BC pretty thin on the position player side; only 10 guys and not many hitting well outside of Rogers. I'm very optimistic about Wrenn. Anxious to see who else gets added to that roster, but it could be some extras like Trompiz or Marlow.
Yordan Alvarez is currently 2-2 with a double and a run scored for Quad Cities. He's starting in LF tonight.
JD Davis ties Fisher for the system lead with 12 home runs. There's just not really any space for him in AAA with Moran and Reed at the corners. Yordan Alvarez picked up a 3rd hit. He's up to .380.
Current farm all stars: C Rogers, Stassi 1B Reed 2B Ayarza SS Nunez, Almonte 3B Davis, Moran OF Tucker, Fisher, Alvarez, Martin, Ferguson SP Armenteros, Deetz, Whitley, H Perez, F Perez, Alcala, Bostick, LaRue, Quiala RP Comer, Stutzman, N Hernandez Some other pitchers deserve a mention: Kyle Smith, Hartman, Paredes
IMO, the ultimate positive to take away from Fisher's hot start is his increased trade value. Now you can package him in a trade and he immediately becomes a starting outfielder for a MLB club and promises legit potential.
Fisher, #13. Preston Tucker added #9 -- maybe he sees baby bro coming soon and wants to make it back to the majors first? Mike Hauschild starting for Fresno -- he was picked up by the Rangers in the Rule 5 draft, but returned to us after a poor MLB debut. Given our starters, he could be in the conversation for a call-up despite a poor start to the season in Fresno.
I doubt Fisher's trade value has gone up that much if any. He is considered to be a fringe top 100 prospect. Not an elite one but has interesting upside. He is performing very well right now but teams want to see more at the next level if they are willing to depart extra resources for him. Astros risk bringing him up or leave him down and trade him at a similar value like before. Can be tremendous risks on both ends here. I believed from the very start I would had trade Fisher while in the minors before any exposure at the major league level. With this recent performance he has made it a lot harder and I lean calling him up now. I'll take that risk to see how he looks against major league pitching. He can be meeting his upside which was a very high one from the beginning. Striking out less compared to AA.
You make it sound like the team does not need to make any upgrades with any of their hitters. Aoki is putting up a 70 wRC+ with a .272 wOBA. That needs to be upgraded in a serious way and they can look within to do it. Fisher can easily replace Aoki's spot on the roster.
Aoki absolutely needs to produce better, in-line with his career numbers. I don't see them monkeying around with the position players on the roster anytime soon, given how they're playing. Seems premature. Couple of points: 1. I have no idea of Aoki's service time/option situation wrt him being sent down, somebody else can fill us in. It would be seriously short-sighted to outright release him now for an inknown commodity of whom we have no idea his ability to handle MLB pitching (see AJ Reed). Then you've potentially created another hole you'd have to fill via trade. 2. Fisher in all likelihood will not be an Astro after the trading deadline. If you bring him up now and he falls on his face, what does that do to his value? I really like Fisher, and he could help this team one way or another, but I just don't see how, now. Admittedly I haven't thought all this through because there was never the impetus to, until the post last night brought it up.
Agreed. The other factor is, I don't think you bring up a guy like Fisher unless there's clear playing time. You don't bring Fisher in as the #5 OF -- I know he technically has more ABs than Jake, but I think Jake is ahead of Aoki at this point, plus Marwin is taking some of these OF at bats.
I agree that a team probably won't give up any extra resources due to Fisher's hot start. The argument that I was making is more along the lines that I believe Fisher has now become a solidified back-end top 100 prospect and provides extra value to any trade package he might be included in. For example, before the season I don't think there's any way the Rays would take a deal of Martes, Paulino, Fisher and Reed for Archer. But now, due to Fisher's performance, you can make an argument that there's a better chance of the Rays making a deal in that ballpark that includes Fisher. I'm not saying they would do that deal, I'm just saying that I believe that Fisher's performance should strengthen any trade package that he might be included in.
Nothing is, or should be immenent with Aoki. I'm a huge fan of his player makeup. But he is 35 years old, so there is reason to be concerned that he simply has lost some, and he wasn't productive enough to really lose anything. If he's still not producing when July comes around, we have to think about trying something else. Not just for this season, for the upcoming seasons as well. We need to start working in some young, cheap and talented labor into our increasingly expensive roster. If Nori regains form (which wouldn't even mildly surprise me) then you are right, Fisher will be blocked. The Astros know what Fishers trade value is, but I have a feeling he's still viewed as a 2nd or 3rd tier prospect, and not one that a trade will be built around. I don't think a brief MLB struggle will hurt that perception.
