The Astros announced that they have designated third baseman Matt Dominguez for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for top prospect Carlos Correa, whose promotion is now official.
It’s been a swift fall for Dominguez, who just one year ago was rumored to have been offered an extension worth roughly $14.5MM over five years (plus two option years for the Astros). He’s spent the entire season in Triple-A so far after serving as Houston’s regular third baseman for all of 2013-14 and much of the 2012 season as well.
Dominguez’s best season came in 2013 when he batted .241/.286/.403 with 21 homers in 152 games. Despite the lackluster OBP, Dominguez rated out well in terms of Defensive Runs Saved, leading to a 2.2 rWAR season. (Fangraphs’ version of WAR, which uses UZR in its equation, rated him at just shy of one WAR.) Dominguez’s glove has long drawn positive reviews from scouts, and he clearly has some power in his bat, as evidenced by the .168 isolated power (slugging minus batting average) mark that he posted from 2012-13.
Dominguez hit 16 home runs last year, but he saw his walk rate dip even further while his strikeout rate climbed to almost 21 percent. The resulting .215/.256/.330 batting line was enough that the Astros saw fit to acquire Luis Valbuena and sign Jed Lowrie to serve as upgrades on the left side of the infield. So far in Triple, Dominguez is batting .251/.289/.371.
Despite the struggles, Dominguez is still just 25 years of age. The former first-round pick won’t turn 26 until late August, and if a light were to turn on with another club, Dominguez could be controlled through at least the 2018 season. In fact, that number will soon jump to 2019. Dominguez entered the year with two years, 62 days of service, meaning he’d have needed 110 days of service this year to reach the three-year mark. However, there are just 119 days of the regular season remaining, so it seems unlikely that he’ll end up reaching that mark.
Because of his youth, big league track record, remaining remaining minor league options and upside, I’d personally be surprised to see Dominguez clear waivers. More likely, it seems that the Astros may try to trade him to a team in need of some help at the hot corner. The Giants have had some struggles at third base this season, as have the Tigers, White Sox and Brewers. The Indians just demoted Lonnie Chisenhall to Triple-A, though they may prefer to give Giovanny Urshela a tryout before moving on to other options.
Speculating a bit further, the Angels were said to be seeking a controllable young third baseman this winter, and while they acquired Kyle Kubitza from the Braves to give them an option, it’s at least possible that Dominguez intrigues them. And, in last year’s leak of trade notes from the Astros, the Marlins were said to have expressed interest in a trade for Dominguez, though Miami does have Martin Prado at the position now.
Sad day for all Matt Dominguez fantasy baseball fans. He boosted one of my teams last year to a 15th place finish out of 15 teams. I had to roster him with the league as deep as it was. You’d have thought that team had been drafted by a savant with the ability to predict injury and then draft those players.
Astros Designate Matt Dominguez For Assignment
Well this is shocking. I always liked him.
He’s a good ball player despite his numbers being down.
reds should grab him, trade frazier and give him a shot.
If EVER a player needed a change of scenery, it’s this guy. Can still pick it at 3B, just needs to change some things in his swing. Get him with a new hitting instructor.
I would say sign him up with the Rays, but I’ve seen the blunders Derek Shelton works on hitters.
Play him at 3B with Longoria there?
Sounds like a logical waiver claim for the Brewers. They’ve got no heir apparent to Ramirez, so this would be a no-lose pickup.
Assuming he isn’t trade before hitting waivers, there is no way he clears every AL team without being claimed.
True, having the worst record in baseball doesn’t help when talking about a player in the other league.
I would think the Mets would be all over Matt Dominguez considering their ‘Final Destination’ situation at 3B this year.
i think there goal is to compete, dominguez is more taking a shot for long term value. i think zobrist makes the most sense to them and moving murhpy to 3rd. maybe they talk to the reds about zack cosart and move flores to third.
Have you seen Oakland’s breakdowns? That team has incredibly played against what their stats say they should be…Eric Walker still has them projected at 94 wins. I was surprised….that defense has killed them
Oakland has a better team ERA and team OPS than the Twins.
Baseball is insane.
Like 4 and 5 in the league in offense and pitching.. But dead last in defense. One of those anomalies… But I’ve seen a few occasions where an error has directly lead to a loss. Question is does the rebound happen? What happens if they take the record as it is and sell off pieces. Zobrist would need to bring back more than the comp pick
Murphy is on the mend. Will he go to the DL? Zobrist definitely makes good sense, but I think they may be outbid by several teams who are interested in him. My guess is that Zobrist will make his way to the Cubs.
Please Brewers, please. We have nothing at third, and I’m including Ramirez in that assessment. Trade Ramirez for whatever we can manage to get, give Dominguez a shot. Still just 25, under control through 2018, good defense and pop. This is exactly the type of guy we should be giving a shot to.
It would make sense for the Brewers to pick him up. Who’s the hitting coach there?
Darnell Coles is our hitting coach. Was the assistant hitting coach with the Tigers last season.
Will he be better than Hector Gomez? He seems like the kind of guy, who if he was on the Brewers, the fanbase would be complaining and asking to get rid of him.
He certainly does seem like the sort of player Doug Melvin loves, although the decent defense would be out of the ordinary. The low OBP and swinging for the fences certainly fits the Melvin mold. Really though, if the Brewers have the chance to add any young or relatively young guys with upside without paying through the nose to get them, what have they got to lose at this point?
The whole cliche about Melvin not caring about defense and wanting HR hitters is kind of dead don’t you think? He’s playing awful. The minors are filled with former top draft picks with a variety of skills.
I mean, yeah, he probably will be better than Gomez. Or at least, he’d make less mistakes in the field. As bjtheduck said, what have we got to lose at this point? Dude’s only 25, controllable through 2018 (probably even 2019, as the article states). We have nothing at 3B, unless you think it makes sense to move one of our plethora of middle infielders there (which it mostly doesn’t, except maybe Segura). Assuming the Astros choose to trade him and aren’t asking anything ridiculous, I’d say do it. We have nothing to lose.
You don’t think Gomez is good in the field? Do you want them to cut the guy they just picked up?
Gomez has a cannon of an arm, and he relies on it too much. He makes mistakes that shouldn’t be made. But, if I’m being honest, so has pretty much every infielder we’ve played this season, outside of Ramirez. And no, I don’t want them to cut Hernan Perez. He was a well-rated Tigers prospect who needs to be given a chance. I’m not sure I see what you’re trying to say. I think we should try to get Dominguez because he has a lot of upside and is cheaply controllable for several more years and we have no natural 3B depth. If it’s making room for him on the roster you’re talking about, then we could option Sardiñas for the time being, until we’ve traded guys like Ramirez and Lind (and maybe even Segura).
If you’re being honest every infielder makes those mistakes. Dominguez will make the same mistakes. They’re not going to bench Ramirez, especially for a guy who is failing at AAA. If their scouts think there’s hope that he can become near average offensively, he’s essentially free and they park him at AAA, I could see it. I’d guess there are a half dozen guys rattling around the minors that are similar or better.
I never said we’d bench Ramirez. I said we’d trade him. We’re going to rebuild. That’s the whole point in possibly getting a guy like Dominguez. We’re rebuilding, we have nothing to lose. As for the half dozen guys you’re guessing at, sure, maybe that’s true, but none of them are in our minor league affiliates, and Dominguez is the one who just got DFA’d and is readily available. As long as the Astros aren’t asking anything of particular value in return for him, it’s a move that makes sense, as a rebuilding team. Young, controllable players are what we need to look at.
There are freely available young, controllable players available all the time. Did you not look at his batting line? A rebuilding team with no alternative gave up on him and traded for Luis Valbuena.
Have… have you looked at the Astros this season? They’re at the end of a rebuild, not the beginning. They didn’t want to wait him out to see if he could figure it out. We should be a team that’s willing to give guys like this a chance during our rebuild. There is literally no good reason not to, considering our situation. Unless you can actually name some of these other “freely available young, controllable players” that the Brewers could go get right now.
Wait him out? Don’t you think they might have some idea of what he is? He’s been there for 3 years or so, you know, during their rebuild.
Again, did you look at what he’s done in his career? What is it you think is going to happen?
And no, I’m not going to list players for you.
There are literally multiple reasons not to bother.
I remember watching him play in highschool. Oh Man him and Moustakas tour it up the WVL. I remember his HR in the Finals at Dodger Stadium. I believe it was consecutive years too? CHS baseball has never been the same.
Always wanted him to be a Dodgers but thats unlikely.
“I’ll give you 14 million bucks over the next few years to play a kid’s game.”
“No, I was advised to decline your offer.”
“Um….it’s 14 million dollars, a lifetime’s salary and benefits for an entire high school’s worth of teachers… and you’re not that good.”
“No, I was advised to decline your offer.”
That was some LOUSY advice!
As a teacher/coach, you ain’t never lying, brother!
In hindsight, it was bad advice but let’s not compare teachers and baseball players.
I wasn’t just wishing lol
TeacherTradeRumors, coming soon!
Amazingly, there are plenty of those lol
Mets Gee for Dominguez?
I’m not sure the Astros get more than cash consideration for Dominguez considering his .251/.289/.371 AAA batting line this year.
its not pretty but hes still 25 and has some solid pop. I think hes gets more.
he never really hit in the minors though, still id imagine you could swap another player who has flashed potential.
Trade Dominguez to Cleveland for Lonnie Chisenhall and give them both a run at AAA 3b in a new organization.
Cards should grab him, help beef up the bench.
Come on Angels, hes a better option than Taylor Featherston.
Ahhh, Flaherty again.
Well Flaherty doesn’t field 3rd all that well.
Quite frankly, I would take a chance on Matt D.
I would take him over Paredes.
At least I wouldn’t have a problem with the O’s doing that.
I wasn’t a Paredes fan because of his wretched defense, but he hits so well while playing DH it kind of converted me. And I know you’re not particularly a fan of Ryan, but I’m surprised you would rather have Dominguez than Paredes
Paredes has a career OPS of .666, including .599 over the last 28 days. Maybe he’s magically become a slugger, but it’s a lot more likely that April / early May was an abberation.
Houston trade him to the Mets for Dillon Gee
Gee is a Lone Star state citizen.
The Red Sox should grab him and play him in the outfield along with all of the other infielders they’ve jammed in the outfield.
The Astros are making a lot of headlines today. Taking attention away from the mlb draft?
WIth the 2nd and 5th picks, they’re just trying to own the whole week.
Giants? C’mon, it’s the Sabean move that will help win the 2016 World Series. There always is the underrated move than ends up panning out, this guy could be it.