Is Marwin Gonzalez for real, and if so, should we give him a bunch of money?

I may be able to spare a few dollars but not until Friday when I get paid

 

Marwin isn't a FA until after '18. Astros have him for $5MM next season.

 

Astros have a $5,000,000+ club option for 2018.

 

It's still too small of a sample size to answer that question. If I have to answer the question right now, I'd probably say "probably not" and "no thanks." But the front office has until the end of the season to make that determination, thank goodness. If he keeps this up all season long, then the Astros should pay him in the offseason. I just have no clue what that contract would look like. Reddick got $52 million over 4 years. I could see Marwin warranting something similar if he can keep up this production or maybe something slightly pricier.

Edit: Just saw that he's not a free agent until 2018. My answer doesn't really change, but another year definitely gives them more time to make a judgment call on his next contract.

 

On the topic of future FAs, only upcoming ones on the 25 man are Beltran and Gregerson. I think it's highly likely that Beltran retires and that they let Gregerson walk with the ridiculous RP depth in the organization. Then they will use that $22MM cleared to cover quite a bit of the arbitration salaries.

Books looks great. Luhnow really set this thing up to last.

 

That's pretty amazing.

 

Probably not, and absolutely not.

 

Aoki's probably a non-tender.

 

It's interesting.

1) I can't remember the last time I saw an OPS progression like this (esp. for a non- super high level prospect, and a 28 year old):

2014: .727
2015: .759
2016: .649
2017: 1.021

2) I can't remember the last time I saw an OPS that jumped 470 points(!) over 1 season through any semblance of a reasonable sample size...where it wasn't *heavily* BABIP driven. Marwin has a .318 BABIP right now! Last 3 years? .330, .326, .311. There isn't much luck (at least of that kind) built in here!

 

Ah yeah, forgot about him. But he was always going to be a one year stop gap regardless.

 

Best season ever by a utility player?

Wasn't too long ago he'd never had a multi-run HR.... seems majority this season have been multi.

Casey Candaele on rich man's steroids.

 

The correct answer is still Jose Oquendo.

 

You know the league is checking his piss regularly.

 

If he's legit and can be the Astros' Ben Zobrist and basically cover every position on the field (and fill in well in any spot in the lineup), he's worth a decent contract IMO. That type of positional versatility is really valuable.

 

edit: nvm its in op

i think he might be for real

 

He probably will cool off. But, right now he should be playing every day. I don't want to see Marwin on the bench. Marwin plays multiple positions and is a switch hitter, so there is no excuse for him to sit. He's better than Aoki and Gurriel for sure. You could even play him at DH.

 

He's going to get 4/$60MM or something like that if the bat plays at around an .800 OPS for this season and next. Much younger than Zobrist was when he signed that deal. It will be tough to keep him around with the impending big $$$ extensions for the core.