March 28, 2009: Look at the Infield

As Opening Day against the Cubs is coming up soon, let’s take a look at the Astros proposed infield. I am only going to look at the starters right now as it is pointless to look at backups at this time especially since the seem to be dropping like Wall Street. (Though it does look like Edwin Maysonet is a good bet to make the team.)

Starters

1B – Lance Berkman
2B – Kaz Matsui
SS – Miguel Tejada
3B – Geoff Blum

Lance Berkman, 1B

Spring Training Stats

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
16	43	5	14	4	0	3	8	27	7	6	0	0	.412	.628	.326

Sir Lancelot has had a good Spring Training overall. In fact, you could argue that he has had one of the the best springs offensively for the Astros. There are many other players across MLB who have better averages include Berkman’s backup, John Gall, who has a .375 in 16 games. However, Lance’s slugging is one of the tops among that category.

Will he have a good season? I think Lance would have to go into a coma for several months not to have a good season. He always seems to have at least one month where he doesn’t play well, but he bounces back. Signs point that he will have a good season, but let’s wait and see. He usually starts off slow and doesn’t warm up until May. If he can be even .100 off of his May average of last year (.471), then I would be happy.

NOTE: Lance recently stayed back in Kissimmee, FL for a sore shoulder. Reports don’t indicate that this will be of any concern, but keep an eye on it.

Kaz Matsui, 2B

Spring Training Stats

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
20	64	6	10	3	0	0	0	13	2	13	2	2	.182	.203	.156

I am still fairly underwhelmed by Kaz Matsui. Sure, he seems to be a nice guy and his defense is good, but I am confused as to why we signed him in the first place. His spring numbers have been atrocious. This does not bode well and he needs to play much, much better.

Will he have a good season? Based on his spring numbers, the answer is no and we always have to be on the lookout for injuries with him. We need our second baseman to be good defensively and offensively. Not great, but good. Defensively, he has been good in pre-season, but offensively, he has been bad. I am especially alarmed by his strikeout numbers. Yeouch!

The final prognosis? Be afraid, be very afraid.

Miguel Tejada, SS

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
14	40	8	12	4	0	2	6	22	1	3	0	0	.326	.550	.300

Like Berkman, Miguel’s numbers have been good over the spring. I would have liked them to be better, but he did have a federal perjury case to worry about all winter, so it’s not surprising that he was quirky at the plate. Tejada has admitted that the whole thing was stressful and he is glad to have it behind him. How much difference would this have made in Kissimmee? It’s hard to tell, but it will make a difference in the regular season. In 2008, questions followed him all season about his age and his steroid use. It will be good for him to have a breather.

Will he have a good season? I look for a more relaxed Tejada this year. His numbers last year were very good and I hope that one year older without the stress will help him to repeat those numbers. Plus, he is on my fantasy team, so he’d better be good or I will bench him!

Geoff Blum, 3B

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
19	49	2	10	3	0	0	9	13	3	6	0	0	.236	.265	.204

Not real sparkling numbers in pre-season, but much better than Matsui’s. (Which makes Kaz’s numbers all the more alarming.) What I am more interested in with Geoff is his defense as he will be on the field when Hampton is pitching. Why am I bringing this up? Remember when Hampton pitched for us last and Bill Spiers (one of my favorite players second only to Jose Cruz) was playing at third. I seem to remember a quote from Bill that whenever Hampy was pitching, he got a good workout and always had to be on his toes.

Will he have a good season? I don’t expect that Mike’s pitching has changed all that much and look for plenty of ground balls to go to third base, so Blum needs to be at his best at least every fifth game. However, Blum has had 2 errors in Spring Training. That’s awful. Some players play months of regular season ball before getting that many. Now I am really worried. If you add that to his low numbers at Kissimmee, then you have a player that clearly isn’t ready to play ball.

I am not a Blum-hater. I really like the guy (except for when he hit that home run off the Astros in the World Series), but he needs to step it up soon or Ed Wade is going to sign some 39-year old veteran free agent and put Blum on the bench.

Final Thoughts

Right now, the infield is concerning with firstbase and shortstop looking good and secondbase and thirdbase looking not-so-good. The butterflies in my stomach are flying around and I think it is going to be a tough first few months of the season before all is said and done.