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Beautiful.

Linky understands Astros! Beautiful indeed, fz.

Ha. Brilliant.

That is one big error alright! 54 wins, here we come!!!

Probably not (yet) brighter than the early 90s or early 70s. While the prospects of the early 70s were largely traded away, I would gladly accept another run like the one that started in the early-mid 90s.

I think Luhnow has done a good job insofar as he's made absolutely nothing into a tiny bit of something. But that's a helluva long way from saying that the future currently looks bright.

this is the correct link

that better show up right

you notice that almost all of these prospects were obtained by the previous regime, not last year

and jonathan villar is AWFUL - can't field at ALL and why he's so pimped i do NOT get. he makes tyler greene look good. you better hit like arod age 21 to make up for a glove that terrible.

none of these guys can hit ML pitching yet.

There's a big disconnect between Villar's athleticism and his ability to get stuff done - I remember being really impressed with him several years ago but he's never put it together.

none of these guys can hit ML pitching yet.

I'm pretty sure they can hit Astro pitching-does that count?

der k

disconnect sure is a polite word for it
the ONLY things he does well is throw hard and run fast. i have no idea why on earth they keep him at SS - bad instincts, bad hands and crappy throws. as well as being bad at turning the DP. it's not like he hits like arod age 20/21 neither, so i'm not sure why the luuuuvvvv affair

hack,

unfortunately, no

i thought (this is back in his gcl days) he'd be a plus range, high error ss with speed, decent pop, ok walks, and some issues with contact. you can work with that.

der k

trouble is that all these years later he is the same guy and you can't have a SS who is such a bad fielder. he isn't even as good as miggy tejada and i screamed about his crapitude for the entire 2 years he was here, but at least one of the 2 years, his bat came close to making up for hits/runs allowed.

i know better than to expect adam everett v 2, but watching tyler greene/villar is like hearing nails on a chalkboard

i have a friend who watches the astros ST games and the friend is also, um, not understanding why on earth this guy is not merely roster filler

not disagreeing with you.

i thought tyler greene was a worthwhile flier, but didn't expect much - which is what you got.

you notice that almost all of these prospects were obtained by the previous regime, not last year

That's because when Luhnow took over, there wasn't much on the roster valuable enough to bring back quality prospects in a deal.

I've never liked Villar, but guys like Springer and Singleton seem like they're going to be very good hitters in a couple of years.

fast eddie didn't get anything good in the michael bourn trade and that hurt - braves fans laughed themselves sick over the pitcher choices and they were right

i think springer and singleton aren't ready for the Show, and youneverknow, they could end up being ML regulars but don't neither one of em look like a STAH!!!!!!

Flush with talent and flushable talent are not the same. Sure, the future is brighter than it was 2-3 years ago, but brighter than ever. Umm...in 1968 these players (with age) saw action for Houston in the majors:
Rusty Staub (24), Doug Rader (23), Bob Watson (22), Jimmy Wynn (26), Nate Colbert (22), Joe Morgan (24), John Mayberry (19), Larry Dierker (21), Don Wilson (23), Mike Cuellar (31), Dave Guisti (28). And Cesar Geronimo showed up in 1969 at age 21.
Now that was a bright future. There is a special hell somewhere for Spec Richardson.

That's because when Luhnow took over, there wasn't much on the roster valuable enough to bring back quality prospects in a deal.

I still like Robbie Grossman. He's probably the team's second best outfielder right now.

There's a big disconnect between Villar's athleticism and his ability to get stuff done - I remember being really impressed with him several years ago but he's never put it together.

I don't disagree that a disconnect may exist, but keep in mind that he is only 22 years old and likely entering AAA this season. Wade promoted him to AA when he was too young for the Texas League in 2011, and that no doubt made his progress appear worse. But last season, he did post a 106 RC+, which is similar to Jean Segura in the same league. He has very good defensive tools and I think he is young enough to develop into at least an average fielding shortstop with good pop for a middle infielder. He is not a sure thing, but even if he doesn't develop into an adequate major leaguer, the Astros have Correa and Fontana coming up as shortstop prospects.

Personally, I like Springer a lot, and I think he will develop into a better player than Singleton, even though Singleton is higher ranked. I can see Springer as a player similar to Curtis Granderson in his prime, bt with better defense. Given that Springer has looked good both in spring training and the AFL, I think he will be in the majors next year. On the intangible side, Springer brings a lot of leadership ability--something that the Astros have lacked on the major league club since the Biggio-Bagwell era.

Other players who may be a little underrated are Delino DeShields, Jr. and Robby Grossman. I think Grossman will be playing with the major league team at some point this year. DeShields had a break through season last year, as MVP of the California League championship game and stealing over 100 bases in the minors in 2012. He is probably 2 years away from the majors, but he might be a very special player.

while i liked villar, i never got the high grades BA put on him. struck me as a high risk, high reward type.

stars are hard to find. correa and mccullers certainly seem to have the tools, but they're a loooooong ways away.
as for springer and singleton, i don't think they'll be stars, but they've a chance at it. BA named singleton the top 1b prospect in baseball (weak competition, mind you) and i don't know that they're wrong. springer has all five tools - i do wish he were a better performer for his age. i'd like to see them each get another year in the minors...
grossman is definitely, imo, underrated by the scouting services - but i like tweeners as an archetype more than most (focusing on what they can v. what they can't do. brian giles was a tweener, once upon a time). he's not ready for the bigs either.

There is a special hell somewhere for Spec Richardson.

He has to be on the short list of worst GMs ever for failing to realize what he had with that nucleus.

There is a special hell somewhere for Spec Richardson.

And people who talk in the theater.

while i liked villar, i never got the high grades BA put on him. struck me as a high risk, high reward type.

.

That's what BA does. If a guy looks athletic, has a good arm and can run, the theory is that somebody will teach him to hit. They do a great job of identifying the highest-ceiling guys, because when those guys work out, it's a beautiful thing. I am more of a Sickels guy because I care more than BA seems to whether a guy can actually play baseball. Like, today. (Not that you can't get fooled that way. There are guys who dominate low levels but are just outgunned as they advance, just as there are toolsy guys who never develop any skill.)

Luhnow admitted the rebuilding process at the Minor League level is ahead of where he envisioned it would be when he took over in December 2011.

It might be, but I'm still baffled by the passivity the Astros showed in the last six to eight months before the new international spending limits went into effect. If resources truly weren't an issue, as everyone in Houston claims, then it was inexplicable for the Astros to not have gone hard after Cuban players like Cespedes, Soler, Puig, O. Luis, et al., as well as some of the younger non-Cubans who were available.

The Astros have assembled an interesting front office, but it seems like more than a little hubris on the Astros' part for the team to keep suggesting they're going to pull off a massive rebuild via scouting and development, especially since (1) they have zero impact-caliber players on their current ML roster, and (2) they'll have roughly have the same number of draft picks and roughly the same international budget as the other 29 teams. (I know their draft and int'l allotments will be the biggest or among the biggest, but with the failure rate of prospects, they'll have to outperform industry averages by a very wide margin to pull off such a massive rebuild.)

At least he got the first word right--flush.

22 - the other int'l guys: in the abstract, i agree + i bet hou does have real $ constraints but... the prices for the guys you mentioned came in pretty high - I can get not landing any of them.

I could see the Astros bidding and losing out, but I don't recall Houston as even being rumored to be after any of those guys. Regardless, as you speculated in the middle of your comment, I believe Luhnow & Co. are under constraints but playing the good soldiers and saying otherwise. (And they were probably under even bigger constraints in late 2011 and '12, when Crane had just closed on a relatively high-debt deal.)

I'm never sure what it means to be rumored as being in on a guy, nor do I know if the Astros would've been interested in, say, Puig, but heard the initial demands and said 'no thanks'. Off the top of my head, the only Cubans over the last year or so who signed for prices that made sense to me (granted, my opinion means exceedingly little) are Cespedes and Urrutia, who's not really a high ceiling guy anyway.
I think the Astros should have pursued NPB guys like Nakajima or Fujikawa (the uncertainty of the transition from NPB translates to possible surplus to be gained for HOU, who can afford some risk) and considered going after Urias and friends / Mexican League prospects, if the Dodgers weren't a fait accompli. Granted, the latter would involve spending money (for the unfamiliar: idea here is that you're paying only a share (25%) of the signing fee to the player, rest goes to a MXL team - it means spending more $, but having less $ count against your pool than it would cost to land a similar Dominican or Venezuelan talent)...

Anyway, we agree.

I still like Robbie Grossman. He's probably the team's second best outfielder right now.

I'd like to see Grossman make it. I've been pulling for him since the Pirates drafted him. I don't think he's a future star, but he has a nice broad base of skills, and I agree that he's likely underrated by the scouts.

Off the top of my head, the only Cubans over the last year or so who signed for prices that made sense to me (granted, my opinion means exceedingly little) are Cespedes and Urrutia, who's not really a high ceiling guy anyway.

Speaking of Cubans, anybody hear anything lately on Alexander Guerrero or Aledmys Diaz? I know Diaz is maybe tied up in that age investigation, but I'm surprised by the total silence on Guerrero - even if he needs to move to third, he seems like a potentially useful player. Is he still working on residency?

Ben Badler posted an update on Aledmys Diaz right before the WBC that said MLB was still investigating. I haven't seen anything re: Guerrero. He's supposedly in the D.R., so he could be waiting a long time. The last group of players who went there ultimately gave up on getting Dominican papers after waiting 6-plus months, and then went and got Haitian papers (which, for most of the group, resulted in another ~6-month wait before their work visas were issued).

6. base ball chick Posted: March 08, 2013 at 11:35 AM (#4383940)

Didn't you swear off the 'Stros? Is an intervention in order?

jack

me n the stros got divorced last year. i don't root for them no mo.
it doesn't stop me from pointing out that they are fat and their grrlfriend is ugly and can't cook neither

@30: nice!

Thanks for making me laugh.