Our OF prospects aren't exactly young, so they have more value getting some time in the bigs rather than being trade chips at this point. Now or never for Dirden and Leon...
Yes. Brown recently mentioned him by name when talking about giving Abreu some off days and DH starts.
I want a 1B who can also play some corner OF... Trey Mancini type... I want Abreu getting about 75 games at 1B and 50 games at DH. Brandon Belt would be great if available except the lack of OF...
Abreu is going to play 120+ games at 1B and another 25 at DH unless he gets hurt. I like Belt quite a bit. I don't think the Astros can afford him though. He hasn't played LF in a few years but he may be able to play 15 games there at MMP. Not the end of the world if he can't but I think he will want too much for a guy playing 65-70 games.
Alvarez will play enough first base to rest Abreu and spend the rest of his time at DH. He will spend very little time if any in the outfield. Dubon will be the infield bench player specializing in the middle infield spots and spending very little time if any in the outfield. Loperfido will win the versatile bench player spot vacated by Dubon playing at both bench corner infielder and outfielder. Starting outfielders McCormick, Meyers, and Tucker will be backed up by bench outfielder Corona who together with Loperfido will make the team out of Spring training. No outside position players will be forthcoming. The 26 man roster will remain unchanged other than by injury till around mid June.
Abreu gets hurt, Diaz, Dubon, Kessinger split time at 1B with Caratini playing more. Chas or Tucker, Meyers and Dubon split time. Yordan, Diaz plays more 1B/DH. Meyers handles OF. Dubon subs in more for Altuve at 2B to allow Altuve to DH. Bregman, Kessinger or Dubon I see Singleton as the weak link, but he's the 26th man. Hoping Espada treats him like one. The Astros can have one guy hurt (Not Alvarez) and have a better offense than a full strength Dusty led team.
Betchya breakfast. He has already been approached with it and agreed to it. Unless it goes very badly in the Spring he will be the DH and play a little first.
Caratini is the backup C and one of the best backups in the league. The 2 guys slotted for AAA (Salazar, Berryhill) are solid 3rd/4th options. Singleton catches a lot of flak on this site but he’s a solid backup 1B/lefthanded bench power bat and 13th position player. He projects as a league average bat but has tons of upside. An 2017-2019 Eric Thames level late career resurrection would not be unheard of. Kessinger is a fine emergency option. Loperfido and Wagner lurk in AAA. Dubon is about as good of a backup 2B/SS/3B as any team has. Kessinger is a fine 12th position player, he looked slick defensively and has a bit of upside even tho he projects to be a pretty crummy hitter. Whitcomb, Leon, Hensley, and Wagner make for fine AAA IF depth. Dezenzo could be a big factor in the 2nd half if there’s an injury in the infield and his breakout takes another step. Dubon makes for a fine 4th OF as well. His versatility really is a key in the construction of the roster. I wish there was a stud CF prospect in AAA but the depth is fine. Julks, Leon, Dirden, Hamilton, and Adolph are a AAA pupu platter but not awful and should only be a factor for a half season until Houston sorts thru the much higher talent guys slated for AA (Corona, Melton, Barber, Daniels). If an OF suffers a long term injury it just means a lot more LF time for Alvarez with Diaz playing DH and Caratini catching everyday, along with more time for Dubon; not a horrible contingency plan. The Astros actually have excellent depth on both sides of the ball. Starting pitching health and high leverage RP stability are their real questions marks. But those are questions for almost all teams including legit contenders. Houston has 8 guys who would be everyday position players for most teams in the league plus 3 more who would play everyday for 5-10 teams. They also have 8 legit SP and 4 proven MLB RP, all of whom would be on almost every pitching staff in the league (assuming healthy). That why they’re the current AL favorite.
What's the chances for a guy like Joey Loperfido, who bats L and plays 1B/OF to fill that hole on our bench?
By midseason maybe 50%? Opening day 10%? He does not have enough time above AA. Maybe if they were rebuilding or even if they had the ability to get him 5 starts per week, but he needs playing time.
Brown has publically stated that one of the benefits of Abreu taking days off is to get Singleton some playing time. Like it or not, he is the backup 1B and the team is expecting him to start 25+ games there. I think it would benefit the team to have a more proven guy in that spot, but I'm not completely convinced he can't have a solid season. As for Alvarez at 1b. It will happen when Verlander starts at shortstop.
I think fans need to stop taking everything Dana Brown says as the gospel. He has said a number of things and it turned out later to not being entirely truthful. He also has changed his mind at times. Just because he says something in December, doesn’t mean it will hold true in 30 days or by Spring Training. Jim Crane does what he wants and always has since he bought the team and he is the one that controls the purse strings and has some degree of input with the team that takes the field. As for Singleton, he may be the player that ends up backing up Abreu and gets some time at DH. However, I would not count on it. He is positionally locked, he is slow on the bases and struggles to make contact. He can work a count and costs little- but there are other bats out there that are better and/or can play multiple spots.
Agree with everything except Singleton He had a great at bat to draw a walk in a big playoff appearance But there is nothing in his MLB history that says he is even a good backup I hope this is the year he proves me wrong, but he has had several opportunities and simply hasn’t been any good
