end? I've heard multiple times (though I don't have sources--I thought they were quotes out of the Chronicle, but I could be wrong) that he would be in competition for the starting job next spring..and considering the alternatives, he has a good shot.
I'm not saying he is a good hitter, but you can't dog him on his hitting when in his last 9 games played he has 13 hits in 31 at bats(for a .419 avg). but a backup catcher is there for his defense, not his offense, and Q is playing solid D and calling good games, that's his job. any offense he provides is just icing on the cake.
You are correct, "Castro likely will begin the season at high Class A Lancaster of the California Leaguebut could wind up at Class AA Corpus Christi by season's end. The Astros envision him taking over the starting job in 2010 and staying there for a long time." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/6299504.html
Absolutely. I find the low opinion of Towles bizarre, honestly. The Astros clearly fast-tracked him far before he was ready, he had a poor half-season, and now it's as if he's a non-prospect and his strong AAA performance doesn't matter. I don't see any reason to believe Castro is a clearly superior prospect to Towles.
One of them will have to be traded or change positions. Not to mention that Pudge is here for now. Castro's value is higher on the market, but I think management sees him as the future, not Towles.
From everything I've read, Castro is by FAR a better defensive catcher than Towles, he was throwing out 59% of SB attempts at Lancaster.
I don't understand this statement. Its not like Jason Lane came up here and had an amazing career (that was shortened because of the delay in promoting him)... and I've yet to hear of a player who DIDN'T reach greatness because he wasn't promoted fast enough (on the contrary, there have been several players who ended up fizzling out, or getting injured, due to being promoted too fast). Name one prospect who the Astros truly "stifled the progress of" by keeping them in the minors longer than they should have? Hunter Pence may be the only possibility, but he had a few players ahead of him in the OF that prevented his rapid rise (and he still ended up in the majors within 3 years of being drafted). Oswalt was fast-tracked, Berkman was fast-tracked, Carlos Hernandez was ultra fast-tracked so was Redding. Lidge needed to overcome injuries before being promoted, while Wagner was fast-tracked. If you have minor league talent, those players get promoted faster. If they aren't getting promoted, its probably because they possess some negatives that prevent them from doing so (the preverbial AAAA player). Lane (while he was the best prospect the Astros had back then), obviously didn't end up being a future HOFer or even an all-star... so why should he have been promoted faster?
How long were Ward and Abreu in the system? How about Zobrist? Not combative questions, mind you. Just names off the top of my head, and I genuinely don't remember (and don't feel like googling it).
Ward was drafted in 1994 (by the Tigers, out of HS), and made his MLB debut with the Astros in 1998 at 23 years old. In his situation, there happens to be the fact that a ceratain HOF first baseman was in his way. Inevitably, Ward turned out to be nothing more than a glorified left-handed pinch-hitter anyways (still have painful visions of him chasing fly balls as an OF in 2002). Abreu was signed (not drafted) as a 16 year old player in 1990. Made his debut in 1996 (at age 22). Similiar career path as Hidalgo. Astros ended up choosing the wrong guy, as Abreu started to reach his potential at age 24. Zobrist was drafted in 2004 (like Pence) and made his debut in 2007 (like Pence). He has been very good thus far... but looking at his numbers the previous two years, this improvment is pretty drastic. He's either going to regress, or the Astros truly made a mistake by trading him... even though i'm sure nobody here would venture to predict he'd be putting up these sorts of numbers.
but the wrong guy wasn't hidalgo - it was derek bell. they should have kept the two youngsters and let bell and his contract (not to mention his average #s) go. i never understood their infatuation with derek bell. i don't know... career minor league average of .318 with an OPS of .888 and an OB% of .429. the slugging is certainly a surprise (no idea what kind of advantage tropicana might be providing, if any), and i have no idea what his glove is like, but why he wasn't more highly thought of and/or fast-tracked remains a mystery to me.
As long as there are some draftniks that can provide insight into the selections, I think it is a good idea.
IIRC, the reason was that the Astros didn't believe he would be a major league shortstop. They though he had a chance at 2nd, where we had Biggio and his heir apparent, Chris Burke. They were apparently wrong.
I say you start it considering its your idea. With the draft being telivised now, there will be a lot more info out on the players. People could post articles. Either that or wait until our pick when you know there will be a thread, but that doesn't allow for speculation. I went ahead and created one because I have some things I want to post in there.
Towles was fast tracked beyond belief, and now that's deluded Astros fans into thinking he's worthless, when in reality he's a prospect on the same level as Castro. I know public perception is far from the be all, end all, but that's one reason why you don't rush someone to the majors.
I hope too a thread gets started, I hate how the MLB draft gets such minimal coverage aside from Strasburg hoopla. Its hard to find good sites to get info, Baseball America and the majority of articles on ESPN are subscription only, and MLB.com's has only pretty decent coverage (Their Astros draft preview barely talked about this year's draft, just how we sucked it up the last couple of years). Sidenote: I thought the draft was only going to be televised on MLB network?
If Towles and Castro are about even if Castro is better, trade one of them for more prospects or something.
