And trade away Dubon? With Dubon and Merrifield on the same roster there will be lots of positional overlap with neither of them viable back up for 1B or 3B and only 1 bench spot left.
Hope he will be ready by Opening Day but no need to rush him. Would much rather him miss a start or two and be fully built up instead of rushing his ramp up and him getting hurt early in the season.
Getting Arrighetti, Gordon, or Kouba an early season start or two for the experience and evaluation would not be the end of the world. Also Bielak making opening day rotation and having a showcase then traded early in the season would not be bad either.
This is where we got on our last podcast talking about spring training battles. We don’t think Spencer A (pitcher side) or Loperfido on the everyday side make sense in Houston as bench players or bullpen guys because they don’t have a ton of reps in the minors, but we would highly anticipate them getting serious consideration if injury opens up a 2 week plus opportunity.
A guy like Spencer A might get that shot to open the season if both Verlander and France aren't ready.
Agreed. What he won’t do is break camp with the team to be the 6th of 7 arms in the bullpen. 3 starts at the beginning of the year while JV ramps it up? That’s a good spot for his development.
