September opened yesterday with the absolutely thrilling announcement that Doug Brocail would be joining the truly heart warming story of Aaron Boone. I don't want to take anything away from the truly miraculous return of Aaron Boone, but when the headline for roster-expansion is a guy coming back from open heart surgery, one has to wonder what the front office is thinking. With about 30 games left in 2009 the Astros have less than 1% odds of making the playoffs. Less than 1%. There's nothing to be gained from these games except previewing potential lineup cards for 2010.
I am aware that these kinds of roster expansion typically take place once the minor league season is in the books, but there's a catch for the 2009 Astros organization: Both Round Rock and Corpus Christi aren't playing for anything. There's literally nothing holding the Astros back from experimenting for an extra week to make more informed decisions in the offseason. The best part is, pretty much everything the Astros need to see is already on the 40-man roster.
- How does Miguel Tejada fair at 3B? Does Geoff Blum really need regular playing time? Does it matter if he makes a bunch of ridiculous errors? The answer to both of these is no.
- What does Tommy Manzella hit like at the big league level? Better yet, how does he look at SS? With Miggy over at 3B, it makes perfect sense to bring up his ostensible in house replacement, who is on the 40-man roster, and see how he fares. Sure his bat is important, but I'm really curious to see how his glove plays.
- How do Brian Bogusevic and Yordany Ramirez look? Our current outfield trio aren't going anywhere, but with a relative (and I mean relative) surplus of seemingly capable outfielders why not see if we can get them a strong cup of coffee and sell high on one of them? Think Josh Anderson in 2007, only hope for more than Oscar Villareal.
- What has another year of AAA done for JR Towles? Can we count him in for 2010? Or can we potentially shop him this offseason? A replication of 2007's cup of coffee could do wonders for his stock.
- Who would be a better regular: Jeff Keppinger or Edwin Maysonet? My guess is Keppinger, but why not give them both a consistent run of starts. It's not like Kaz Matsui needs to play extra games, he's already fragile enough.
- Could Yorman Bazardo be more useful as a Chris Sampson-type in the bullpen? It would save him some innings, and allow us to see get a better idea of his relative utility to us.
- Finally, it'd be cool to see how this worked out for scrap heap types? I guess we're really out of scrap heap types, but maybe we could figure it out.
Agreed completely.
With everything you mentioned. This is so important not just for the sake of seeing these players, but also because it needs to look like the front office and management CARE about next year. From the offseason until now, they’ve been phoning it in—making safely mediocre decisions that nobody can get excited about (except maybe calling up Norris, albeit a month too late, and signing Mier). Unless they make some radical changes, they’re going to keep bleeding fans.
OremLK - September 3, 2009
About Manzella
Certainly he won’t be a great major league hitter, but it’s quite possible that he could at least be better than Blum if we’re moving Miggy to 3B and taking Blum out of the everyday lineup. Who knows what kind of drop we can expect from him moving up big league pitching, but the ceiling (his current numbers plus his potential for growth as a hitter) is certainly far higher.
Anyway, we need to cut payroll and pick up some pitching, and Blum is one of the players who ought to go.
OremLK - September 3, 2009
I agree
It would make watching the games a lot more interesting to say the least.
I was watching Quick Pitch the MLB Networks recap highlight show this morning and I was sad to not see Boone make the Premier Plays (top plays) not just for his outstanding play at first base, but also for the fact that the man had heart surgery five months ago. If he was a Yankee he would of been in there.
Timothy De Block - September 3, 2009
I agree with all of your ideas....except that....
I’m sympathetic to the need to finish out the AAA season. One less week for the call ups isn’t a big deal. And Round Rock is so barren that it would be embarrassing to play games with those guys gone; in fact, they physically can’t complete the season that way…which would necessitate one week call ups from AA, and probably on down the line. That doesn’t make sense for only one week. The Astros have an ethical obligation to their minor league team, particularly one that is already complaining about the Astros giving them so few decent players.
clack - September 3, 2009
The reshuffle would be problematic
But could also be fun for the reshufflees, and the fans too. For RR, it’s not like things could get worse for the fan experience. Wouldn’t seeing Drew Locke for a week be more enjoyable than seeing Matt Kata take the field? I guess the AA reshuffle would be difficult, but I feel like it’s workable.
I guess that my aim wasn’t so much to lambast the Astros front office for not doing this right away, but set the scene for a lambasting when 80%-90% of these ideas are kicked aside in a week.
Stephen Higdon - September 3, 2009
I agree with what Clack says
about keeping a few good players in RR. As far as bringing guys up from CC, Van Ostrand and Castro are gone and Locke is out with injury, so there is not a lot to call up, if they took that route. It’s a good point too that the Ryans are apparently already irritated about the dearth of talent that they have been getting recently.
Personally, I am going to Sunday’s game and was very excited to find out that Bud Norris is scheduled to pitch. However, with all apologies to Billy Sadler, after the minor league season ends on Labor Day, I see no reason to follow the remainder of the season unless the club does a few of the things that Dying Quail mentions after September 7. I guess I’ll follow the Word Cup to see how Van Ostrand and Castro are doing.
farm_stros - September 3, 2009
SadlerPalooza
One benefit of bringing up all the guys mentioned before the end of the minor league season(Manzella, Towles, Bogusevic, Ramirez), it sets up the distinct possibility of a new Round Rock Festival, SADLERPALOOZA. Here’ s the potential lineup:
Esposito-C
Saccomanno-1B
Vallejo-2B
Smith-SS
Johnson-3B
Kata-LF
Abercrombie-CF
Ray Sadler- RF(Called up from CC)
Billy Sadler-SP
farm_stros - September 3, 2009
Because...they are led by idiots.
Drayton will blame the season on a poor economy and calf injuries, and will talk about being a champion, but he couldn’t get a clue if he was given the board game.
2009 is dead and stinks like a fish. Get a jump on 2010. As a longtime fan, I could not agree more and share your frustration.
DrBristol - September 4, 2009
Don't Get IT
Why is everyone so high on manzella…..he is another everitt……an empty bat…why not play johnson at 3rd…….how do we end up with these no hitting ss anyway
flitemedic - September 7, 2009
How do you know?
He has done well enough at the plate that he deserves a chance to prove himself as a big league hitter. And defense is important. Adam Everett helped us to a pennant in 2005, what has Miguel Tejada done for us other than hitting into record numbers of GIDPs?
Contrary to what seems to be your belief, good hitting shortstops who can actually play the position effectively are pretty rare in MLB. I’m sure we all wish we had Hanley Ramirez or Derek Jeter, and if wishes were horses…
OremLK - September 11, 2009
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