Spring training info goes in here. I am leaving the off-season thread open for transaction info since there is a lot of discussion already in there.
5 Bold predictions: 1. Tony Kemp is traded for a teenager 3 days prior to opening day. Marisnick is the 4th OF. Tucker starts in AAA. 2. Dean Deetz and Reymin Guduan make the opening day bullpen. 3. Houston trades for or claims off waivers 4 players who have options remaining. 4. Josh James starts the 3rd game of the season. 5. Dallas Keuchel signs a 2 year deal with Houston the 2nd week of the season. McHugh back to the bullpen. Guduan optioned. Opening day 40 man roster/lineup: CF Springer LF Brantley 3B Bregman 2B Altuve SS Correa 1B Gurriel DH White RF Reddick C Chirinos Bench: Diaz, Stassi, Marisnick Rotation: Verlander, Cole, James, Miley, McHugh Bullpen: Peacock, Devenski, Deetz, Guduan, Harris, Rondon, Pressly, Osuna Optioned: Stubbs, Reed, Tucker, Straw, Fisher, Armenteros, Rodgers, C Perez, F Valdez, Abreu, 4 TBD (Houston starts opening day with 1 open 40 man spot.)
My predictions: Marisnick is optioned to start the season, Kemp makes the opening day roster. He is traded before Marisnick's option time runs out, and Marisnick is then promoted. We don't sign any more pitchers this offseason. Lineup: CF Springer 3B Bregman 2B Altuve LF Brantley SS Correa DH White RF Reddick 1B Gurriel C Chirinos Bench: Diaz, Stassi, Kemp Rotation: Verlander, Cole, McHugh, Wiley, James Bullpen: Devenski, Valdez, Deetz, Peacock, Harris, Rondon, Pressly, Osuna
I wonder if they will consider moving Devo sometime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if Valdez could provide similar or better production and he has more projection in him than Devo. imo, Valdez' stuff reminds me of Britton, although he obviously doesn't have the same velo as Britton did when he was at his best.
Devenski value too low right now to consider it. He does noticeably wear down as the season goes on (and admitted as much recently, and has revamped his off-season conditioning program to help with it). As it is, even if he's at his best, the market for above-average non-closing relief pitchers is not all that much in demand.
Plus, what we need is Devo at his best. We are already going to be losing McHugh from the pen, as well as Sipp who was surprisingly good last year. I'm good with a couple of the young guys in the pen as is likely now, adding another to that wouldn't be ideal
I’m not 1000% certain on this, but I think if they option Marisnick to start the season, he won’t be able to force them to call him up; the service time he needs in order to refuse an option is based on being on the major league roster. So if they do decide to option him by opening day, they won’t have to bring him back up until they actually need him.
The only players I think it would make sense to trade prior to opening day: Reddick: if they want to bring up Tucker and can find a taker for most of Reddick’s contract. Fisher, Kemp, Reed: blocked young players who might be everyday guys for a lesser team. Marisnick: if they can’t find a taker for Reddick or Kemp and if another team wants him as their everyday CF.
By going off of Baseball-Reference MLB Service Time and Marisnick's MLB.com transactions page, he has 1 Option Year left. BBRef Service Time: 4.132 (4 seasons and 132 days). Players have to have 5 full years of Service Time (5.000 = 4 years plus 173 days) before being able to refuse a minor league assignment. https://www.mlb.com/player/jake-marisnick-545350 Marisnick transactions that pertain to this discussion: July 23, 2013 > Marisnick added to Miami Marlins 25-Man & 40-man Rosters (Contract Purchased) March 27, 2014 > Optioned to AAA New Orleans FIRST OPTION YEAR EXPENDED [1 of 3] (20+ Days in Minors) June 16, 2014 > Called back up to Miami July 31, 2014 > Traded to Houston from Miami Marisnick stays on Astros 25-man/40-man rosters for remainder of 2014 & 2015 seasons April 25, 2016 > Optioned to AAA Fresno May 5, 2016 > Called back up to Houston NO OPTION YEAR EXPENDED- (10 Days in Minors) Marisnick stays on Astros 25-man/40-man rosters for remainder of 2016 & 2017 May 16, 2018 > Optioned to AAA Fresno (7 Days in Minors) May 23, 2018 > Called back up to Houston July 7, 2018 > Optioned to AAA Fresno (3 more days in Minors, 10 Total for 2018) July 10, 2018 > Called back up to Houston July 14, 2018 > Optioned to AAA Fresno SECOND OPTION YEAR EXPENDED [2 of 3] (Accrues 20+ Days in Minors for 2018) August 1, 2018 > Called back up to Houston Marisnick stays on Astros 25-man/40-man rosters for remainder of 2018 Marisnick has 1 Minor League Option left. He can be sent down during Spring Training, or even start the year on the 25-man roster and still be optioned before the 41st day of the 2019 season. Best summaries of the Minor League Option Rules: http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/minor-league-options A player's option years do not need to be used in succession. Any player with fewer than five years of Major League service time and an option year remaining can be optioned to the Minor Leagues. Players with more than five years of service time must consent to being optioned. https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3506 If a player spends 20 or more days of an MLB regular season on Optional Assignment to the minors, an option year is expended and the player does not accrue MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment. If a player spends 19 or fewer days of an MLB regular season on Optional Assignment, an option year is NOT expended and the player does accrue MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment. After three minor league option years have been spent, the player is said to be "out of options" and the only way the club can send the player to the minors is by removing the player from the 40-man roster and sending him "outright" to the minors. And the club can do this only after first securing Outright Assignment Waivers (which are irrevocable) from the other 29 MLB clubs.
I don't see anyway possible for them to trade Reddick especially with guys like CarGo and Adam Jones still out there and can likely be had for 25-30% of what Reddick is making this year, and you can probably have Marwin for 3-4 years for what the Astros are paying Reddick the next 2 seasons.
If they won't make President's Day a Federal Election holiday, they sure as hell should put it on Opening Day.
Nothing personal or anything, but can we keep all that stuff in the Offseason Thread? It would be great to have this one as just ST news and such.
Corbin Martin is one of the guys I’m almost excited to see on the mound during Spring Training. His frame and throwing motion really look like a guy that can handleI a full season’s workload as a mainstay of the rotation. If he pans out as a legit #3 starter or even a serviceable #2 then that’s a huge deal for our rotation moving forward.
There are so many quality arms in the org that are MLB or near MLB ready that, while it would be disappointing not to extend at least one of Verlander and Cole, I don't think failing to do so would cripple our chances to compete in the division. The depth on the pitching side is just tremendous.
Yep. I 100% agree with this sentiment. Losing both Cole and Verlander (without a theoretical offseason addition that would still possibly happen next offseason) would most likely take us out of the top tier of MLB contenders, but we would still likely be the favorite to win the division (maybe only slight favorites). Then with a year or two of experience, those young pitchers (those who pan out) would get us back to the point of being a top 2 or 3 team in the league. That's why having this collection of young arms is so important.
All agreed. They should be able to find plenty of quality arms between McCullers, Whitley, James, Martin, Bukauskas, Perez, Valdez, Armenteros, Martes, and Bielak. But I don’t think any of us wants to see them go into 2020 with a rotation comprised solely of those (relatively) unproven guys. They’ll need at least one veteran ToR guy to lead the way and provide some stability. Luckily Houston will have 3 things working in their favor: A contending team where free agents will want to play; as Cole said, they “check a lot of boxes.” Payroll flexibility. Only $84M in commitments, only ~$135M for their current projected roster in 2020. A very deep SP free agent class: Sale, Verlander, Cole, Bumgarner, Porcello, Ryu, Kyle Gibson, Miles Mikolas, McHugh, Zack Wheeler, Hamels, Odorizzi, Roark, Wood, Wacha, possibly Keuchel, plus a host of guys with current low stock who could rebound. So even though having 4 pending free agent SP isn’t ideal, Houston is actually extremely well positioned considering their resources and the state of the market.
Yet another guy to be excited about. JBB should start in AA this year and if all goes well will be in AAA by the end of the season with a shot at a September call-up or even a potential role in the bullpen come playoff time if he has a really solid season. Only thing that concerns me with him is his throwing motion. It's very violent, but the worst case scenario with him seems to be a bullpen guy with great stuff who can go out there and give max effort for an inning or two.
