Gattis/Marisnick might be better overall than average defensive LF / Fowler, though.
