This is a great post, AFF. It’s great to get a look at pan-organizational depth at a position. With two drafts in the bag, there’s going to be a lot of pressure from the bottom over the next year, and I imagine a lot of guys are going to find themselves in the “high noon” situation that Nieve and Paulino found themselves in during spring training this year.

I think you can make a strong case for bringing Ramirez and Abercrombie up. I’ve not been terribly impressed with J. Michaels’ defense (or offense for that matter), and Darin Erstad just completely fell off the table this year (lack of playing time? or just age?). I think Abercrombie stands to be an improvement off the bench, especially when it comes to the power game against RHP. And I remember being impressed by his defense when we last saw him in the majors.

I think Ramirez is less likely to get called up…he had some attitude issues a little earlier in the season…mostly admiring his homeruns for far too long. It may have gotten so bad that he was deliberately plunked during a game which led to his being benched for 3 days, although it’s hard to get information on what exactly happened. His speed would make him an asset both as a pinch runner and as a late-inning defensive replacement. Yordany would make a good complement to Abercrombie since he’s got slightly better splits against LHP.

I feel bad for Flores because he had a knee injury that caused him to miss a full year of development in ‘08. He had a good May (.289/.354/.433), but he got hurt early in June, and now he’s out for the rest of the season.

It’s exciting to see, though, that we actually have some kind of organizational depth in the outfield now.

Because this plan makes way too much sense. I’ve been kind of wondering why Gaston hadn’t been promoted. Thanks for the insight bud.

is that they wouldn’t get any consistent playing time. Before the season started, I think a lot of us assumed that Bourn would be benched by now, but the fact that he has turned into a downright good player means that won’t happen. Pence is also having a great season, and the same goes for Lee. The Astros have a pretty good starting outfield, and none of its members tend to miss much time. One would think Lee would need more time off, but he’s oddly something of an iron man out there (it probably helps that he doesn’t really exert himself).

A better manager might be able to find adequate playing time for everyone, but I’m not really confident that Coop can do that.

But you’re right about Michaels and Erstad. Michaels showed some flashes of offensive ability early on, but neither he nor Erstad are really doing anything.

I think calling up Abercrombie is a pretty obvious solution to the problem. I think DQ showed before the season began that a Reggie-Bourn platoon could do well in CF, and there’s no reason why he can’t replace Michaels as a right-handed PH and a true defensive replacement.

I don’t know if Ramirez is really the best option for replacing Erstad, however. Ideally, you’d want another left-handed bat. Bogusevic provides that, but promoting him brings up the consistent playing time problem again.

See, Reggie’s a player who is, for the most part, finished developing. He’s 27, and I think he pretty much is what he is going to be. If you can’t get him playing time every few days, that’s not too big of a deal.

But Bogusevic is still a prospect. He needs to be getting more than just pinch-hit PAs and the occasional defensive appearance. It’s the same problem you run into if you want to promote Ramirez or Towles.

Still, I think it’s pretty obvious that the Astros’ horrible bench can be addressed. Maybe it can’t be solved by just promoting rookies, but clearly something has to be done about it. Erstad and Michaels clearly aren’t getting the job done, after all.

However, I don’t think Michaels’ main purpose is defensive. He is supposed to be the main PH. Erstad is suppose to be the primary defensive replacement in the OF and the main LH Pinch Hitter. Ideally I would replace both of them with someone from the minor league system. However, we don’t have a lot of LH options, like Lad said above, other than Bogusevic, and he won’t be helped by a PH role given his age.

I would go with either Abercrombie or Locke to take the Michaels role. Locke is at an age and organizational role where I wouldn’t worry if he sits on the bench and only gets occasional starts. And that is the role Abercrombie has previously had. Abercrombie probably makes more sense because he is a better defensive player, but I would be more curious to see how Locke hits at the ML level, even if it is a brief stint.

Given salary considerations, I would think that Michaels is more likely to get cut than Erstad..