In defense of Evan Gattis (Brian ducks and covers)

I get fed up with Evan Gattis as much as the next guy (or gal). With runners on, he presses. He swings and misses at low-and-outside pitches Jose Altuve couldn’t handle. He is a defensive liability. His beard is more creepy than cool.

(There, I said what we’ve all been thinking about that beard.)

However …

I’m going to defend Evan Gattis. Burn me in effigy if you must. Pelt me with rocks and garbage. Wish me six more weeks of winter. Call me a homer with rainbow-colored glasses. But I believe we got more value out of Evan Gattis than most of us think. And I believe he’s primed for a pretty good (not great) 2016.

Let’s start with the basics. Last season Gattis slashed .246/.285/.463 (that’s a .748 OPS) with 27 HRs and 88 RBIs. I know, he also had the second-most ABs.  But still, that’s a lot of value from a guy.

While his counting stats — HRs, RBIs — were at career highs, his rate stats were a mixed bag. But in a good and promising way.

Over his career, his 162-game average slash line is .250/.296/.476 for an OPS of .772. But every season before that was better. 2015, rate-wise, was really a low-water mark for Gattis.

Contributing to his low OBP in 2015 was his low walk rate of 4.96 percent. The good news, though, was his K-rate. Gattis whiffed at “just” a 21.02 percent clip. And that’s the bad news. Because …

What we’re really looking at is the Tale of Two Gattises. (Gattisi? Gatti? How do you pluralize “Gattis”?) Looking at pre-All Star Break Gattis, we had a slash of .241/.268/.444 for an OPS of .712 with 15 HRs and 54 RBIs in 86 games. His BB-rate was 3.55 percent and his K-rate was 23.46 percent.

Post ASB, (67 games) his slash was .252/.307/.488 for an OPS of .794 with 12 HRs, 34 RBIs, a respectable 6.90 percent walk rate and a very respectable 14.05 percent whiff rate.

The slash numbers for the second half were much more in line with his career numbers. In his first two seasons, his walk rate was more like 5.5 percent, K-rates were even higher than his first half.

One thing to remember about Gattis is his circuitous route to the majors. He’ll be 30 this August. But this is only this 4th year in the majors. He was out of baseball for a few years then had an abbreviated Division II experience in college. Very likely, it’s only just beginning to come together for El Oso Blanco.

I don’t expect him to repeat a 14 percent K-rate all 2016, but a sub-20 percent rate is very possible. And I don’t expect him to become an eagle eye at the plate, but a walk rate above 6.0 is quite possible. Combine that with his power and (despite chasing some low curveballs) an improved contact rate (look it up, it’s what’s all behind that second half), and Gattis may be looking pretty good in 2016. Which shouldn’t be surprising. Because …

In 2015, he was fairly AL Average for a DH. His OPS was right in the middle, tying the No. 8 team OPS of .748. His 88 RBIs were seventh. His 119 Ks were eighth. Of course, his 27 HRs made Houston’s total the fourth best in the AL. And, of course, Houston’s DHs (it’s all Gattis) led the league in triples.

So, here are the questions I have.

1. Am I crazy?

2. If Gattis performs a lot closer to post ASB Gattis, will you join my bandwagon?

3. Against righties, Preston Tucker posted an OPS of .808 with just 52 Ks and all 13 HRs in 235 ABs. Against righties, Gattis posted a .775 OPS (91 Ks, 20 HRs, 368 AB) and a .698 OPS (28 Ks, 7 HRs in 198 ABs) vs. lefties. I won’t mention Tucker against lefties.

Do you want a DH platoon with Tucker and Gatti? Even if that meant Tucker is the fourth OF, and Jake Marisnick is sent to Fresno?

4. Tyler White, Matt Duffy, John Singleton: All and more are potential DH candidates who basically lack MLB experience, meaning they could be breakout stars or, despite AA and AAA success, they could be Brett Wallace. Are you willing to roll those dice?

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81 responses to “In defense of Evan Gattis (Brian ducks and covers)”

  1. Brian, this reminds me of something:
    – Last off-season I kept thinking and writing that Chris Carter had figured it out in the second half of the 2014 season and was poised for a good (for him) 2015 season. How did that work out for me? Which reminds me of this really bad joke.
    – A man with a crippled hand prays that God will make his hand just like the other. Well his good hand immediately begins to curl up….
    Yes, I know terrible.
    Anyway, I should not think that just because CC had both halves of 2015 match the bad half of 2014 that Gattis will. Everybody is unique and different.
    – Are you crazy? Well maybe for living in Minnesota in the winters, while I am crazy enough to live in South Texas in the summer. I think it is possible that Gattis may have figured something out and could apply it to this season.
    – If Gattis performs like post-ASB I’m OK with it – though I would point out that though his OPS went up – his home run rate (adjusted between 86 and 67 games) was exactly the same (approx. 15 both times) and he was putting RBIs up at a rate of about 43 instead of 54. Part of that may be the effect of having Springer out ahead of him – I don’t know.
    – I would be OK with some kind of platoon at DH. Tucker is not…..Gattis in LF but we don’t really need a late inning defensive OF behind Springer, Gomez and Rasmus.
    – I want Tyler White playing 1B out of ST and then I want AJ Reed coming up and taking over 1B and White moving over to take over DH. It is possible the youngsters are not ready – but many time in 2015 I did not think the more experienced guys were ready at 1B and DH.

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      • Baseball reference provides monthly breakdowns of a player’s performance in splits.
        If you go through Carter’s career splits you will not find a good half year. You will find two incredible months that showed up in two separate years. Those two months inflated the particular half year they happened to fall into. Nowhere will you find a performance that lasted more than a month. Defending Carter is like defending a thief because he spends some of his time not stealing.
        Thinking Gattis is going to be an above average DH is thinking that he is suddenly going to hit for average and walk. There is no basis for that thinking. He is what he is and his past does not indicate he is going to be a different DH than he was. And his 2015 postseason line of .174/.174/.174 is just plain embarrassing and leads me to believe that last year’s second half was just the first half evening out and the guy we saw in the playoffs against good pitching is the real Evan Gattis.

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      • To agree with OP, I just think Gattis is not very good at pitch recognition. He has power, he is strong, his bat speed is fine, and he is coachable. He is likeable. Bottom line though is he is part of the reason the Astros were 8 games under .500 in 1 run games, he can’t handle the better pitchers in the league with any semblance of success.

        I am not on the get rid of Gattis bandwagon – they can’t all be superstars – but the problem here is we have a better in house option, or at least an in house option that has crushed minor league pitching the way none of our own major leaguers did. Gattis is probably still a better option then Singleton because at least Gattis maturity and experience causes him to maximize his talent, but I would like to see White displace one of them.

        The point is this – I haven’t even seen White play yet, but statistically this is VERY evident – I trust Tyler White to at least get 1 or 2 very good battles in the box against Yu Darvish next year than either Singleton or Gattis. I think Gattis is fine when we face the Athletics 4th starter, but we are going to continue to lose close games against the best teams and the top of their staffs without some guys that can make contact, move runners, and manufacture a run or two.

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      • My thinking is fairly close to Steven’s. Reed probably will start the season in Fresno and won’t be brought up until past the Super 2 status date. Thus, I’m fine starting the season with Gattis, and maybe PTuck, at DH, but Singleton either must be traded or in Fresno. I want White playing 1B until they bring up Reed and then move White to DH, assuming he is performing better than Gattis, which is very probable. I say this not as a defense of Gattis, but he is the lesser of two evils between himself and Singleton. I just have no confidence in Singleton.

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  2. 1. Yes, you are crazy. But you are family and I love you, anyway.
    2. I can’t join your bandwagon, because you are asking me to do that before he does it. Also, I don’t want to pay for Gattis’s $3+million salary (let alone, two more years of arbitration), for zero WAR and not being able to field a position, when I can pay Tucker and White a combined $1million and have them at DH and play some defense and have them as backup RF/LF and 1B/3B when needed and get tons more production from them platooning. Them platooning will give us power, OBP and close to a .300 BA from the DH position, which is what is needed there.
    Gattis is going to be 30, he’s going to be more expensive and his body type does not shout that he is going to be better when he gets beyond thirty. He can’t steal bases, pinch run, be a late inning defensive sub, bunt, walk, or hit for average. He hit for below average BA, below average OBP and his OPS was inflated by the SLG, which is his ONLY redeeming stat. Dividing his season in half to convince me of his worth works as well as trying to convince me that Chis Carter would suddenly hit for the year like he hit for the only decent two months of his career.
    4. I am willing to roll the dice to get our youngsters to the major leagues now. I want White/Tucker at DH, Reed at 1B and Gattis and Singleton traded for pitching prospects to replace some of the dozen pitchers we traded away.
    How did Gattis, Rasmus, Valbuena, Gomez, Castro, Gregerson, Neshek, Harris and Sipp suddenly become part of a youth movement? We were supposed to be the youngest sleekest team in the AL by year 5 of the rebuild. What the hell happened?

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    • brian i think you make some good points and i expect improvement as well. I’m all for white or reed pushing their way past him if they can, but i think its premature to count on them to have all the success they are projected to have in here before they actually do it in the majors. now they have to be given the chance to succeed and i believe they will get it in spring training. so lets see how that works out before we count on them to be that type of player.

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  3. My take is that with Gattis at DH, this team is not getting better in that area. I’m confident that we’d get more production and definately more OBP out of White and maybe some Tucker scattered in there. Yes, I’m ready to take that risk. And both of these younger guys can play the field in a pinch. Gattis does not provide that luxury. I’m looking forward to seeing White push this issue in a few weeks.

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  5. A lot of great responses. Look, I’m not saying give him a 5-year deal. I’m saying I think he’ll be a better than average DH in 2016. That’s all I’m expecting.

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    • Brian, you have made a valiant attempt. But the team that beat us out of the division championship last year had a DH who hit .305, with a .378 OBP, an .841 OPS, and 98 RBIs. And the team that knocked us out of the play-offs [and won the world series] had a DH who hit .290, with a .362 OBP, an .847 OPS, and 106 RBIs.

      I am not suggesting we measure Evan’s performance last year against league average. I am suggesting that Evan’s best possible year will not be anywhere near good enough to get us where we need to go – beating Texas and Kansas City.

      We need someone who can produce at levels at least approaching the DH of our biggest rivals. And we potentially have that in house, with a Tyler White/Preston Tucker DH platoon. So why settle for mediocre – and another year of getting beaten down by Texas and, at best, eliminated by KC?

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      • You know Mr. Bill, I don’t know if we’ll need a platoon at DH if White enters the picture. His OPS against AAA lefties was 1.029, against righthanders, 1.024. And of course, his OBP was sky high against both. Kind of a small sample, but it seems that he hits anywhere you send him. I expect more of the same. Hand him a bat and pencil him in!

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      • I personally think you are right, Dave. But right now I just don’t trust the F.O. to get anything from trading Preston away, especially at this point, so my hope is that we keep him and let him get his feet under him, and adjust to the league, in 2016. Platooning for at least a part of the year at DH, or playing LF if one of our starters goes down to injury – will only increase his long-term value – whether to us or to someone else.

        P.T. is a guy who is going to bang the ball around some ballparks for a long time – and he is going to do it for somebody for pennies for a couple of years. I’d like it to be us – but if it is not for us, I want to see a boatload of return in trade – something J.L. has not been famous for.

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      • You’re not going to be able to get a boatload for Tucker in a trade. He is just a slight upgrade from Gattis in LF. He is an upgrade at the plate, but he’s a DH, for the most part, and I don’t see teams giving up a haul for a one dimensional player.

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    • You know Bill, it will a tough call if White makes the team (and I still think Gattis gets the nod out of ST) because I think the fourth outfielder is Jake, simply because he plays the field so well and is one of the few guys we have off the bench that can run the bases.

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      • My solution to that is for JL to trade Evan to one of the teams in the AL who had worse performance from their DL last year than Gattis gave to us. As Brian pointed out, he was not the worst DH in the league. As Brian put it: “His OPS was right in the middle, tying the No. 8 team OPS of .748. His 88 RBIs were seventh. His 119 Ks were eighth. Of course, his 27 HRs made Houston’s total the fourth best in the AL. And, of course, Houston’s DHs (it’s all Gattis) led the league in triples.”

        There you go, Jeff Luhnow. You’ve now got something to work with. Go talk to teams who got less performance from DH about the guy who led the league in triples!

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  6. 1. Obviously
    2. If Luhnow gives him a spot on the 25 man roster then I’m on the bandwagon regardless of performance.
    3. Yes, kind of. Tucker needs to face lefties. He handled them in college and milb. He needs to learn to handle them in MLB too. The only way this works in a platoon system is by making Gattis the backup catcher to free up a roster space.
    4. It wouldn’t surprise me for Singleton to tally similar HR and RBI from the cleanup spot as Gattis brought in 2015. He’ll K more and BB more and who knows if it all balances out. I think Duffy and White can knock in 80 runs from that spot too…it’d mainly come down to opportunities.

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      • Not now UGH .224 25 HRs,56 RBIS, an off balance upper cut swing I see less HR’s and a lot of pop ups wahoo

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      • Yes, by grossly overpaying Valbuena, we have made him as totally untradeable as Chris Carter was. We have thereby pretty guaranteed that 3B will not be a position of strength for us vis-a-vis the league for at least another year.

        Here is the problem: Adrian Beltre [.287/.334/.788, with 83 RBI] is still playing 3rd for Texas. And Mike Moustakis [.284/.348/.817, 82 RBI] is still playing 3rd for Kansas City. And we still have . . . Yep – Luis Valbuena, with his .224/.310/.748 and 56 RBIs.

        I don’t hate Luis. I’d like to see him as a super-sub and late-inning LH pinch-hitter or defensive sub. But at his very best he is nowhere close to the 3B we are going to need to compete with Texas and Kansas City.

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    • What I like about the Baseball America list is that the three pitching prospects that I named as untouchables, because of their command and their control, Martes, Paulino and Musgrove are all in the top 10 and all ranked above Feliz. Martes is ranked as our #2 prospect by BA who actually looked at the players, instead of ranking them by their draft position. Moran is the #8 prospect and he was acquired in the Cosart trade along with Martes. I think he will work hard to try and prove that he can still be the main guy for the Astros in that trade, but Martes is making it tough on Moran.
      Moran, Martes, Marisnick and Cameron sure do have a chance to make that trade an epic one for the franchise. Cosart was such a fish out of the water(maybe a Marlin?) who did not want to be here and I thought it was a good trade then, but it has a chance to be awesome now for us and bad for Miami.
      I really have high hopes for Moran at third base for the Astros in 2017, high hopes for Martes in our rotation in 2017, and I have more confidence that a terrific outfielder like Marisnick has a better chance at age 25 to learn pitch recognition than Gattis does at age 30.

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  11. In the top prospect list that came out today, I see that Reed is now #1. I have to say that in my estimate, he became my # 1 after Correa and McCullers came up last summer. Please excuse me if you guys have already talked about this. I just saw it.

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  12. Out of pocket for a while. First, congrats to Becky on her good news. Second, if Gattis is on the team, you lose all kinds of versatility. The others mentioned at least can put on a glove and fill in someplace. However, I think Gattis deserves to start another season at DH. He has not earned it, but we don’t have any solid options. All the other options require improvement or advancement to MLB. Gattis has a few years under his belt. He MIGHT improve, but not drastically. So I say let him start at DH and if the others advance in ability by June, then make the change. But he has earned the right to be batting 6th or 7th – no higher. Castro and Singleton earned the batting 10th spot.

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  13. I’m impressed that Luhnow didn’t low ball Keuchel. We’ve all been saying since the beginning of 2015…..pay the man. Now, next year he might try to lock him up (something I thought would happen this year) and might very well try to low ball him with a 3yr $ 20-$25 year deal. Giving him a really nice arbitration bonus, it might say to him this organization wants him here. As far as Gattis is concerned, he was in uncharted water last year, and it took him a month or two to get comfortable in the DH role. I fully expect him to start this year the way he ended up last year, and THEN trade him while he’s still tradable. I have a feeling he will finish the year with the Astros. Got a look at the top 50 for this summers draft, and there is NO shortage of good pitchers! Spring training can’t come soon enough!!⚾⚾

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    • Praying for you! The top 50 board is great information. Some will climb in the spring and some will fall.
      The Astros need to do their scouting, secure their Ground Control info, make their board out at the last minute and hope that one of their top 15 guys drops to them at 18. Then they have to hope that the commissioner does his job and turns over the Cardinals competitive draft pick to us and maybe a mid-to-late-first round pick slips to them at that spot.

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  14. I’m with you on Gattis. In 2015, he posted a career low in BABIP. To me, that indicates positive regression. True, he’ll never learn to take walks. But with a more normal BABIP (he can probably sustain .280 or so), his 2015 line would look more like .260/.315/.480, probably leading to 70-ish runs and 100 RBI.

    I don’t think anybody would be complaining about Gattis if that were the case. And judging by his 2014 performance, it’s not unreasonable at all for him to reach those levels.

    Long-term solution at DH? Nah, that’s probably Tyler White or Preston Tucker. But he’s better than he showed in 2015.

    Great post

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    • What’s really interesting is that they ignored Reed because he was just a “first baseman” and not a player who plays an “Important” position. Suddenly, he’s our top prospect.
      The people on this blog are pretty good baseball people and we have liked Reed a lot more than others have. This is a feather in Chipalatta’s cap and I think Chipalattians are great!
      So, I’ll go get my coffee and old fashioned fruitcake and finish watching one of my least favorite, but still addictive, TV shows, Hawaii Five-0. Book ’em Danno!

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    • If you clink the link the AC45 provided below they discuss White and are fairly high on him. The only knock they have is that he doesn’t have the power projected for a corner infield/DH, but otherwise they are high on him. They also think Kemmer can be the surprise prospect in the system.

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  16. Interesting Spit article on arbitration with Castro and Gattis. Castro wants $5.25 and the offer is $5.0. And there is no give either way. I know its not my money but it seems strange to go to war over 250K. It is interesting in light of the Baseball America statement that the Astros have nothing but low ceiling backup catchers (in their opinion) in the system.

    http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/houston-astros-top-10-prospects-chat/

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    • Nobody knows as much about the Astros catching prospects as the Astros do. The Astros had to come up with a figure. Maybe Castro wants out and figures this might be a way. Who knows.
      I do know that I felt all along that Castro would not be an Astro in 2017 and that the Astros should go with two of their young guys. Their young catchers are better defensively than Castro was when he came up and all of them could probably hit .200 for the Astros without costing them $5 million.
      I wanted Conger gone and it turns out the Astros did, too. Maybe the catcher situation is going to play out right in front of us by spring training.

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  17. Not defending Castro, but in 2015 he ranked 12th +/- in catcher salary. He was ahead of Wilson Ramos & Devin Mesoraco (who played in 23 games – 6 catching). Both will earn more than $5M in their year 4 and year 3 respectively. So that is probably a bitter pill for Castro to accept.

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    • If having other catchers make more money is a bitter pill to swallow, then we know that the problem lies with Castro. At least that can be handled.
      The problem is that Castro’s terrible bat of the last two years has made it hard to move him to a team who wants to pay more than $5million to a catcher approaching 30 who hits a tad over .200.
      The absolute truth about Castro is that he only had one good year at the plate in his career and it took him a very long time to become a decent catcher, so those two facts combined with his knees are going to make his earning window very small.
      Castro made 80 times more salary last year than the average American family playing a game and then had a three month vacation and is unhappy with a million dollar raise this coming season. I don’t really care if he can’t stand his lottery winning lifestyle. I’ll take the kid who earns his league minimum salary and loves being a catcher on a major league team.

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      • What you state is why sitting on this side of the table (actually under it) is we do not know if there is a trade in place for Castro PROVIDED his salary is $5M. If it is over that, they the Astros have to throw in Bregman (or somebody). So I am not taking either side in this but it makes no sense to me to look at Castro (right now the starting catcher) and get into a battle on such a small amount of money. But it could be the actual battle has a lot more to do with salary than would appear on the surface. Castro and LB could easily be this years Carter in that they are making more money than any other team would offer and yet the Astros do not want to just throw them away as if they have no asset value. Baseball is about the only place in the world where you can stink up the joint for a couple years yet double your salary.

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      • We do sit far away from the table, but we both are well-informed baseball fans and it is not hard to figure out a scenario that led to this impasse.
        Let’s say the Astros know exactly what they want out of Castro and that Castro’s agent mentioned an extension when they sat down and talked about arbitration and the Astros said they did not want to discuss an extension at this time.
        Castro’s agent reports back to Castro with this info and Jason says that he thinks this means the Astros aren’t interested in an extension, period. Castro says that means he is going to be a free agent next year anyway, so let’s make things interesting with this arbitration, take a stand and see what happens.
        Castro knows that his value in a trade is low now and figures he might as well stand his ground because he is probably going to be an Astro this spring anyway. If Castro’s bat makes a rebound, his trade value might be higher at the deadline and his free agent status could improve next offseason after a rebound year.
        I think the standoff is because the Astros and Castro now know where they stand in each others eyes.
        Flip this scenario, and have the Astros asking about an extension, and have Castro’s agent saying we’re not interested in an extension right now and you have the exact same result.

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  18. Shoot I’m not a huge Castro fan, but for $250K pay it move on. I’m with OP this is Castro’s last year with the team. Did I see Gattis and the team 800K apart?

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  21. Back to BT’s article. It appeared to me that Gattis had an idea of what he was attempting to do last year, but did not have good success. I don’t think Carter or Singleton either one had any idea except just to swing. Gattis does have a chance to improve and be average or better. But when you look at the prospects, Gattis better hurry or he will be gone.

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    • Baltimore is in a tough position. They have great tradition but are a smaller market team without a boatload of money and competing in a division with three huge market teams who have groves of money trees.
      This may not be as bad as it looks from a business standpoint and from the standpoint of them really liking Davis. It’s a Hail Mary pass and, every once in a while, those things work.

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  23. For a guy that is not very consistent, chances are that he’ll have a couple of stinker, or at least mediocre years during that contract. And they’ll be paying him him through 3037.

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    • I’m not a fan of his BB rate, but I do like his power, especially at MMP, and his defense in RF is very good. I really like that there is no draft pick attached to him.

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      • I like the no-draft-pick-attched aspect as well, but his defense in the World Series was significantly less than his reputation. The only way this makes any sense to me is if the signing is to be part of a deal for other players,

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    • I think I’d be OK with that deal. It would push JFSF to Fresno (does he have options?) and reduce the Gattis at bats, I would expect. I don’t see a gain in moving Gomez because I have little faith you can get a SP better than Feldman without giving up some guys we want to keep and really like his defense in CF.

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      • I’m just curious since the Mets had interest in Gomez, but would you trade Gomez for Zach Wheeler if the Astros signed Cespedes?

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      • Straight up? Probably not. He’s targeting mid-season for a return from TJ surgery. I think that’s too much uncertainty.

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  25. I don’t get any kind of Cespedes deal. That would mean either Springer or Gomez is going. I’d rather keep both the starting right handed hitting outfielders already in house than give Cespedes a 5 year or even 3 year deal. And if a deal was to involve Springer, that would mean multiple new faces in Houston. Why pick up 20 million a year just on Cespedes when Springer is still a bargain and Gomez a relative bargain? If Peter Gammons is correct, Cespedes would be the first of multiple deals. Probably a shocker deal too.

    On the flip side, if Gomez left, I would assume Cespedes in left and hopefully Rasmus in right, leaving Springer to finally take over center where he belongs.

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    • The talk is that Gomez will be used as trade bait for a SP. Considering the weak FA class next year and the strong possibility Rasmus and Gomez will be gone adding an OFer via FA is not the worst idea. I just hope, if it does happen, it’s at a reasonable price.

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      • Tim, I’d live with a deal for Cespedes if Gomez helped us get another starter, but I don’t think there’s any such thing as a reasonable price these days. And Cespedes gives us one more low OBP along with that big contract.

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      • I don’t disagree with you. Last year, admittedly his best season, he had a .328 OBP and provided a 6.7 WAR. He’s projected to put up an OPS near .800 and a 3 WAR in 2016. He has an amazing arm, but I agree I don’t like the OBP. I’d be interested to know what they could get for Gomez. That would really help in letting me know if signing Cespedes is worth it. Him and Gomez should provide similar OBPs and WAR next season, but Cespedes will give you more power. I’m not completely opposed to it, but I would need to know what else happens before I can feel good about it.

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  26. When you get old, you start to make a sandwich. But you don’t have any bread. You go to the store to get bread and come home with a box of cookies and a gallon of milk. No bread.

    To me, Cespedes is a box of cookies.

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  27. Here’s why I would definitely interested at 5/$110 on Cespedes(YC).
    1. Houston has zero long term commitments in the outfield.
    2. The price mentioned is a real good value and we keep our draft pick.
    3. We’d have a real major league hitter to put in our lineup for the long term.
    4. We’d have four major league starting outfielders who can rotate on a daily basis, allowing us to dump Gattis and use the extra guy as a DH. That way, all four of them get to bat every day until one gets traded and then we bring up White, or move White from 1B to DH and bring up Reed.
    5. YC allows us to put Marisnick in Fresno every day to try and get his problems at the plate solved with the batting coach down there. Wasn’t it White who said that coach helped him greatly in his pitch recognition in his interview in CTH this morning?
    6. YC allows us to trade Gomez at the deadline and get something for him.
    7. YC takes the pressure off Kemmer and Kemp, and allows the Astros more time to see what they have.
    8. YC gives the Astros a sure thing for 2017, thus allowing them to trade Rasmus at the deadline or let Rasmus walk away to free agency, or sign an extension after they win the World Series.
    9. I believe the Cespedes projections are too low for 2016.
    10. I believe YC is looking for a permanent home and he would fit in here.
    11. Installing YC in the lineup means that you can move White in at 1B, because White would be the only rookie starting in April. Then you can bring Reed up in July and he becomes the one new guy in the lineup, because White is settled in by then. Then you can bring Moran up in September and allow him to get his major league introduction then. Thus, you only have that last out field spot to fill next April, Reed, White and Moran are already introduced into the lineup, and the Astros have Marisnick, Aplin, Kemmer and Kemp to choose from next spring to fill that last outfield spot and their fourth outfield spot. All of this means you never have two newbies in the lineup at the same time, but you get all your future stars into the lineup over the span of a year.

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