Astros aiming for Chris Gomez?
Apparently tight economic times are leading to terse negotiating tactics for a third baseman to platoon with Blum:
The article, per Astros.com, discusses each of the remaining free agent third base man, but devotes a significant amount of ink for Chris Gomez, and just small snippets for the rest. Gomez apparently can play both 3B and SS and posted this line last year:
Crede is apparently way out of our price range and we won't contact Morgan Ensberg (which, I don't understand...he's worth a minor league deal just to see). Pablo Ozuna also gets a nod in the article.
This is just depressing.
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Why do I get the feeling
that this is going to be the most hellishly awful season the Astros have had in decades?
But keep hope alive, Astros fans. At least there’s a good chance that we’ll see some new (non-veteran) players soon. Bogusevic and Sutton are likely to come up. There’s that off-chance of Castro making the MLB within the season.
So maybe it won’t all be awful.
Why waste time on Gomez?
Do the Astros have some kind of fetish for picking up infielders who have been rejected by the Pirates? Gomez isn’t a good hitter, and the defensive metrics indicate he isn’t a good fielder. Yes, he can play a lot of positions, but apparently none of them very well. At 3d base, he was significantly worse than Wigginton defensively (RZR: Wigginton, .737; Gomez, .667)…and fielding wasn’t Wiggy’s strong suit at third base.
Yes they do have a fetish for that.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Dec 16, 2008 2:44 PM CST up reply actions
Hey this is my first post on here but i’ve been following the blog for awhile…but i agree with most of ya’ll on this sucks about wiggy but i think morgan ensberg is the last thing we need, his last days are behind him, he couldn’t even bat over .200 in AAA…i’d take saccomanno’s bat anyday over ensberg
Glad you're jumping into the fray
It’s is a sad state of affairs when are forgetting how bad Moberg was because we’re just so desperate to find a solution. Saccomanno has an MLE (according to minorleaguesplits) of .256/.300/.444 against RHP, and much worse in the other platoon; so I’m not sure how much he even helps us. This is just going to be awful.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Dec 16, 2008 7:09 PM CST up reply actions
anyone but...
gomez…moensberg…chris johnson….almost anyone (NOT OZUNA)…y do we need a 35+ yr old 3b to fill in…id rather have a 24 year old (dunno if CJ is 24) youngster get PT…if he does well great, if not then oh well, at least we know what we got with him
by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Dec 16, 2008 8:07 PM CST reply actions
I don't like the Chris Gomez option, but agree with AstroAndy...
about Chris Johnson. I do fear that relying upon him in the majors next year could have bad consequences for his future. I have seen how Astros’ fans dump on young players who come up and strike out a lot. I would hate to see that affect his confidence or the Astros’ view of his future. OTOH, if he comes to spring training and hits .500, I’m sure that everyone will demand that he get his shot, and you would have to do it.
My preference is to pick up a good defensive infielder who hits LHP well and can platoon with Blum. It will probably cost a couple of million, though. If you can’t afford that, then you probably are better off with a AAAA infielder like Saccomano to try in a platoon.
Ensberg would normally fit the profile for a platoon, but he hit poorly when the Yankees tried to use him in a platoon type role. So, I tend to think he is done. But I wouldn’t object to inviting him as a a NRI for old times sake.

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