Astros acquire Jeff Keppinger; 25 Man Roster complete?

though I always hate PTBNL trades. Makes me worry about what Wade is possibly giving away.

No question the Astros needed some help at 3d base in order to avoid embarrassment. This guy won’t be a world beater, but he will be solid. Given his shortstop background, I would expect his defense to be good at 3d base, and my recollection is that his brief time at 3d base in Cincy produced a good UZR result.

The Cincinnati Enquirer article had almost universal negative reaction to the trade. Part of that is to be expected from a PTBNL trade. But it seems like he had some fans in Cincy.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Houston Astros have acquired infielder Jeff Keppinger from the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Keppinger, who turns 29 on April 21, hit .266 with three home runs and 43 RBIs over 121 games for Cincinnati in 2008.

He struck out just once every 20.9 plate appearances, the best ratio in the Major Leagues last season.

Keppinger will serve as a right-handed complement to Geoff Blum at third base, but he can also count on seeing playing time at short and second as well.

“He gives us a guy with experience all around the infield,” general manager Ed Wade said. “He’s somebody who’s played a lot at second, short and third. He’ll certainly be a factor at third with [Aaron] Boone out.”

“He doesn’t strike out a lot,” Wade added. “He’s a rare player who has more walks than strikeouts every season. He’s a contact hitter, a blue-collar player and he fits perfectly on our club.”

Additionally, the Astros optioned infielder Edwin Maysonet to Triple-A Round Rock.

I guess this means Maysonet won’t make the team.

Doesn’t sound like a world beater, just a place holder till Johnson gets ready for the bigs at RR. Sounds like he won’t embarrass you, but won’t amaze you either. In fact he could be Blum’s replacement for next year.
I wonder if next years left side looks like Maysonet and Johnson?? I be heading down to RR alot this summer, I’ll be looking for big things. Would be great to have a couple of young stars on the way up again…..

I’m not really worried about the money (thanks Uncle Drayton) but am curious about how many years he has left. I could look it up…

Actually, I will in a second. I have to do some stuff. If it happens to be here when I get back, no hard feelings.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090331&content_id=4096764&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

Not nice to piss off your future platoon-mate, Jeff:

“I know Matsui plays second, Tejada plays short,” Keppinger said. “I don’t know who plays third base. I know [Ty] Wigginton played there last year. Blum? I’m not sure, I have no idea. I’ll find out in a couple of days.”

How could anyone forget about Geoff “The Barbarian” Blum?

I approve.

if the intention is to bring help at third base, it should be noted that his fielding, already marginal, suffers markedly as a third baseman. He has only had about 60 appearances at that position over the past 2 years and perhaps could be expected to improve given more games there, but who knows? He is versatile, and he does appear to be solid offensively (his PECOTA projection for 2009 is remarkably similar to Tejada’s); if the kneecap is OK, this could be a good move.

Besides, he’s a “blue collar” player who “plays the game right.” What more could we ask for?

He’ll hit lefties and the only way he’ll play full-time is if Blum stinks, and if he stinks that bad, whatever Keppinger might produce will probably be better.