It may turn into a rest of the year callup since September 1 roster expansion is right around the corner.
I agree with this unless Stassi has an impeccable run over the next week. If he continues hitting well then I could see the Astros making room for him at DH.
Not necessarily. They apparently care about minor league titles and Corpus is already in the playoffs.
I find this surprising (Martinez being called up). I feel like I have no idea what is going on these days.
I think part of what is going on is with the advent of the farm having semi-major league ready guys to bring up, the days of long looks at the major league level are a thing of the past. LeBlanc had 4 appearances. Some feel Krauss didnt have a long enough look. I suspect this is only the beginning of a revolving door with some players until clear standouts emerge.
If the Astros only needed a backup catcher, I'm surprised they didn't just call up Carlos Perez. Perez strikes me as more fitting for such a role, with Stassi being primed to be more of an everyday player. Plus, Perez (I believe) is already on the 40-man roster. I'm not sure what adding Stassi to the 40-man does to his arbitration/free agency clock.
I just check and Perez isn't on it. I was thinking they called him up because he would be rule V draft eligible (I think), but then I wondered again about Perez.
Possible explanations: Luhnow does really care about OKC making the postseason (CC has already secured a playoff spot) Luhnow thinks Stassi is more Major League ready
Maybe he wants Stassi to get a little taste of the show so he will feel comfortable going into next year (if he were to be the DH).
I just don't get why David Martinez and why now. I guess he's older than other prospects. LeBlanc and Krauss moves don't bother or surprise me.
At 26, its sink or swim for him. Another year at AAA as a 27 year old, he might never sniff the big leagues. This way, he has his shot. His opportunity. Do I think he sticks? Probably not.
I think the rationale with bringing up Martinez is similar to Krauss. Both are older/non-premium prospects. I think they want to give them a shot to evaluate whether they can be major leaguers. It probably also makes sense to do it now (instead of calling up someone like Folty or Springer or even Wojo) so that they get a chance to evaluate them before the 40-man roster crunch starts this offseason. One of the few benefits of have such a bad team is that you can kind of throw spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. Think of someone like Wandy. He was an afterthought as a prospect, but, due to the Astros' then lack of major league pitching depth, he was given an extraordinary long leash after he was called up. Against the odds, he eventually turned into a good #3 starter, but in different situation, like a lot of AAAA's, it's plausible that he never gets that opportunity to turn into a legit big leaguer. I think the Astros want to give shots to guys like Krauss, Martinez, Oberholtzer, Parades, etc, to see if any of them can stick. And I think they want to do it now because they're going to have to have some painful 40-man roster decisions coming up soon.
Stassi over Perez and Garcia is almost certainly due to 40-man roster considerations. All three would have been eligible for the rule-5 draft this offseason, but likely only Stassi was 100% to protected. Since Stassi was going to be added this offseason anyway, nothing is risked by adding him to the 40-man now. This also allows them to punt the decisions on adding Perez and Garcia till this offseason. You don't want to add someone like Perez to the 40-man only to be forced to remove him later since its much more likely that he'd be claimed off waivers (with no 25-man roster restriction for claiming team) than selected in the rule-5. As far as Stassi's clock, it starts it now. If he sticks on the 25-man roster and is never optioned back down, he'll be eligible for free agency after 2019 and arbitration eligible in 2017. Probably a decent chance, however, that at some point either this year or next that he is optioned back down and those dates move back.
Shame Luhnow couldn't sign Delmon Young. He's the kind of guy who could play well in the short term and be a great trade piece.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Astros place catcher Max Stassi on 7-day concussion disabled list. Call up catcher Cody Clark from Corpus.</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/370982314295037952">August 23, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Looks like Robert Corniel was bumped up to the GCL from the DSL. He made an appearance today vs. the GCL Braves. 1 IP 0H 1BB 2K
