Astros News and Notes

by David Coleman on Apr 6, 2011 10:00 AM CDT in Houston Astros News

What to do with the infield?: Clint Barmes may be back sooner than expected, but with Angel Sanchez once again providing that singles power that he showed last season, some have questioned whether or not Barmes should get his starting job back.

To me, the answer is unquestionably, "Yes." Barmes is a good, possibly great defender at shortstop. Sanchez's arm is stretched playing there every day, which hurts the team just as much as his offense helps. But, sliding Barmes back in at shortstop doesn't have to push Sanchez out of the lineup. If Bill Hall continues to struggle for the next two weeks, does it make sense to slide Sanchez over to second and put Hall on the bench?

Hall was essentially a super-sub for Boston last season, playing multiple positions. He's not going to be happy moving back to that role, since the whole reason he signed in Houston is they guaranteed him a starting job. However, if he continues to struggle this badly, the Astros many not have a choice.

First good sign for Arias: I have mentally written off Alberto Arias as a bullpen option this season. That's not to say I don't want to see him back, because when he was healthy, he was a great reliever.

It's the injuries that have caused me to drop him from the forefront of my mind. As they have piled up one on top of the other, and he misses more and more time, I doubt whether he'll ever regain the form he showed before the injury.

But, it would certainly be a great story if he did. That's why I was very encouraged to see this report (thanks to Astros County), that Arias had thrown off a mound and looked "pretty good." It's not much, but it's a start.

Comment of the Day: We have a tie from last night's game thread, showing just how bad this team has sunk this early in the season.

Just once I would like to turn the game on and see some good news.

by entropic soul on Apr 5, 2011 6:43 PM CDT reply actions

your watching the wrong team

by baggs on Apr 5, 2011 6:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Pete Rose probably wishes he bet on this game

Astros fan for life

by Joe in Birmingham on Apr 5, 2011 7:32 PM CDT reply actions

How do you know he didn’t?

On the other hand, I’m not sure that you could get a great betting line betting against the Astros.

by clack on Apr 5, 2011 7:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Comment Leaderboard: And now for both the roll call of all commenters from last night's thread and the Top Six.

Name	# of Posts
clack	44
MadMartygan	27
linkxmalon	25
Joe in Birmingham	21
AllenOU	14
Danteslion	12

Roll Call: timmy_, Its Gonna Happen, War_damn_eagle, MadMartygan, linkxmalon, AllenOU, clack, stanman519, danielcp0303, Danteslion, Subber10, entropic soul, baggs, byronlhsdrmr, SeoulStro, Joe in Birmingham, h-town_sports, Rhombus67, mike_o, BustaPozee

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Counting the days until Barmes Returns

When I first heard that Clint Barmes got injured I wasn’t discouraged because I thought that would probably give Manzella another shot. I know he’s probably not the long term answer at short, but his sample size last year was small. Manzella would bring much more to the table defensively. Its tiresome watching games and saying if only the Astros had a real shortstop that play would have been made. I can’t figure out why Mills is so high on Angel. He is a good hitter with no power. I would much rather have Manzella’s defense with the occasional double over Sanchez’s lack of defense and singles anyday. As far as Hall goes, I would rather see the Astros wait him out and hope he starts hitting soon. If he’s still slumping when Keppinger returns then put him back out there and then the Astros can have just as many singles and more doubles out of Keppinger. Sanchez is a bench player, maybe an above average utility player, but definitely not a starter.

by conroestro on Apr 6, 2011 10:29 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

I still think it’s more useful to wait until Barmes actually returns before we face the questions about the middle infield. Given that he is coming off a hand injury, he probably should get a thorough minor league rehab assignment, in order to make sure that he can still hit. Hand/wrist injuries can be hard to deal with as a batter. It’s only four games and who knows how Sanchez, Hall or anybody else will be hitting when Barmes returns. After seeing Sanchez poor defense last night, I wouldn’t mind seeing Downs at shortstop a few times to see if his defense is better. My inclination is to agree with conroestro and say that the question of Hall’s role probably should be revisited when Keppinger returns.

by clack on Apr 6, 2011 10:45 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs

You can also throw in an evaluation of Tommy Manzella, and see how well he’s doing in Triple A offensively at that time.

by Timothy De Block on Apr 6, 2011 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions

I would like to see Downs at short a couple of times also. His arm is definitely an upgrade over Sanchez, but I’m not sure what his range is at that position. His offense was good in spring training, and he’s hit in the minors. It couldn’t hurt to see what he has.

by conroestro on Apr 6, 2011 11:04 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I liked the idea of moving Hall to the bench for Sanchez at 2nd if Hall hasn’t started hitting by the time Barmes gets back. To say Hall has a much higher offensive ceiling than Sanchez is an understatement but you still have to factor in who is more likely to hit their ceiling at this point. Will Hall hit .270 with 20+ HRs or is Sanchez more likely to hit 1-4 or 2-4 every night? Id really like to give Downs a shot. He can’t be worse than Sanchez defensively (knock on wood) and has some pretty serious power when he connects

by Its Gonna Happen on Apr 6, 2011 2:43 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

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