Roger Clemens lost the final game of the Bud Selig Tournament and he SEZ he’s definitely done. For now. Uh-hunh. We’ll see if Roger is sprawling on the couch, drinkin beer and watching TV when May rolls around. Or if he saying to himself – waaal heck – I kin pitch bettern them guys – honey, go get me mah glove (and her sayin to herself – thank GAWD – I do love my man but he gettin on my last nerve…)

Jeff Bagwell hasn’t had to make a throw in any game yet, but aside from him “being sore” who knows what he can do. He made a costly error today. He hit a ball to the warning track – must have been at least 350′ – the farthest I have seen him hit a ball since last April. But he’s still not hitting most balls a very long distance and he sure does NOT look like a 17 mill a year power hitter (see stats below.)

OK – we are still playing a lot of minor leaguers, so lessee what positions really ARE up for grabs:

Let’s look at who IS gonna make the team:

Pitchers: (Phil said there will be 12)
Roy Oswalt
Andy Pettitte
Brandon Backe
Wandy Rodriguez (oh yes he will)
Brad Lidge
Dan Wheeler
Mike Gallo
Trever Miller
Russ Springer
Chad Qualls

Position Players:
(assuming no Baggy)
Lance Berkman
Craig Biggio
Adam Everett
Morgan Ensberg
Brad Ausmus
Chris Burke
Eric Bruntlett
Mike Lamb
Orlando Palmeiro
Preston Wilson
Jason Lane
Willy Taveras

- So the questions are -
1) who will be the 5th starter?
2) who is the final reliever?
3) who is the last position player?

Pitchers – let’s look at who is left: (Pitchers Matt Albers and Felipe Paulino got sent down today)
from the 40 man:
RHP Ezequiel Astacio age 26 1 – 0 with a 1.86 ERA – 1 GS in 4 G and 1 Sv in 1 OPP over 9.2 IP – 4 H, 7 BB, 7K
RHP Taylor Buchholz age 24 1 – 1 in 2 GS in 4 G, 1 SV with a 2.25 ERA over 12 IP – 13 H, NO HR, 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Fernando Nieve age 23 1 – 1 in 2 GS in 4 G with a 5.25 ERA over 12.0 IP with 17 H, 1 HR, 5 BB, 10 K
(note the fielding has been terrible and each pitcher has 3 UER, and Astacio has 2 HBP)

NRIs:
RHP Dave Borkowski age 29 4.26 ERA over 6.1 IP with 8 H, 1 HR, 2 BB and 3 K
RHP Paul Estrada age 23 o ERA over 2 IP with no hits and 1 K
LHP Carlos Hernandez age 25 0.00 ERA over 1 IP with 1 BB and 1 K and no hits
RHP Ronnie Martinez age 22 0.00 over 1 IP with 1 BB and 1 K and no hits
RHP Jailen Peguero age 25 0 – 1 and a BS with a 16.20 ERA in 1 G over 1.2 IP with 4 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
RHP Chad Reineke age 23 0.00 over 1 IP in 1 game
RHP Steve Sparks age 40 1 – 1 with a 9.90 ERA in 1 GS in 3 G over 10.0 IP -17 H, 2 HR, 6 BB, 7 K
RHP Mitch Talbot age 22 6.00 ERA in 2 G over 3.0 IP with 4 H,3 BB, 1 K
RHP Joe Valentine age 26 1 – 0 in 6 G with a 4.50 ERA over 8.0 IP with 13 H, 3 BB, 3 K

- Well, seems to me that Buchholz has the best stats of the 3 guys from the 40 man and of the NRIs, they have given the most innings to Borkowski and Valentine because they are “veterans” – (even theough they aren’t very good)

BUT

even though Carlos Hernandez has only thrown 1 inning, and only threw to one batter in the WBC (David Ortiz, who hit a 2 run HR), I think that the Organization wants him on the team for old time’s sake and that for some bizarre reason I can NOT understand, Garner is trying to get Sparks on the team, even though he obviously is lousy.

In fact, today, Phil told reporters that it looks like he’s going to pick from Carlos Hernandez, Ezequiel Astacio, Fernando Nieve, Taylor Buchholz and Steve Sparks for the 5th starter. In my opinion, he should try Buchholz as the 5th guy and put Astacio in the bullpen. Hernandez and Nieve can start at AAA and Sparks should stay retired. The young NRI guys need more minor league experience and Borkowski and Valentine can be filler in the minors. If they want. But they weren’t very good in the majors, and we aren’t desperate for bullpen help.

OK – last but not least, who will be the last position player?

Catchers Raul Chavez, age 33; Hector Gimenez, age 22; Humberto Quintero, age 26
OF: lefty Josh Anderson, age 23; righty Charlton Jimerson, age 26 and lefty Luke Scott, age 27

NRIs -
Catchers Jonathan Ash, Kevin Davidson and Neil Sellers are going back to the minors. Trust me on this.
Infielder Thomas Manzella and OF Hunter Pence, Brian Gordon and Mike Rodriguez are also going back to the minors.

So the guys who are left are:
26 year old switch hitter Brooks Conrad
30 year old 3B Danny Klassen
28 year old lefty Eric Munson (pretty much 3B, but Phil is playing him everywhere but SS and 2B and P)
33 year old 3B Kevin Orie
24 year old switch hitter Benny Zobrist

You know how I complained about Garner paying WAAYYYY to much attention to Steve Sparks, who played for Phil when he managed the Tigers? Well, we got 3 guys here who also have played for Phil before and he seems sweet on Munson, even talking about how Munson could be a backup catcher – a position he hasn’t played since college. Good Grief, as Charlie Brown would say.

OK, after checking the stats:
Luke Scott by FAR looks the best – he walks, hits for decent power and doesn’t K too much. Orie and Munson have hit for power (when they hit) but won’t walk and don’t get on base enough. The other guys haven’t done real too well at anything. And he HAS layed in the majors, so Orie and Munson don’t have anything on him there. Jimerson is an Organization favorite, but he doesn’t get on base well and strikes out too much.

As for backup catcher – either Chavez or Quintero – does it really matter?

Tags: Houston Astros, MLB

This entry was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 at 6:36 am and is filed under Astros baseball, spring training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.