George Springer

It's not like he's never played in a playoff game before. He played in them last year with Corpus. He played in the NCAA playoffs. I think many would say that having a month of learning the ropes in the majors could go a long way towards getting off on the right foot next season.

 

Are you all still having this conversation?

 

can see reasons to bring him up now and also the reasons not to at this juncture.

There's a reason why they hired Luhnow, and since he's been here there's NO reason to question his decision on this. Give him the opportunity to work his plan.

 

Saw him this past series in RR. What an incredible talent, and a really humble level-headed guy. Quickest bat I've seen since I don't know (not fair to compare). In BP he gets the bat out in front of a fastball waaaay in on his hands and it's just picture perfect. Seriously, grab a bat, hold your elbows against your ribs, and try to hit a ball with authority. It's pitch recognition that will hold him back; he can hit anything everywhere but he still gets fooled.

Makes easy breaks on the ball in CF and he makes it look effortless. They were playing longtoss in warmups and he was trying to hit 3B on the fly from the RF corner, and getting damn close.

He is the most entertaining young Astro I've seen since Caminiti, Biggio and Bagwell.

 

I attended last night's game at Round Rock to check out some of our AAA guys. Springer's speed and overall athleticism is readily apparent. He's a very fluid player defensively and he swings the bat very hard but with control of the plate. He will bring a lot of excitement to next year's team.

 

[rquoter]Don't expect to see George Springer in Houston at all this season, even after the MiLB playoffs. The main reason is the Rule 5 draft (reading between the lines, it seemed like the chase for 40/40 matters and gaining playoff experience really matters, but he really spoke at length about Rule 5). The FO expects the team to be a big Rule 5 target this year and so they need to protect as many guys as possible. Since Springer isn't Rule 5 eligible yet there's no need to protect him and therefore, no 40 man spot until next year. BUT next year, "expect to see him on the field every day".[/rquoter]

http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/8/25/4658068/astros-insights-from-reid-ryan

Edit: This is from a summary on a private Q&A session with Reid Ryan, and I recommend reading the whole thing.

 

[rquoter]The minor league playoffs are rolling along and the Astros already have seen three of their affiliates eliminated prior to the league finals. That may sound like the Astros are having a rough minor league postseason, but actually it means that Houston has three teams with a chance to win their league titles.

Tri-City is getting ready to play in the short-season New York-Penn League championship series. Lancaster is tied 1-1 in the high Class A California League semifinals and Quad Cities is tied 1-1 in the low Class Midwest League semifinals. A club winning two minor league titles during one season happens occasionally, but winning three titles is truly a rare feat—though the Diamondbacks did it just last year. Speaking of the Astros . . .

How many Rule 5-vulnerable players do the Astros have reason to be legitimately concerned about losing in the major league phase of the upcoming December draft?

Mike Tauser

Houston, Texas

I’m going to suppose that Mike’s question stems in part from the speculation as to why the Astros have chosen to not call up center fielder George Springer. Triple-A Oklahoma City was eliminated from the Pacific Coast League playoffs over the weekend, but Houston has decided not to call up Springer and his 37 home runs and 45 stolen bases, at least in part because he’s not yet on the 40-man roster and does not have to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until after next season.

Astros fans understandably want to see Springer bring his power and speed to Houston. The Astros’ 46-78 record is seven games worse than the Marlins, so the battle for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft (otherwise known as the Carlos Rodon sweepstakes) is all but locked up.

In reality, the Astros are not facing a 40-man roster crunch. They have the deepest farm system in the minors, but most of the players worth protecting won’t become Rule 5 eligible until 2014 and beyond. The Rule 5 draft hasn’t been a problem for Houston for many years. In fact, the Astros haven’t lost a player in the major league portion of the draft since righthander D.J. Houlton was picked by the Dodgers in 2004.

The Astros’ 40-man roster is currently full, and amazingly, 39 of the players are under team control for 2014. Three prospective free agents on the Opening Day roster—Rick Ankiel, Carlos Pena and Ronny Cedeno—all were released during the season, leaving Erik Bedard as the only current Astro who will hit free agency this offseason. Even after waving goodbye to Bedard, however, Houston still will have 40 players on its roster once it reinstates Alex White from the 60-day disabled list.

Now, that does not mean that the Astros have no room on the 40-man to protect additional players. Right fielder/third baseman Jimmy Paredes, third baseman Brandon Laird, righthanders John Ely, Philip Humber and Josh Zeid and catchers Cody Clark and Matt Pagnozzi are all players who could be dumped from the 40-man roster with few ramifications. Outfielder Trevor Crowe and even first baseman Brett Wallace could also be jettisoned, while righthander Edgar Gonzalez looks like a non-tender candidate. Just making some of these suggested moves would get the Astros five to seven spots to use to protect more valuable long-term players. If the Astros faced a true roster crunch, they could probably open up as many as 10 spots on the roster.

But they don’t need to, because they do not have nearly that many players they need to protect. With few exceptions (largely limited to older high school draftees), this year’s Rule 5 eligible players will be high school players drafted in 2009 and college players drafted in 2010. International amateurs signed during the 2009 minor league season will also be eligible.

When it comes to their own draftees, the 2009 draft is pretty bare of potential high school picks to protect. The club could protect first-round shortstop Jio Mier, but after he hit .197/.296/.268 at Double-A Corpus Christi this year, his appeal to other clubs would probably be limited. There’s not much risk that he’d stick on a major league roster all year, and even if he did, he’s behind Carlos Correa, Jonathan Villar and Nolan Fontana on the Astros’ shortstop depth chart. Neither second-round pick Tanner Bushue or third-rounders Telvin Nash and Jonathan Meyer are risks to get snapped up in the Rule 5 draft either.

Nondrafted free agent R.J. Alaniz is also eligible, but his lack of strikeouts and mediocre results combined with average stuff make him a worthwhile gamble to leave off the 40-man as well.

College players drafted in 2010 aren’t much different. Third-round outfielder Austin Wates and fourth-round righthander Bobby Doran are the kind of role players who generally slide right on through the Rule 5 draft. Eighth-round righthander Jake Buchanan may have a low ceiling, but he does have a track record of success and average secondary stuff to potentially help a club as a cost-controlled reliever. Lefthander Alex Sogard, a 26th-round pick in 2010, could also earn a 40-man spot, as he has plus stuff (92-94 mph fastball and a solid breaking ball at his best), even if it currently comes with well-below-average command.

Really, the only players the Astros have to worry about protecting are a few of those they acquired in trade. Righthander Asher Wojciechowski, right fielder Domingo Santana and first baseman Jonathan Singleton are all sure-fire additions to the 40-man. Catcher Carlos Perez is probably worth adding as well—even though he passed through last year’s Rule 5 unselected—and if you wanted to be extra cautious, then lefthander David Rollins and his average stuff could also be protected.

So Houston has three clear-cut additions to the 40-man roster as well as another five or six players they could protect if they are feeling cautious. Considering the state of the bottom of the Astros’ 40-man roster, they could find room to bring Springer up to the big leagues if they wanted to.

But why should they? The reality is that when viewed dispassionately, there’s no real upside for the Astros to call up Springer right now. Sure, it would maybe sell a few more tickets, but Houston only has nine home dates left this year. Yes, it might help Springer get acclimated to the big leagues, but the entire 2014 season can serve that same role because the Astros aren’t going to be contending for a playoff spot next year.[/rquoter]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/ask-ba/

 

TLDR summary.

BA says Astros don't have 40-man roster crunch, but no real reason to bring up Springer at this point.

Of course they ignore things like having open spots to make Rule 5 selections and other guys Rule 5 eligible (Jason Stoffel?)

 

No reason to risk him getting hurt.

 

Exactly. I'd feel more comfortable if we just left him in the minors for the rest of his career.

Why take unnecessary chances with injury?

Spoiler

I keed, I keed. Really excited to see what he does for us next year.

 

He's about equally likely to get hurt in the minors though.

 

Yeah, I know, threw in the spoiler to make it clear I was kidding.

Unless you're just out-sarcasming me.

I'm a Houston sports fan, I know fluke injuries.

 

BA's Minor League Player of the Year:

Not George Springer

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2013-minor-league-player-of-the-year-byron-buxton/

 

I was.

 

That's just bad. I'm sorry. No one had a better year than Springer.

 

Yup, and it's not even close. They should have a "Prospect of the Year" as well as a "Player of the Year." Buxton should be given the Prospect of the Year, but Springer earned and deserved the Player of the Year and it shouldn't have even been that close really. Oh well, if anything this keeps Springer hungry and adds even more motivation to prove himself.

 

Yeah, even though they do take prospect ranking into consideration, Springer was clearly deserving. BA hid behind the fact that Springer is a higher risk than Buxton due to the strikeouts. That shouldn't really factor in anything beyond their rankings.

 

The Springer debate. I wrote about the two awards Springer didn't win, here - http://climbingtalshill.com/2013/09/11/milb-player-year/

Warning. It's very long, but I think I covered everything.

 

It was good.

 

Yeah that's a great article. The only criticism I would have is that the iPhone screenshots take away from the quality of the post. I know it's nit-picking.