if he really can't hit, why are we fighting so hard to get him in the lineup. i understood moving biggio out of the catcher's spot. but if towles can play catcher, you can sacrifice some things at the plate that you wouldn't want to sacrifice from a corner infielder.
We don't know that about him, yet. His sample size is still pretty small. He was rushed last year when he likely wasn't ready. His cup-of-coffee this year was way to small to make a judgment. And his AAA season has been full of random injuries, limiting his playing time. He's currently got an .863 OPS...not bad for most positions on the field. Considering the fast track that Castro is on, why not see if Towles can do it?
If he can hit, I'd certainly want to explore it. And I'm with you on not knowing that yet. But I don't think I'd start changing him positions now...I'd focus one one step at a time, so he's not learning a new position while he's trying to find his bat at the big league level.
K. Matsui 2B J. Keppinger 3B H. Pence RF C. Lee LF M. Tejada SS J. Michaels CF A. Boone 1B H. Quintero C F. Paulino P This is the "f*** it all" lineup.
Ha. It's not a case that I think particularly highly of Towles -- it's just that he's basically the only bat anywhere close to the majors that has the potential to be serviceable in Houston. And unfortunately, he plays the same position as our best prospect, so he's pretty much blocked. As Major has said plenty of times before, one of the Astros' biggest problems is having to give out mid-level, $4-6m a year contracts for average production from the likes of Kaz, Woody Williams, Pudge, etc. when a decent farm system produces guys like that cheap from within. Towles is pretty much the only minor league hitter (at this point) that could conceivably help the Astros in the next year or so, so I would expect them to experiment a bit. With that said, it seems the 3B rumor was off, so who knows.
But the Cubs don't. Paulino left a fatty over the plate for Lee. He's looked good beyond that mistake though.
What a sliding catch by Mike Fontenot in foul territory right in front of our bullpen. On another note, Matsui's terrible. He's hitting under .250. Why don't we bring up Edwin Maysonet and Jason Castro for the tail end of this season, and work them in to starting roles for next season's squad.
One thing that has been pretty ridiculous is all the "Play Maysonet!" clamoring I've seen over at the Chron and even on here to a lesser extent. The dude hit well for a small stretch with the Astros but there is absolutely nothing about his minor league numbers that indicate he'd even be an average major league hitter. If he were to start for a few weeks consecutively, people would be crying to get him out of the lineup. And to the previous poster, he's been with the Astros for a couple weeks.
Yup. Seriously, it's unreal how dumb some people are. If a guy comes in in a small sample size and does well (Maysonet), he's a stud in waiting and the Astros are fools for not playing him. If a guy comes in in a small sample size and does poorly (Towles), he's a disaster and his career is over. After two starts, these same people were willing to anoint Bud Norris as the second coming. I've gotten to where I won't even click the Astros news items on facebook, because the idiocy in the comments section is just overwhelming. I'm not saying casual fans don't have a place, but people who speak with such conviction (so and so who do this for a living are complete idiots, I know way more!) when they don't follow that closely gets really annoying.
Not to mention that Maysonet is 28-years-old. He doesn't hit for average or power. He does have some plate discipline but nothing extraordinary.
Tejada has been awful, offensively and defensively, over the last 5 or 6 weeks. He has about a .500 OPS over that stretch and has committed some ridiculous errors. He just looks tired. And remember, he had as good of a start to this season as you could possibly expect given his age. What if we resign a 36-year-old Tejada to an $8 mil contract or something and he doesn't have a good start? He'll likely get at least as tired toward the end of next season if he starts regularly again. Moving to 3rd would probably be cancelled out by getting a year older.
3 reasons to start Maysonet... 1-Matsui Sucks 2-I agree he is to old but this is an audition for next year and a possible bench role with the team. He hit well in a stretch and could be a great bench player on the cheap especially since it looks like our money is going toward pitching. 3-Matsui Sucks oh yea a 4th reason.... Matsui Sucks
How much better do you think Maysonet would hit? I think you'd be shocked at his long term results. I bet he wouldn't have an OPS much higher than Matsui's present one if he started regularly. This is based on his minor league numbers. There is a site that projects numbers from AAA to the pros. I'll go find it and see what Maysonet projects to do over a full-season. Also, I was speaking more about next season and Maysonet's future in general. I couldn't care less about what they do for the rest of this season. Maysonet would likely be among the worst players in baseball if he played every day in the big leagues.
I'd be fine with starting Maysonet now that it's September and we know we're out of it, which means we can evaluate. But I agree with starting Matsui until this point -- it seems a lot of people forgot just how good Kaz was last year. He was a very good leadoff man and basically the catalyst of the offense during that second-half run. I can understand why the Astros have given him all the chances they have. And I completely agree on Tejada, Brooks. That's why I don't want him back unless it's $4m or less. When you don't hit for much power, and you don't take walks, and are exclusively a BA-type guy... you're going to be subject to pretty wild fluctuations. It's almost impossible to provide quality 3B offense that way unless you're dropping in singles all year, and that usually doesn't happen. You have to have other elements to your game to fall back on, and Tejada doesn't at this point.
Brooks, not saying Maysonet should start, your right about that, as he would be a below avg 2nd baseman but as a bench player he could come in handy on the cheap next year. I am interested in seeing him play in September to see if he is even worth giving a shot in ST 2010 wheather or not he hits better then Kaz its all about evaluating from here on out. To bad we don't have an option at the middle infielder positions to test out in September but oh well....
