On January 8, I had a post about the Astros off-season moves that needed to be addressed: starting pitching, centerfield, and catching.
Starting Pitching
The starting pitching continues to be EXTREMELY concerning. Backe is hurt. Wandy is somewhat hurt, but it doesn’t look to be serious; however, he isn’t pitching fabulously either. Oswalt is pitching great, but he is pitching for the US in the WBC, not in Spring Training. (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It would just be nice for the Astros to actually win a game.) Moehler is pitching pretty good and so is Hampton. It looks like Ortiz is the front-runner for the fifth spot, but he hasn’t been all that amazing.
Centerfield
Centerfield continues to be alarming. In Spring Training, Michael Bourn is hitting .184 with 9 strikeouts and 1 error. Darin Erstad is hitting .263 with 8 strikeouts and 0 errors. Not real stellar statistics from either of them, but at this point, I think Erstad should be the starter and Bourn the tradebait.
Catcher
The Astros have at least addressed the position of catcher. At the beginning of Spring Training, there were 4 players vying for the starting spot: Humberto Quintero, JR Towles, Toby Hall and Jason Castro. It was pretty clear that Castro didn’t have a legitimate shot as he really needs at least one more year in the minors. In late Feburary, it was revealed that Hall’s season was done before it even started with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. That left 2 players for starter and back-up.
It has become clear that JR Towles isn’t the future, even as a backup. And Quintero is the future as back-up, but not as starter. So that left a HUGE hole to fill Ausmus’ shoes.
But the Astros answered that question on Friday by signing veteran Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. I am sure I am not alone when I breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, Pudge is not at his prime anymore, but he is still really good and he is also a veteran presence behind the plate with which I feel comfortable. More than comfortable actually.
There are few catchers out there who call a game and who are as good defensively as Brad Ausmus, but Pudge is nearly his equal. Plus, he can steal bases which always surprises me. He must have self-regenerating knees or something. How many catchers can steal? Piazza’s knees where bionic towards the end of his career and even that didn’t help him.
And here is something fun to think about… for the first time in a long time, the Astros might not be filling the 8-spot with their catcher. Of course, that means that one of the position players will be in there which is a bad thing, but SOMEBODY has to go there. It will be nice to have (hopefully) a catcher who can contribute offensively as well.
This means that Quintero will fill in the back-up role and Towles will go to Round Rock. Quintero is solid as back-up and, if he stays healthy, will probably be there all year.
But Towles? Maybe they should look at combining him with Bourn as tradebait for a starting pitcher.
