Delino Deshields Jr.

Scott Evans

2013 Minor League Preview: Houston Astros

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Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America
2012 (17) | 2011 (26) | 2010 (30) | 2009 (30) | 2008 (29)

2012 Affiliate Records
MLB: [55-107] NL Central (AL West beginning 2013)
AAA: [78-65] Pacific Coast League – Oklahoma City
AA: [81-59] Texas League — Corpus Christi
A+: [74-66] California League – Lancaster
A: [69-69] South Atlantic League – Lexington (Quad Cities of MWL beginning 2013)
A(ss): [15-25] New York-Penn League — Tri-City

Arizona Fall League Players — Mesa Solar Sox
Jarred Cosart (RHP); Chia-Jen Lo (RHP); Alex Sogard (LHP); Nick Tropeano (RHP); Jiovanni Mier (3B); Jonathan Singleton (1B); George Springer (OF)

Graduated Prospects
Marwin Gonzalez (SS); Matt Dominguez (3B); Lucas Harrell (RHP); Dallas Keuchel (LHP); Rhiner Cruz (RHP); Fernando Abad (LHP)

The Run Down
Jeff Luhnow is so flippin’ awesome. I cannot stress this enough. In little more than a year at the helm of the Astros, he’s turned the organization into one of the most fascinating franchises in the sport. Obviously, they’re not among the better ball clubs — not at the MLB level, at least — but by surrounding himself with baseball bloggers and NASA engineers, Luhnow has created an environment that celebrates new ideas and is well ahead of the curve in terms of analytics. Houston had a few nice prospects in place when he arrived, but the system as a whole was shallow and weak. Luhnow spent his first year cutting big league payroll, adding depth to the farm via trade, and spending big in the draft. I imagine more of the same is in store for 2013, so expect another sub-60 win season as Houston joins the AL West. It might be a few years before they’re competitive again, the Astros are transforming much more quickly than I thought was possible. They’re building cost-controlled depth, and waves of promising prospects are set to arrive in Houston beginning this year. So even if Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio aren’t voted into the HOF this afternoon, Astros fans can sleep soundly. The future is bright, indeed, for Houston.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

The 2012 Razzball Prospect Awards Show

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Okay, it’s more of a blog post than an awards show, but it’s still really effing prestigious.  Well, maybe it’s not prestigious either, but no one watches sports award shows anyway, and I think we can all agree that the ESPY’s would be much better if it were simply a short-form blog post.  I’ll be digging into team-by-team 2013 previews in the coming weeks, so what we have for you here is one last look around the 2012 Minor League Baseball action.  Enjoy.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

Minor Accomplishments for Week 20

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I don’t often interest myself with indie league baseball, but with this whole 50-year-old Roger Clemens comeback ordeal, I just had to watch.  And from what I witnessed, Clemens was good.  He allowed just one baserunner (a hit) over 3.1 IP, striking out two, showing good command of a fastball in the mid-upper-80s.  After watching the outing, there’s no reason to believe that Clemens couldn’t be as effective as Jaime Moyer was when he pitched with the Rockies this year.  A sideshow type return to the bigs seems plausible here — scouts from the Astros and the Royals were reportedly in attendance.  Of course, my cynical mind wonders how, after five years away from the game, a 50-year-old man can compete at a major league level.  I can’t help but think The Rocket’s return is PED-fueled — and it’s not like there’s no precedent with this guy.  Clemens has an enormous ego.  That’s no secret.  The past five years have been brutal on his legacy, and a “legitimate” return to the majors could go a long way in repairing his image.  I’m not familiar with the PED testing policy employed by the independent Atlantic League, or if there is one at all.  And obviously this is purely speculative thinking.  But, c’mon.  Doesn’t it seem a little fishy?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

Minor Accomplishments for Week 13

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Transparency isn’t a strong suit of Major League front offices, nor should it be.  Nowhere is this fact more glaring than in the case of the Kansas City Royals and the immediate future of top hitting prospect Wil Myers.  The Royals have insisted that they’ll practice patience with Myers and let him marinate in Omaha for the duration of the season.  Meanwhile, in Jeff Francoeur, KC holds an outstanding trade chip — an experienced bat who’ll undoubtedly be pursued by contenders across the bigs.  The Royals have been pretty wishy-washy regarding Francouer’s availability, but with guys like Kevin Youkilis and Carlos Lee off the market already, one would imagine that buyers will look aggressively toward the veteran outfielder.  Kansas City will be hearing offers for Frenchy, indeed, and I’m thinking there’s a good possibility he’ll be shipped out.  And if this scenario plays out, the path will be cleared for Myers, who continues to post monstrous numbers at Triple-A.  There’s still plenty of uncertainty surrounding this situation — a trade of this sort might not even be necessary for a Myers call-up.  Nonetheless, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on the KC rumor mill during the coming weeks.

Please, blog, may I have some more?