Free Blog Weekend: Tidbits, notes and things to watch

Folks, its’ Friday and that can mean only one thing. Okay, two things, maybe three.

The weekend is here, the Astros are home and it’s the beginning of a Free Blog Weekend!

Here are some tidbits for you to chew on as it becomes more clear almost daily that the coronation of Carlos Correa is drawing nigh. The Astros have been in first place since April 19 and are…

  • 26-1 when scoring four or more runs.
  • 20-3 when scoring first, 25-0 when leading after eight innings.
  • 11-5 in one-run games and 3-1 in extra innings.
  • Third best in the AL in staff ERA and second best in the bullpen.
  • 15-8 in road games, the best record in the league.
  • First in the majors in runs scored after the seventh (85).
  • 23-10 when hitting a home run, 8-8 when not.
  • 15-11 in May, a second consecutive winning month.

Meanwhile, the Astros welcome the White Sox to MMP this weekend. Lance McCullers, Dallas Keuchel and Roberto Hernandez will pitch for Houston.

Former Astro Curt Schilling believes the Astros are legit.

Things to watch in Houston over the next week.

1. The Correa Watch. Jeff Luhnow has been in Fresno. The Astros’ brass visited Corpus Christi earlier in the year and promotions and movement followed shortly thereafter. Will Correa be in Houston sooner than expected after a short cameo appearance in Fresno?

2. McCullers. He’s looked like a keeper early on, but can the young rookie prospect keep it together? Keep an eye on his next two starts, beginning with Friday night’s appearance against the White Sox.

3. Jose Altuve. Yes, no one seems concerned, but Altuve needs to begin to break out of his slump in the next several days. Even more important to watch is which player(s) will step up to pick up the slack.

4. Regression. Are we beginning to see the Keuchel and Collin McHugh regression so many spoke of in the off-season? Or is it just a one or two game correction? Even a slight regression by either or both will keep them among the best in the league.

5. Movement. Houston continues to prepare for the draft and will eventually need to make places in the system for some new signees. Generally, organizations will promote in July or so, but the Astros have already begun their movement (McCullers, Preston Tucker) and others could join the “movement” soon.

What will you be watching over the next seven days?

 

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73 responses to “Free Blog Weekend: Tidbits, notes and things to watch”

  1. The movement we will probably see will be the selling cheap of several critical pieces of what could be a future dynasty in exchange for short-sighted, short-term, extremely expensive, likely unproductive TOR guy who will not fit in here at all and will not wind up not helping us win either now or later. We’ve seen enough Woody Williams’ and Jason Jennings’ around here.

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    • Can you elaborate on this? The Astros are facing a bottleneck so some players will have to be moved or exposed to the rule 5 draft. I don’t see them trading Correa. Other than him I don’t think the Astros have anybody in the minors who is not replaceable. They have a ton of depth and in order to upgrade they will have to give up some talented prospects, but I am fairly certain Correa won’t be one of them.

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      • The approach I take is to look at depth by position – starting with pitching – throughout the organization. We are finally developing pitching depth, at all levels. So we need to red-mark [no trade] Velasquez and Mengen and two thirds of the following guys: Lambson, Shirley, R. Rodriguez, Feliz, Devenski , B. Radziewski, J. Musgrove, A. Bostick, and Tyson Perez as future pitchers. We could put on the market Qualls, Deduno, and Thatcher from the big club and just about anybody else not on the list above from the minors.

        After pitching the next important position is catching. We have one catcher in the entire organization we can part with – Hank Conger. Heineman would be an immediate improvement there. No catchers other than Conger should be considered for trade.

        Next in priority is ‘up-the-middle’. At 2B behind Altuve we have Sclafani [Fresno], Kemp [CC], and Mott [Quad Cities] that might fill in for Jose now or later, or replace him when he goes FA. Kemp and Mott should be off-limits for trade. At SS behind Correa we have very little in the organization. Maybe Chan Moon at Lancaster or Mott Hyde of Quad Cities will develop. Hopefully the 2015 draft will fix this. But presently Moon and Hyde should be considered untouchable, just because we need depth so bad. CF is another very weak position organizationally – although with Marisnick and Springer in Houston, we should be able to make it okay there for awhile. But we need to draft a center-fielder, and we don’t need to trade anyone who plays half-way decent there now.

        Next in priority is corner infield. We have a little help in the organization at 1B [Singleton, Fisher, A.J. Reed], so Carter and one of Fisher/Reed is expendable. At 3B we are desperately weak – both at the major league level and throughout the organization – especially after trading away Ruiz. Moran was not impressing, and is now injured. J.D. Davis [Lancaster] and Tyler White [CC[ are our only active 3B prospect with any real chance to ever contribute at the MLB level, though both are pretty iffy defensively. Because we have no one else, these two need to be off the trade market. Moran should be available.

        Then you come to COF/DH guys. We have Brett Phillips [Lancaster] and Derek Fisher [Quad Cities] who should be untouchable. Danry Vazquez, A. Aplin and D. Santana are all we have above that level, so we need to hang on to one of those three guys along with Phillips and Fisher.

        If we were stronger position-by-position at the MiLB level, or had some real talent coming in from the international market [none of our recent international signees are bearing any noticeable fruit or appear likely to]. We could spare someone other teams would want for a TOR pitcher; but we just don’t. And realistically, there are no TOR pitchers on the market that would fit with us long term anyway. If we hold pat in 2015, we may not win the AL West pennant, or even make the wild card this year. But we should look really, really tough in 2016, 2017, and beyond. So why risk a dynasty on trying to sneak into – and fall flat in the first round of the playoffs – in what is supposed to be our last rebuilding year?

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      • When I look at the 2007 CC Hooks team this what I see –

        Jonathan Ash looked like a great prospect. He played some 2B, some 3B, posted a .374 OBP at CC that year, and had multiple .380+ seasons prior to (and another after).

        Ray Sadler had 24 HR and 93 RBI. JR Towles posted a .425 OBP. Todd Self had a .396 OBP. Drew Sutton (yea that guy) had a decent power/speed combo going, and a .351 OBP.

        Now their pitching was awful, but Patton and Douglass both had great half seasons for them.

        I’m too lazy to look at the rest of the system that year, but my point is none of those guys are worth a darn.

        Correa is untouchable. We all agree on that one. At this point I would roll the dice that Singleton isn’t going to repeat last years debacle. Velasquez is the most talented pitcher in our organization – when he pitches. Other than those three, you truly have no idea what the rest are, and I would move any of them given a chance at a return of a healthy, effective major league player. I might be prone to add Kemp to that list, but 1 – I have no idea if he can give you a .380 OBP in the majors (like Ash could not) with no power, and 2 – he has no home. Second base is occupied by the guy we all hope is there with Correa as his double play partner for the next 12-15 years. Kemp probably wont be converted to a centerfielder, and his lack of power doesn’t make him attractive in LF or 3B.

        Now we rate some higher than others, and I am sure the Astros staff feels the same way. If you are asking for Mengen, or Musgrove, or Hader, its gonna take a cost controlled guy that fills a need now. If you are hitting a seller at the deadline for a impending FA, it shouldn’t take much. Situation is going to dictate, but I would only hang up the phone on two names – Correa and Velasquez.

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    • That is sure a lot of untouchables and leaves us very little to trade for an upgrade. I will respectfully disagree on most of those players, but will agree on Velasquez and Mengden. The others I could part with and lose very little sleep (well, except Kemp as I like that kid).

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      • It is the word ‘upgrade’ that I do not get. Upgrades are not the usual result of trades -especially for the Astros. There is no guarantee – or even a substantial likelihood -that a trade result in an upgrade that changes the win-loss percentage or the runs-scored vs. runs-allowed differential. What would such an upgrade look like? Where would such an upgrade come from? And what – in terms of the future – would it cost?

        Based upon watching the game – and seeing thousands of trades – since 1962 I have learned to never assume that a trade of legitimate prospects for some other club’s rejects [which is exactly our FO’s trade modus operandi] is going to result in an ‘upgrade’ – either this year or in the 2016-2017 time frame. So

        If we need to trade anybody to clean out the deadwood, we need to start with the aging, streaky deadwood at the ML and AAA level – i.e. Carter, Gattis, Rasmus, Villar, Gonzales, Conger, Feldman, Qualls, Wojo [a fly ball pitcher who will never fit in at MMP], and Thatcher. These won’t bring an overall upgrade in a trade, but their departure would at least help on the Rule 5 front, as their absence would open up a space for guys like Sclafani, Kemp, Singleton, Meredith, Reed, Phillips, Velasquez, Shirley, Hader, and Mengden to show what they’ve got to offer – or not – sooner rather than later.

        Meanwhile, there are three pretty sure ways to ‘upgrade’ our 2015 team without a trade, and they are: 1. Bring up Carlos Correa to be our regular SS [letting Villar go – either to Fresno or via DFA]; 2. When Lowrie is healthy again, have him alternate between 3B and 1B, and/or with Preston Tucker @ DH, in order to move Carter out of the line-up and hopefully off the team; 3. Get Obie back and healthy, letting Deduno go to Fresno as a reserve if he passes through waivers.

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      • Sorry, Mr. Bill, but I am not sure where you are coming from when you say our front office’s ‘motus operandi’ is trading for another teams rejects. I could argue we traded away prospects that will never amount to much. Cosart sure has bottomed out and Folty has not looked that impressive so far. So, what have we actually given up and what rejects have we gotten (besides Conger, but there is no visual way to evaluate ‘pitch framing’ that I know of).

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      • Let’s see, Folty is 3-1 with 30 Ks in 29.2 innings with the Braves. Gattis is just now reaching the .200 mark in BA, has an OBP of .251, has 41 Ks to 8 BBs, and has grounded into 4 DPs. Plus, he can’t play in the field. Hoyt? He’s not impressing anybody at Fresno. Meanwhile, the Marlins had given up on both Moran and Marisnick, so they gladly gave them to us for Cosart and Kike Hernandez. Moran has not impressed, and is now injured. Marisnick had a great start for 2015, but has ‘bottomed out’ lately. Cosart is 1-3 for a really bad team, but has a decent ERA and a good WHIP. He just went on the DL with vertigo. Kike is now a quality sub for the Dodgers. So, how about Fowler for Valbuena and Straily. Fowler’s hitting .247 with a .337 OBP; Valbuena is swinging for the moon every at bat, hitting .198 and has an OBP of .262. He was moved because everybody knew Kris Bryant was going to displace him.

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      • Folty has a high ERA and WHIP. Fowler can’t stay on the field, but when healthy he is decent. Oh, he must be a reject because our front office traded for him. Gattis leads the team in HRs and RBIs. Marisnick is probably the best defensive CFer in the majors and has been adequate at the plate. The Astros are 30-18 thanks in part to our front office acquiring those ‘rejects’.

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    • Correa, Velasquez, Brett Phillips and Tyler Heineman are the four I want to keep. The first three are untouchable to me. Velasquez is my favorite pitching prospect. Don’t even mention Correa to me or I’m hanging up the phone. Brett Phillips is the closest thing I see to Springer in the minors, only he doesn’t strike out like Springer did.

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  2. Chip – here is where I am looking heading into the weekend:
    – I’m concerned that those ridiculous numbers they have put up when scoring first, when scoring four runs, etc. just cannot keep up. I’m watching for any reverse trending.
    – On the good side, I am hoping that the recent upswing by George Springer and some recent life by Carter and Gattis is a good sign of a longer term uptrend. Any of those three could carry the offense for Altuve over a one or two week time frame.
    – I’m also watching for any signs of life in the teams trailing the Astros in the division. They have all been below .500 and seem to float up and hit a glass ceiling at .500. The Astros have a 4.5 game lead and 4 games is as small as the lead has been in May. Will the Astros start to feel pressure if that lead shrinks any more?
    – The starting pitching is so crucial to this team – can they weather some rough spots with McHugh and Keuchel? The last starts of LMJ and Feldman were both very helpful – kept them from falling into a funk. And who is the real Roberto Hernandez?
    – And obviously, I’m watching for front office moves. It would seem silly for the team to have waited this long on Correa and then bring him up before the “date” – but you sure would not see me complaining if they did.

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  3. I don’t mean to nitpick, but I think they have 2 losses when scoring 4 or more runs. The Tigers game where Tony Sipp gave up the walk-off HR to McCann was a 6-5 final and Wednesday, when Tony Sipp gave up a HR to Chris Davis, it was a 5-4 final. It is probably sad that I know this information, but I am a diehard fan that watches almost every game. 🙂

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  4. I don’t think they will be in the running for a TOR guy. I think we will be pursuing a Woody Williams/Jason Jennings type and would dispute that either could be considered TOR for anyone but the Skeeters.

    Which guys would you most hate to lose?

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    • Devin, I’d keep my eyes on Scott Kazmir. The Astros wanted to sign him before, so if he’s available, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in a Houston uniform.

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  5. Does anybody know if Preston Tucker faced Rodon at the college level or any minor league level. It looks to me like they may have missed each other in college, with Preston playing at Florida through 2011, while Rodon played at North Carolina State from 2012- 2014.

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    • Yes. They met once – Rodon’s sophomore year in a Super Regional. Unfortunately, the game got interrupted by rain. Rodon had a no hitter going through three innings (Tucker had only one at bat…not sure how he recorded an out). The game resumed many hours later with NCSU running a new pitcher out rather than attempt to have Rodon warm back up again.

      UF won the game, which eliminated NCSU. UF was then the first team eliminated from the CWS that year.

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    • HELP!! HELP!! HELP!!!…………oh Lord I thought McCullars would only be up for another game or two, BUT this changes EVERYTHING! I don’t think Oberholtzer is ready to come back yet.

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  8. Wait………when in the heck did Feldman get hurt??? He sure didn’t look like he was headed to surgery this week!! Ok……….now I’m going to go off on Luhnow today.
    How in the he!! do you “need” to call up another AA pitcher, and the REAL need is a
    BIG bat named Carlos Correa???? I don’t get “it”. I hope Feliz does well, because if someone else goes down OldPro is gonna get a call up to pitch!!

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    • Feliz is fine with me. He’s been in the system forever. He has big league stuff. He’s on the 40 man and if Feldman is on the DL, Feliz can be moved up without sending anyone down.
      This is it. All the preparation is for this. Feliz is a big guy with big time pitches and this is what that prospect list is for. Let’s see what these guys can do. If the White Sox can throw a guy against us that was pitching in college this time a year ago, we can throw a guy who is in AA against them. I love this, because now is the time we get a chance to see what we have been building, we get to see it on Root Sports and Feliz gets a chance to show us what he’s been doing.

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    • Feliz was added to the 40 man at the last minute last winter. I suspect this is viewed as a chance to showcase his arm (for trades) as well as evaluate him as to whether he may be part of the plan going forward. He started the year at Lancaster and needs to move fast if we’re going to keep a spot for him. They likely view him as a future bullpen guy anyway.

      As to why not Velasquez, although it would thrill me to see him in Houston this year, I don’t think they are ready for him to take a real workload. Also, they probably don’t want to burn an option year or start his clock.

      Finally, recalling Wojo or Straily would not bring any excitement.

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  10. Getting a top or near top of the rotation guy is going to be a tall order. There are quite a few clubs with a better pedigree out there that need pitching help. Yes, we have more prospects than some other organizations, but are we going to be aggressive enough with an offer to bring in a big gun? I’m still on the fence about giving up multiple top 20 guys and probably at least one guy from the 25 man. Okay, Marwin, Villar, Conger, Gattis, Carter…..those guys would not trouble me. But to get a 1 or a 2, it’s going to hurt more than that. Chip, Kazmir might be a bit more willing to come home this time. But he’d be costly too.

    Mr. Bill, you have taken my place as cynic for the day. But I really can’t argue with you a whole lot. I regularly question our minor league ranking, Right now, we don’t have much ready talent for the big club. But we also have to consider the guys that are playing A, A+ and AA ball. Again, the experts seem to think we’ve got quite a few keepers in that bunch, more than most organizations. Time will tell. But also Bill, Jennings and Williams were never considered top of rotation guys. My real concern is that even this summer, we’ll be lamenting the loss of Foltynewicz. We got a big hit, so far very low OBP DH in Gattis. But maybe we’ve lost a quality rotation guy. The rotation fix is a much tougher hole to plug.

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    • You seem to pick on Gattis’ low OBP, but failing to recognize his HR and RBI totals, which both lead the team. We knew he wasn’t a high OBP guy, but we also know he was a big slugger and his OPS was mostly strengthened from the slugging aspect of his game. Folty is not having a dominating year for Atlanta, in a pitchers ball park, and based upon how each has performed so far I will take Gattis over Folty this year. It may change in the future, but right now I like what Gattis has provided for the Astros more than what Folty has for the Braves.

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      • The fact that someone with Gattis’ horrible offensive numbers leads the team in HR and RBi at this stage of the season really, really depresses me. It does not speak so well of Gattis – whose HR and RBI numbers are pedestrian, especially for a clean-up hitter [Cruz and Harper both have 18 HRs to Gattis’ 10, and Cruz and Fielder both have 38 RBIs to Gattis’ 30 – as It reminds us: 1. George Springer has had a truly horrible year thus far; 2. Luis Valbuena [tied with Gattis in lead for HR] has not been nearly as good as advertised offensively; 3. Marisnick has imploded before our eyes; 4. Lowrie has been injured a long, long time; and 5. the Chris Carter we saw in Summer 2014 was inhabited by Klingons then, but by Tribbles now.

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      • Wow! Pedestrian? Really? I am sure an OTBG can be stubborn, but you are taking it to a new level. I can pick and choose sluggers he is out-performing just as easily as you can find players out-performing him. He has more HRs than Trout and Stanton, who are 2 of the best sluggers in the game. His numbers are not pedestrian at all.

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      • I don’t mean to be ‘stubborn’, Tim, but as an OTBG I can’t help pointing out that Mike Trout actually has 11 HR this year to Gattis’ 10, and also has a .296 BA and a .383 OBP, as well as 11 DBLs to Gattis’ 8. And Giancarlo Stanton, though out with some injuries several games this year, has 13 HRs to Gattis’ 10, and has 42 RBIs to Gattis’ 30. His BA is higher than Gattis’ and his OBP is WAY higher than Gattis. Look, I don’t hate Gattis, and am glad he’s finally seeing the ball – which he did not do the entire month of April. I just do not for a second envision Evan as any part of the future for the Astros. He is a loveable, furry dinosaur who I hope will enjoy his last tree star, then go his way and make room for the future.

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      • Well, that’s what I get for not researching and just making an assumption. Gattis is still young and under team control for 3 more seasons. He very well may be a part of our 2017 World Series championship. He is the prototypical DH.

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      • I would be remiss if I didn’t point out Gattis’ pedestrian season is on pace for approximately 40 HRs and 110 RBIs.

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      • On pace for 34 HR and 103 RBI prior to tonight. Health hasn’t been an issue since the beginning of the season, so maybe he can keep it up. I don’t hate Gattis. I hate that he may not be an upgrade over Singleton. Time will tell…

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      • Tim, you are right. Gattis is Gattis. But if there was ever a one dimensional guy, who else qualifiles? And Folty is indeed a work in progress. But we never gave the kid a fricking start, and he’s held his own in every shot he’s gotten. And the gun still says 100. For me, bad trade, especially with our thinning rotation. Bleep, who trades away rotation depth?

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      • Dave,

        This is where we differ. It is way too early, in my book, to call the trade good or bad. I won’t even make a call on the Conger trade yet, although it doesn’t look good early. Personally, I don’t think Folty will amount to much, but we shall see. So far, if you want to base it off what the players have done to this point I would call the Conger trade a loss and the Gattis trade a win, but, again, it is too early to make that call. It usually takes 2-3 years before anyone can really evaluate a trade.

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    • Feldman is out for 6 weeks. Our rotation is going to be really interesting now, to say the least. Will Buchanan or Feliz get his starts?

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  12. Everybody is talking about Astros being interested in Kazmir or Cueto. Both are having shoulder issues. No thanks. I would hate to give up prospects for rental players that might not be healthy the rest of the season.

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    • Depends on what prospects. Most of them are expendable names that won’t duplicate their stats at A ball or AA ball in the majors. See my previous post about the 2007 Hooks. .425! Towles had an OBP of .425, and that wasn’t in 20 PA’s. Ash, Self, some others looked like great prospects statistically.

      If the right deal poses itself, and giving up Kemp or Sclafani brings you Cueto or Kazmir, assuming they pass physicals and are healthy, and you are trying to get to the playoffs, then do it. Noone is suggesting trading away Correa, Singleton, Hader, Velasquez, etc., but some of these prospects down there playing blocked positions, like the first two, and they can bring you back a proven major league arm, do it. Is Kemp another Willie Harris? Maybe. Maybe not. And nothing against Harris, he built himself an admirable career when all was said and done, but Harris was never more valuable than a plus pitcher in the 4th spot of the rotation.

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  14. So who is going to “tandem” with Feliz? This is where it can be tough to fill in when you have these guys throwing 4 innings in relief in their last game….

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  20. Ok…time to either platoon Marisnick and Rasmus, or just have Rasmus as a full time starter, because there is no reason Tucker should ever come out of the line up. This kid is the real deal

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  22. Thought I’d never have to say this, but it might be time to send Marisnick to Fresno, to take the pressure off him. It’s tough to see him struggle, and maybe some West Coast air will do the kid good. AND……right now Tucker is *THE* guy in this lineup. Of the 3 runs the boys got tonight, 2 of them were GIFTS all wrapped up in a nice bow……….because Rodon looked pretty dang good out there. These guys nearly got beat by a kid that was pitching in College last year. Some changes need to be made, or that lead this team has over the other teams in the West will go………..
    (((POOF))).

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  25. Derek Fisher was promoted from QC to Lancaster yesterday.
    Colin Moran came off the DL and had a hit last night for CC
    Chris Devenski pitched 5 no hit innings for CC and was relieved by Josh Hader who pitched 1/3 of an inning before torrential rains hit and the game was called, the Hooks winning 4-0 and those two pitchers record the first no-hitter in Hooks history. That is a big asterisk!
    Astros had a lot of chances to win that game last night, but could not get a big hit and had too many players thrown out on the bases. McCuller’s start was a carbon copy of his first start. 42 pitches after two innings. You could see the way this one was going to end right from the start. The Astros never looked like the best team on the field last night. Now the White Sox throw two more lefties at us. Wonder why that is?

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      • I recognize good sarcasm when I read it.
        Kemp is just too small to love as a player. I guess all the players in the Texas League must be tiny, because he’s beating them up pretty badly.
        I liked Tucker, but a .300 hitter won’t be able to break into our lineup full-time.
        McCullers could be good unless you stick him with a catcher who looks like a Transformer with low batteries.
        How is it that a pitcher can get everybody out for four years at a big-time baseball college and then can’t get anybody out in the minors? How come he can’t find a tandem partner to hold gloves with?
        If you have such a fabulous minor league organization, how come your AAA team is loaded with failed major leaguers?
        When you score only one earned run in 11 innings and strike out 11 times, why is it the bullpen’s fault?

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      • The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
        [Wind is found in the thesaurus under the headings ‘bluster’, ‘folly’, and ‘nonsense’]

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      • Serious question here: how many AA players could we promote like Altuve, JDM, and Paredes right now into a major league lineup without becoming the worst MLB team out there?

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  26. This regression by the team recently is pretty normal and expected. No matter how well they were playing – they do not have the most or near to the most talent of any team in the AL. But they were able to win as a team – different heroes every day.
    The numbers they put up that Chip noted above 26-1 when scoring 4 runs, 20-3 when scoring first, etc. are probably unsustainable.
    The good news is that they are slumping with a lead, not slumping when already 5, 10, 15 games behind.
    If they can ride out the storm of some regression, some bullpen shortcomings, and injuries they may be OK. Most of us thought this was a .500 club give or take, I think they can be better than that – but expecting a division win is a big wish.
    This recent slump with the injuries added in will reveal the character of the team and of its manager. My gut feeling is this team will be OK, they will have struggles but I think they have already shown a lot of resilience and I think they will continue to do that.
    Jeff Luhnow – a little shot of Correa might be what the doctor ordered – right now.

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  27. I think: I could find a CC CF who could beat out Marisnick’ s .151/.171/ .178 slash line of the last 28 days.
    I could find a 3B at CC who could beat Valbuena’s slash line of .165/.220/.359 of the last 28 days.
    I think I could find a 1B at CC who could beat Carter’s negative 0.4 WAR for the year.
    I think I could have found a catcher at CC who could beat Hank Conger’s terrible slash line and horrible defense this season!
    I think I could have found a better SS at CC than I have in Jonathan Villar, and a heckuva lot better baserunner.
    I could find a DH in CC that could have a higher BA/OBP than the .224/.256 DH we have now.
    That leaves the current RFer we have now who is hitting .224, the starting catcher who is raking at .226, and the LF who is mauling at .239. I will admit that there is not a player at CC who can match Jose Altuve.
    Most of the 14 starting pitchers at CC might have a chance to make this club.

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  29. This is all Devin’s fault with his comment of “start the clock.” I can not for the life of me figure out WHY is is OK to pay Feldman and Rasmus $18 Million (which is fine) but it is not OK to pay a decent prospect MAYBE $5 Million in 2020 after he has helped you win for 3-4-5 years. The ONLY reason to have the first two on the team is somebody wanted to win in 2015. If not – get rid of them. But IF you want to win in 2015 and beyond, then somewhere down the line you have to “start that &%#(@ CLOCK.” I have no idea if any of the top prospects can cut it in MLB – but the ONLY way to find out is to bring them up. And it is NOT too early to determine that Conger trade is a loss. You can go all the way to QC and find a catcher that can actually “catch” the ball. To me he is just “E-6 Villar” but behind the plate.

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    • I get that your upset, but you can’t evaluate a trade in less than 2 months. Sorry, but it is too early. How many games has Conger cost us in 2 months? We know he already won a game for us with a HR in Texas. Admittedly, he is off to a bad start, but many wanted to call the Fowler for Lyles/Barnes trade a loss after the first 6 weeks. Be patient and see how it plays out.

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