Singleton to be optioned to Fresno (to make room for Gomez)

Only move they could really make unless they Kut Karter. Valbuena hasn't hit a HR in 5-6 weeks and his BA is under .200 again. He has no business hitting cleanup right now.

 

What are they seeing in Carter/Valbuena that makes them so much more confident?

 

Don't agree with this move especially if Carter is going to stay on the roster. At least Singleton's glove was helping the team and he's hit better since the All Star break.

 

They really need to just let Carter go. I would prefer Singleton on the big league club anyways.

And Valbuena is a huge liability if he wants to hit under 0.200 without hitting home runs.

I'd prefer Lowrie/MarGo at 3rd with Singleton/MarGo at 1st.

 

Yeah, I'd like to see Carter gone in a trade. I honestly don't care if they give him away. Awful at the plate and even worse in the field

 

It is strange that he has his best game of the year, benched the next game against a righty, and then demoted.

The regime just can seem to quit Carter. I know the feeling, I've been defending him all year based on track record, but good lord he's been terrible. FWIW Singleton has the same platoon issues as Valbuena, so they don't really complement each other at 1st. So that's probably part of the reasoning.

 

Carter just makes more sense for the 1B platoon. That being said, would rather just play Singleton there most of the games.

 

I guess I am confused by this move. I like Singleton (perhaps more than most here), and while it is possible that Carter gets hot like he did last year, it is frustrating seeing him do so little to help the club. The 'stros management has earned my trust on this, and its possible this is part of an upcoming move, so hopefully it all becomes clear soon...

 

Also, regarding Singleton, he should be allowed to play 10 straight games...thats the only way you can really develop some rhythm and consistency. Playing one game, followed by two off nights, then playing two games, followed with an off night...just makes it hard to get into the flow. I dont like the way they've approached his situation.

 

Why give him that contract if you aren't going to use him more frequently? I could understand if defense or other players production was keeping him in the minors but that's not the case here.

 

Cut Carter

 

Hence why he's being sent down (perhaps some regular AB's gets him back in a groove... and he can contribute in September).

He's not going to play 10 straight games here... he's not good enough for that (yet, if ever). In fact, the only players assured of playing 10 straight games in the lineup are Correa and Altuve.

Carter isn't good enough for it either... hence the platoon. Carter has shown the ability to still hit a HR every now and then with the recent intermittent playing time (hit one after the ASB... hit another one after being out with the ankle and spotty playing time). He also should just be platooning at DH, while Marwin/Valbuena handle 1B.

Ideally, they ultimately move on from both of them and get a more consistent/productive option.

 

The contract has nothing to do with it. They thought he'd be more productive than he has been when they gave him the money. At this point, it's a sunk cost. Yes, they'll evaluate him when they can, but they also won't make decisions purely because he's making 2M/yr instead of 400k

 

I think we need to wait until the trade deadline passes to evaluate things.

Yes, Singleton had a good game the other night, but surely one must look at his overall contributions, not one game. And in this light, his demotion or eventual release is probable.

If this team were on the preseason projected win total of 70-75 wins and basically out of the playoff hunt, the Singleton and other situations would probably have played out differently.

As things are though, its good luck for the team and bad luck for Singleton that we are where we are.

 

i don't care for this route but what's the alternative? we aren't going to just cut carter, although a trade for a bag of chips isn't a bad idea.

just a bummer after singleton had his best game and had started to look a little more comfortable at the plate. i would have loved to see him get 10 straight starts instead of carter to really flesh out his potential with the club.

 

Don't think they had this sort of production in mind when signing him to the deal in the first place... but perhaps he knew better, since he basically bet "against" himself busting out by signing the deal at all.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/linzyrother">@linzyrother</a> Happy to play host for the next month (at most). Only a matter of time before <a href="https://twitter.com/iLLJAY_SiNG">@iLLJAY_SiNG</a> is back up with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a>.</p>&mdash; Fresno Grizzlies (@FresnoGrizzlies) <a href="https://twitter.com/FresnoGrizzlies/status/627153646673887232">July 31, 2015</a></blockquote>
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They are very clearly in win-now mode. As bad as Carter has been, Singleton has been substantially worse. Carter is getting benched more often, but there's just no room at this point for Singleton to be learning on the job. I assume he'll get another shot next April.

That said, to your original point - Singleton's one good game in the majors this season was after a whole bunch of off days.