Missed the game today – we held our annual Red White and Brown BBQ and all I can say is that the backyard was far too small and it was great to not do the cooking for ONCE at a party at our place. So it turns out I didn’t miss real too much except another ignominious loss, this time to Kevin Correia. Swept by Cubs, beat by Pirates, battling hard for last place.
And I also missed seeing Carlos Lee get pulled out of the game in the 7th – I hear tell he found an empty locker which means he really DID get traded, like it or not.
And he’s off to Miami. They already HAVE a full time first baseman – Gaby Sanchez, who is apparently gonna be benched/sent down – he was an All Star last year, but is barely managing the Mendoza line this year. NO idea how much of that 9 mill Crane is going to have to eat, but I would bet it’s a lot more than he would have if Clank had up n gone to Ell Lay.
Man it’s weird to be rid of Carlos Lee, the last Astros’ big time free agent. Astros have had only 3 star free agents EVER. Carlos, Roger and Andy. McLane didn’t want to pay and FA didn’t want to come. I wonder if the Astros will ever sign another big money FA – kind of doubt it. Of course, it would be nice if we could sign a homegrown STAH!!! of our own…
So we’re getting 2 prospects – hope they turn out better than Matt Nevarez. You’ve forgotten – he’s the guy we got when we traded Pudge Rodriguez to the Rangers back in 09 – such a short memory – sort of like Nevarez’ career.
Where was I?
Oh yeah.
First is Matt Dominguez, their first rounder of the 2007 draft. Man, our minors are just dripping with other teams’ first rounders. He’s a third baseman – has a .698 OPS over 611 Triple A ABs. He doesn’t walk much and he doesn’t steal bases. Had a .716 OPS over 616 Double-A ABs. Compared to this, Scott Moore looks like Ryan Braun. I’m sure all the prospect people could explain how I just am not capable of understanding his incredibleness because he’s 22 years old, not 23 or 24 or even 25. And it’s much better to have a 22 year old who puts up numbers like this on your prospect list for 6 years than use some 29 year old who can you know, like HIT. Even if they don’t learn to hit until age 29. Because 6 years of what COULD be is soooo much better than a couple of years of what actually IS.
From Fangraphs pre-season Marlins’ Top 15 – he’s #6:
A former No. 1 draft pick of the Marlins, Dominguez has started to lose some of his prospect sheen. Selected as a defense-first third baseman, he still possesses Gold Glove potential at the hot corner but his bat has not developed as expected. Dominguez still struggles with pitch recognition and needs to be more selective. He doesn’t show much pop, a skill that is fairly important for a first-division starting third baseman. The California native spent the majority of 2011 in triple-A, although he missed more than a month with a broken elbow. With Hanley Ramirez moving to the hot corner to accommodate Jose Reyes, Dominguez’s future with the organization is cloudy at best. He could be an interesting trade candidate in 2012 should The Fish find themselves in contention.
Guess they’ve given up on Jimmy Paredes, currently playing 3B now that Scott Moore is in the majors. Jimmy has a .798 OPS and 14 errors, and is already 23 – pretty old.
In case all yall curious, the third baseman at AA is Andy Simunic, age almost 27, who has a good BA but no walks and no power. At Lexington, we have 24 year old Zachary Johnson (15th round 2011 draft) and his .758 OPS and 23 year old Matt Duffy (20th round 2011 draft) and his .858 OPS. At Lancaster hitters’ Heaven, we have 21 year old Jonathan Meyer (3rd round 09 draft) and his .75 OPS – and mind, he’s repeating this level and doing worse this year.
The other guy we’re getting is the Marlins second rounder in the 2010 draft, a 21 year old lefty starter named Rob Rasmusssen. This is his second year at high A – he has a 3.74 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP over 44 starts and 233 IP. 8.50 H/9, 0.6 HR/9, 4.08 BB/9, 7.36 K/9.
From Fangraphs – who have him as #11 on the list:
Rob Rasmussen, LHP: Rasmussen was a strong prep prospect who spurned the Los Angeles Dodgers and headed off to UCLA in 2007 where his draft status took a bit of a hit due to inconsistent command and control. The under-sized left-hander continued to struggle with his control in 2011 by posting a walk rate of 4.31 BB/9 in high-A ball. Unless he tightens up his command and control Rasmussen will likely end up as a lefty reliever at higher levels. He has an average fastball, as well as a slider and a changeup.
These two guys are, by the way, #4 and #7, respectively, on the Baseball America top 10 prospect list as of 11/1/11.
A Triple A guy who can’t hit and a pitcher who can’t find the strike zone in A ball. Top prospects. OK.
Tomorrow, Bud Norris tries to not suck/pitch batting practice and he faces jeff Karstens, who is looking to reduce his 5+ ERA. It would be nice to not lose AGAIN.
Tags: Houston Astros, Marlins
Thanks for the prompt post; was looking forward to seeing your reaction to the Carlos deal. As far as high-profile FAs, I think you’re forgetting Nolan Ryan and Jeff Kent.
Remember when McLane first came to town? Doug Drabek, a year removed from his Cy. (And Greg Swindell, who was kind of a star. Love the wikipedia quote: “He returned to his native Texas as a free agent in 1992 with the Astros. At that point, his effectiveness began to wane.”)
eva and neil,
guess i hadn’t really thought of nolan ryan because he signed befroe I was born – and besides, houston was home. my mama and everyone else i have ever talked to who is old enough to have watched nolan ryan’s career swears that absolutely NO one, media included, ever thought of nolan ryan as a hall of famer until he went to the rangers and didn’t use steroids to pitch into his late 40s.
jeff kent certainly wasn’t either a star or a high profile free agent, although he was a good solid major leaguer.
i DEFINITELY remember mclane coming to town, promising astros fans GLORY and signing a fading drabek and swindell, who was a star at UT and not a star ML pitcher. but both guys were signed because they were not only someone who had some name recognition, but were native texans. and i definitely remember, after both of them failed to deliver anything resembling STAR!!! performances that drayton swore no mo expensive FA…