Tonight is the Houston Athletics (Carter, Blakely, Peacock) vs the Oakland Astros (Frieman, Lowrie)

Still bummed we lost Freiman. I'm thinking he hits a towering blast against us this weekend.

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Tonight is the Houston Athletics (Carter, Blakely, Peacock) vs the Oakland Astros (Frieman, Lowrie)

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Obviously the teams are trying to out-moneyball each other.

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Big time prospects in order of appearance IMHO...

OKC:

Singleton
Cosart
Villar
Grossman


CC:

Springer (maybe September)
Tropeano (maybe September)





btw, I can't wait to watch Tropeano pitch on milb.tv tonight.

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Springer is here way befor September. Or at least he better be.

Line up for tonight:

1)Altuve, 2nd
2)Wallace, 1st
3)Carter, LF
4)Pena, DH
5)Maxwell, CF
6)Ankiel, RF
7)Castro, C
8)Dominguez, 3rd
9)Gonzalez, SS

I could get 9ks out if that lineup

The Astros have designated right-hander Edgar Gonzalez for assignment, according to Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The move creates a spot on the 40-man roster for Travis Blackley, whom the Astros acquired from the Athletics yesterday.

From mlbtraderumors.

On pace for 27 k's tonight

[This message has been edited by Mr.Bond (edited 4/5/2013 7:41p).]

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The Astros have designated right-hander Edgar Gonzalez for assignment, according to Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle (on Twitter). The move creates a spot on the 40-man roster for Travis Blackley, whom the Astros acquired from the Athletics yesterday.

From mlbtraderumors.

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Apparently Oakland is our new Philadelphia

so I'm wondering, I'm in OKC, which in previous years, was considered a home market for the Stros on FSN (meaning I never had to get Extra Innings, I saw all games on FSSW).

Now, I have Direct TV, so does that mean if I get Extra Innings will the games still be blacked out, and I'm left with no options?

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Springer is here way befor September. Or at least he better be.

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Did I miss the year we are in? I believe next year is earliest possible, even though he's already 23

Carlos Pena is washed up. 2 for 13 with 8 Ks to start the season. I hope Luhnow gives up on that experiment soon. There's no reason for us to have him on the roster while giving up on a guy like Freiman.

Yeah Pena needs to go.

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Springer is here way befor September. Or at least he better be.

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Did I miss the year we are in? I believe next year is earliest possible, even though he's already 23

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He's 23 and did very well at CC last year. He needs to get here before September. He's a college kid and should be ready. I'm tired of Houston bringing up 24-27 year old rookies.

The future cannot get here fast enough. This is embarassing.

Its really bad.

I'm here right now. It is miserable. This has been the longest ****ing inning of my life

Walk four guys (and counting) and hit a guy in an inning, and it's going to get ugly. Throw strikes, dammit.

I do like the orange unis, though.

We look good sucking.

Who all is on crawfishboxes?


I'm irish pete on there... go figure.

I'm there but don't post much.

I lurk

Wow

Astros right-hander Alex White, acquired in this offseason's Wilton Lopez trade with the Rockies, will require Tommy John surgery, writes Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle.

Didn't watch it, wasn't on TV.

I predict about a month before I could care less.

That's why TINSTAAPP.


You have to just acquire quantity of arms.

I'm already pretty apathetic. Can't see. No plate discipline.

Let's talk about something positive. Organizational depth at SS now.



MLB
Marwin Gonzalez, 24, not a guy I expect to be around by then. Could still be "developing," but his ceiling is more than likely not a starter on any MLB teams that are competitive.

AAA
Jonathan Villar, 21 & 11 months, this dude has maybe the 2nd highest ceiling of all SS's in the system. I'm bearish on him every realizing it though.

Ceiling could be a .260/.320/.430 type guy. He has shown pop in AA last year he hit 11 HRs in a season shortened by an immature breaking of his hand by punching a door.

Last year in AA, if he would have maintained his pace, he would have hit 16 HRs and stole 57 bases. He also possesses the skills to be a stud defensive SS, but has not realized the potential.

He is the quintessential high risk/high reward prospect.


AA
Jiovanni Mier, 21 & 8 months, 1st round pick of the Astros 2009 draft.

This guy has not panned out the way you want a 1st rounder to, but he's not a lost cause.

This year should tell us a lot about him as a prospect. He was hurt most of last year. He's noted for being an extremely smooth fielder. He has a good approach at the plate and could be a high OBP guy like Fontana below. His progress is one I'm closely watching this year at CC. Plus with MILB.tv I'll be able to watch him in the field also.

A+
Nolan Fontana, 21 & 10 months, complete opposite style prospect than Villar. This guy will almost certainly have an lengthy MLB career. If he can be an everyday regular is the question.

From what I've read his defense is good enough for him to stick at SS, but he will never be an elite defender there. Where this guy is unbelievable is his approach at the plate. Last year he walked at an obscene 24.3% rate. He is off to a similar start with Corpus this year with 2 BBs through 9 PAs.

A
Carlos Correa, 18 years and 6 months.

Next A-Rod





Out of all of those guys, we should be pretty excited about this position in the minor leagues.

Yup. Now compare it to our prospects at 3rd and catcher and we better damn well hope Dominguez and Castro are the answer, if not, we are putting our eggs in the baskets of Rio Ruiz and Carlos Perez who still have a LONG way to go before they can be considered average MLB players.. like 2-4 years away.

For position players, I think our prospect depth chart is strongest in this order..

1. SS (Villar, Mier, Fontana, Correa)
2. OF (Springer, Santana, Grossman, Paredes, Krauss, Wates, Lin, Aplin, Tucker, Meredith, Ovando, Scott, Hernandez)
3. 1B (Literally because of Singleton and maybe if Nash ever reappears)
4. 2B (DeShields, Elmore, Martinez, Wikoff)
5. 3B (Ruiz, Laird (not really a prospect), Meyer, Duffy)
6. C (Perez, Garcia, McCurdy, Cokinos, Heineman)

I think we are going to have a strong middle infield for a long time, whether its Altuve, Correa, Mier, Fontana, DeShields.. we have plenty of likely to be good talent.

I think we have too many positions where we have our eggs in one basket. I want to see a big emphasis on the corner infield and catcher in this draft.

By the time Singleton, Correa, Springer, McCullers, DeShields, 2013 #1, and 2014 #1-4 are in the bigs we will spend money on highish level FAs to fill in the holes. Depth is good, but we can't expect to field an entirely home-grown playoff caliber team.

Ooorrrrr... we could! Talk about making history! Lets be the first team to win the World Series with our very own prospects.

Better yet, lets be the first team to win it all with JUST Houston prospects!

Kidding aside, you want to have at least a couple of players at each position who could be at the worst serviceable bench players in the majors. If we can address that in this next couple of drafts, we will easily have a top 3-5 farm and be set for another long run of great baseball.

Mazag very true, but the Texas Rangers themselves filled 3B and C through free agency pretty well in their World Series runs with Beltre and Napoli.


If you can put 5 or 6 of 8 position players out there that are able to compete, you can find a few FAs to come in and help.