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Some things to talk about while
1) The deal with minor-league invites
C.J.
On Monday, he wrote about what getting a minor league invite is all about. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
There is not one that sees you valuable enough to let you take up a spot on its 40-man roster. They see you as guy worth taking a low risk chance on. They like you, they just don't like you, like you. It's hard to swallow, but you have no choice.
Keep this in mind when you throw around predictions about Joe Thatcher or Roberto Hernandez
Also, read the part where Nitkowski talks about how his agent really didn't gain anything from a minor league deal, so he spent a lot of time studying rosters to find the best spot himself. That explains Thatcher's quotes to Evan Drellich on why he picked the Astros, doesn't it?
It must be such a humbling experience for a major league player to accept that minor league deal. Roberto Hernandez just had a pretty good season, but can't find anyone to give him a major league contract. The league moves fast. Stand still for a second and it can pass you by.
2) BPro ranks Astros system at No. 12
It's not pretty, folks. The Astros farm system ranked 12th in the recent Baseball Prospectus rankings, released Monday. Here's what BPro had to say about the system that only had three Top 101 players in it:
Weaker than it once was thanks to a few big-league promotions and a trade, but any system with Carlos Correa atop it has some bragging rights. The re-emergence of Mark Appel from a strange start to the 2014 season gives the Astros legitimate impact talent on the mound as well as up the middle of the field, something few systems can boast. After that, there is talent surrounded
question marks, but plenty of potential pieces for their future. with
Harsh? Fair?
3) Jacob Nix looks like a first rounder
Keith Law with some insider notes on Jacob Nix over at ESPN. It's not good news if you were hoping the Astros would avoid looking bad for his deal falling through:
Nix has added about 25 pounds of muscle, and he looks perfectly built for major-league workloads. He came out firing bullets, 93-to-96 in the first inning, throwing all fastballs, gradually losing velocity and sitting 90-to-92 in his last inning, the fifth.
Losing that kind of talent is one reason why the Astros fell on most draft boards. Heck, losing out on Nix and Brady Aiken could have sent plenty of teams into the 20's of farm rankings. At least they got that trio of college bats.
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