Astros GM Jeff Luhnow addressed a variety of issues today with Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. He suggested that the club’s first base mix may not be fully resolved this spring, with the organization remaining open to making changes over the course of the season. He made clear that Houston won’t just be relying on metrics in reaching its decisions, but is paying close attention to how the various contenders look against advanced competition this spring.
- Meanwhile, Luhnow said, the Astros’ back-of-the-rotation competition may result in some bullpen time for one of Doug Fister, Scott Feldman, or Mike Fiers. But he emphasized that he expects “all three guys are going to end up making a lot of starts for us this year.”
- The Angels are hoping that reliever Al Alburquerque will be able to bounce back after a tough 2015, and improved health is one reason for optimism, as MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports. Albuquerque says that he was hobbled for all of the spring and much of the regular season last year after contracting the Chikungunya virus over the winter. His fastball velocity steadily increased over the course of the year, and Albuquerque says he feels “much better” in camp.
- The Red Sox now seem all but certain to go without young lefty Eduardo Rodriguez to open the year, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. Though the swelling is down in his right knee, Rodriguez still hasn’t returned to the bump and manager John Farrell says there’s “still no time frame or date to get him on the mound yet.” With the club obviously exercising caution, and a full ramp-up still needed, it would appear to be surprising if he’s able to join the 25-man roster on Opening Day.
- In other Red Sox pitching news, Boston is hoping that the decision to shut down reliever Junichi Tazawa late last year will help him regain his form in 2015, as Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes. Generally a highly reliable pen arm, Tazawa seemingly hit a wall late last year. Now, pitching coach Carl Willis says he sees improved “late action to his pitches,” cleaner mechanics, and better location. The 29-year-old’s ability to bounce back will not only be important to the club, but will also determine his market standing when he qualifies for free agency after the season.
- Reversing its prior stance, the Yankees don’t intend to prepare Starlin Castro to spend any further time at third base this spring, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. He’ll instead focus on settling in at second base and preparing to serve as the reserve shortstop, says manager Joe Girardi. As King notes, that could open up some additional opportunity for Rob Refsnyder to make the team as a utility piece.
JFactor
Why is Jered Weaver the picture?
plyons
I thought the same thing. Baseball Tonight Podcast mentioned Weaver is down to throwing 78-81 MPH, a scary and puzzling start to his spring.
Jeff Todd
Whoops, I had him in there but then realized Steve had covered his news fully earlier. I’ll change it.
drum18
Yanks should offer Teixera to Houston. Even if it never got out, those conversations – not to mention the respective outcome – would be pretty interesting to hear.
thecoffinnail
Teixeira has a full no trade clause and he has said several times he will not waive it. He likes New York and that short porch helps him quite a bit. He is not going anywhere. This has been stated on these comment boards over and over for the past year. Besides, who would take his place? He was the Yankees best hitter last year.
thecoffinnail
Hopefully, that didn’t come off as snotty. If it did I apologize. It wasn’t meant to be.
Toksoon
McCann would take his place with Sanchez behind the plate. This is going to happen next year when they don’t renew tex
Kolukonu
That’s not true either. Greg Bird will take over at 1B once Tex is gone.
bigpapi4ever
Greg Bird will probably be in a full body cast by next season. That dude is as fragile as they come, he makes Ellsbury and Tex look like ironmen.
NYC Fan
Greg Bird is a rookie who played in 46 games and had a freak injury, and you already talking crap as if he’s been playing for years and is injury prone… By the way, we still waiting for big roided papi to get back to us regarding that failed test…
MB923
That’s like saying E-Rod makes Buchholz look like the Iron Man
Mark 21
I would like to see your facts to back this up. McCann has already said he is not a first baseman and he is not comfortable as a first baseman. He will not be the first baseman come next year no matter how much you want to be the GM of the Yankees. When McCanns time comes to remove him from catcher he will be a DH type player with some back up to first..
drum18
Not snotty, I’ve read it all, too.
My thinking being is maybe NY gets something it needs going forward while shedding some salary. Tex could go to a contender in a hitter friendly park. I’m sure he’d invoke his no-trade rights. But I’d love to hear what the offers/conversations would be like between the clubs.
And if not McCann, I’m sure NY would find someone to play 1B.
stymeedone
Al Al can say what he wants, but his results, even in his “healthy” years in Detroit, were consistent. He pitches decent in low leverage situations, and serves it up when under pressure. His “Walk-Off Balk” was just one of many melt downs. More than any of their acquisitions, the removal of Coke, Joba and Al Al from the Tiger’s bullpen, provide hope for improvement.
tuner49
You are 100% correct. I would like to know why AA did not tell the Detroit staff of his “ailment” so he could get vitamins, etc. to get “healthy”. His “walk off balk” was as close as I have ever come to throwing a book at my TV.
stymeedone
You are right. I never heard about his sickness when he was in Detroit.
bigpapi4ever
It’s Ok if E-Rod misses a bit of time to start the season now. With Price at the front and better pitching depth this year the Sox can afford to take it slow with him. I’m still laughing at the O’s for giving us that stud for a couple months of Andrew Miller (LOL!).
On the other note, Starlin Castro is terrible. He’s been one of the worst players in baseball in 2 out of the last 3 seasons. And let me break it to you Yankee fans, he’s going to be even worse this year when he crumbles under the pressure in NY. It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t have a NY type personality. I’m projecting that his slash will be .255/.285/.385 and he’ll lead the league in errors at 2B.
cubsfan2489
You have got to be the biggest bag on this whole site. Not everyone the RedSox have ever had are the greatest ever. Castro gets 180 hits on average a year. And he’s not horrible at 2nd. Seriously stop being so stupid and shallow about other people’s views on the teams THEY root for. It’s not all about the 500 lb Hanley and Pablo RedSox!
mike156
Well said, cubsfan
Valkyrie
If this guy could stop being stupid, I think he would have done it by now.
gorav114
Haha, I can’t believe Red Sox fans still think they got this diamond in the rough. Actually what happened was Baltimore recognized Erod was a #5 starter and duped the Red Sox into giving up their best bullpen piece. Now I know it’s injury that’s keeping him from making the club but it doesn’t matter, he is nothing more than a #5 tops. Have fun wasting three years before the Red Sox faithful finally see it.
johnsilver
3 blind mice, 3 blind mice…
aprogie
Lol so many scouts have said he has ace potential… I think yours still butt hurt that you gave up a potential ace for a few months of a relieve
aprogie
Reliever *
dwilson10
Having ace potential does not mean they will actually turn into an ace. There have been many pitchers that scouts say have ace potential and they never amount to anything above a solid AAA starter or decent reliever in the majors. I’m not saying that’s what will happen with Rodriguez but anything is possible.
jmo1116
Most of them are/were members of the Orioles. How many “top” pitching prospects have they had in the past decade? How many have worked out that way? Arrieta, once he came to the Cubs, and that’s it.
bruinsfan94 2
That makes so little sense.
mike244
LOL . Erod was a top 50 prospect (even made Keith Laws top 25) who was widely regarded to having top of the rotation potential. He then pitched quite well in his rookie season. Erod is a incredibly valuable. Saying he’s a #5 at best just shows your inability to educate yourself on young talent or your complete homerism. The guy would probably be your best pitcher rift now.
mike244
Ok maybe that was a bit mean (apologies of it was)
But most scouting reports and talent evaluators think he can be a real good pitcher.
dwilson10
First off, you can’t consider Rodriguez a stud when he only pitched in the majors for part of a season. There’s a tiny sample size and he was too up and down all year. At the moment he’s no more than a 4 or 5 starter but won’t even break camp with the team because he is injured. He might come back from injury and be terrible and stay in the minors all season. Then saying Starlin Castro is one of the worst players in baseball is pretty sad. Don’t you realize two of the worst players last year were from your Red Sox. I’m no where close to a Yankee fan but Castro will succeed in NY where he doesn’t have to worry about bouncing from position to position and getting pulled if he has a bad game or 2.
The only pitcher the Red Sox have that is worth anything is Price, other than that they have a solid group of #4 or #5 starters. So I wouldn’t expect to much this year. Maybe your STUD pitcher can save the team from finishing last later in the year but it’s highly unlikely.
hojostache
If you just look at Castro’s stats he is a middle of the road guy with a mostly avg bat (career 97OPS+, as low as 73 and as high as 115). He best matches up with….*drum roll*…Ruben Tejada, but with 3 more yrs on a 8/$60m-ish contract.
As a SS, Castro was shaky, but he has worked hard to develop into a passable 2B. I was admittedly surprised he didn’t tank when he was bumped from SS, so good on him for taking the change in stride. I think the Yankees consider him a decent “change of scenery” guy. His 2nd half numbers were much better, but he was dreadful in the first half and for much of the past 2+ seasons. He is streaky, but in a solid lineup that can mostly be mitigated. They Yankees have *far* more to worry about with their starting pitching, which could be in shambles a few months into the season. There is no way they all stay healthy and they don’t have quality depth. I really like Severino and when healthy Tanaka can still be a frontline guy, but neither are the true ace they’ll need to make a deep run in the playoffs.
As for the Red Sox starting pitching…well…they have David Price. I agree with dwilson10 that they have Price and then a bunch of backend guys who will be exposed during the season and will tank any chance of them making a run in the playoffs (if they even get in).
mike244
Buchholz is a #2 when healthy (132 ERA+). I think Erod is pretty clearly a mid rotation arm right now (112 ERA+). The RS have a pretty solid staff.
As for Castro. He’s not very good. He’s been a replacement level player in2 of the last 3 seasons. Streamer is projecting him to be a 1.3 win player. Not terrible, but not good either.
mike244
*Arguably.
I would say the RS rotation has it’s questions, but has the upside to be great. Price/Buchholz/Erod could be a nice 123. They have some nice depth in the minors too
Niekro
Is Refsnyder capable of being a utility piece he has only played 2 positions his career and one very poorly, the other he has very little experience in, They should give him a full season in AAA as an OF if he still can’t play 2B at a capable level in the majors. If Refsnyder cant play 2B Hicks and Ackley are just a better bench options than Refsnyder, and I don’t think the Yankees need that many OF’s on ML Roster.
MB923
“They should give him a full season in AAA as an OF if he still can’t play 2B at a capable level in the majors”
He started off as an OFer but then they moved him to 2B. His defense at both positions wasn’t too well. Now they’re trying him at 3B though who knows how that will be
If the Yankees go with a 4 man bench, there is still an open spot. Right now they have Ackley, Hicks, and a backup catcher TBA (I think they will go with Romine and keep Sanchez off the MLB roster for 35 days). That leaves a 4th man for the bench If they decide to use a 4 man bench which is likely the case. And it is likely they will go with another utility IFer. If he hits in ST well, I think Refsnyder makes the team on the bench
johnsilver
NY stole Ackley from Jack Z, glad he’s finally gone from Seattle. For a guy who had a reputation as being difficult to deal with and getting the most for people he had in deals? I thought his deals were awful many times, this being another where he gave away someone who just needed out with a lot of potential.
Think Ackley would’ve done a decent job at 2nd and the Yanks not had to go and get Castro at all if they had wanted to. That nearly 40m isn’t a lot, tho over the next 2 seasons even 10m AAV will hinder NY’s spending and Warren’s loss will hurt when someone in the rotation inevitably goes down.
Ackley can play, better than most gave him credit in Seattle.
sascoach2003
How about the Astros look at Justin Morneau on a pillow deal? Or, one of the Cardinals 1B? Or, even Xavier Scruggs, who is stuck in NOLA AAA for the Marlins? They would all make some sense imo. Houston has the resources to trade, and the money to sign Morneau. He could even DH some of the time.
hojostache
Morneau on a pillow contract is an outside of the box idea. I’m not sure how much room they have on their roster, but JM is worth a flyer. Last year they had a lot of things go their way in regard to their older bats bouncing back.
sascoach2003
I’ve been coaching/following baseball for 45 years. I’ve tried to think outside the box as much as I can lol.