I was waiting for your comment Jim.
Good morning and have a wonderful day.
Man, your thin skin sometimes astonishes me. There is no such thing as teasing in your world. As I said, I want Leon to make it too.
It wouldn’t be that surprising if Gilbert reaches MLB before Leon. That’s not a knock on Leon as much as it is a feeling that Gilbert could rocket through the minors as fast as Bregman.
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I think you misunderstood my comment.
I knew you would comment and smiled when you did.
And I genuinely hope your day is wonderful.
I know you hope he makes it. We both agree he still needs to improve.
I just have a bit more confidence in him than you do and thats OK.
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Dana definitely keeps talking him up and I read he had a great game on the back fields Sunday with a homer and a single. I know, intrasquad scrimmage, but he did perform well and was said to show no ill effects from last year’s late season injury in the field.
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Who is “him”? There seems to be a couple of guys discussed in recent posts and I can’t keep up.
Gilbert. Brown clearly thinks he’s special and I figure he’ll promote him aggressively. Even looking at the predraft reports from BA and other sites, they all talk about what a fast mover he could be. I think we’re lucky he was still available at the 28th pick.
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Work on your delivery.
Rome reports Diaz has made the squad, Lee and Dirden sent to AAA. Looks like we’ll have the full OD roster soon.
Edit:
Julks is a pretty big surprise. Vindication for whoever was posting about him the other day!
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Cesar Salazar making the opening day roster is a shock to me. Did anyone else see that coming? I’m not saying he doesn’t necessarily deserve the spot, I’m just saying he wasn’t on my radar.
He got talked up a little bit this spring, and I get the rationale behind getting Lee more playing time in AAA.
Brown on the decision:
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Yes, I get that about Lee as well. Makes a lot of sense. Putting Salazar on the roster as a back up catcher however makes me think they are going to really work at getting Diaz at bats from other positions. He’s going to DH when Alvarez is in left and I believe Diaz might play left himself more than we think until Brantley returns. Will be interesting.
Diaz is a quality bat that you want to be able to use as a PH without sweating that you’ll have no backup C.
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Diaz offers the best combination for needs in April, so he stays on the opening day roster
I wonder how much Julks versatility was a factor?
He played 49 games at 3B and 4 at 2B in Sugar Land last year.
I’m not saying he will start there - or even get in a single inning- but with Altuve out and only 5 infielders on the roster maybe he becomes an emergency 3B?
Dirden could not have provided that.
I also heard an interview with Brown a week - 10 days ago where he said Dirden has things to work on in the batters box and I immediately thought that meant he was going to Sugar Land.
I was caught off guard by Salazar but the explanation makes perfect sense.
Edit: it was 15 days ago and I posted it right in this thread.
13 pitching spots are exactly what I expected once Gage was optioned.
Lee will be the future everyday catcher with the Astros and they would rather him get consistent reps. That’s how I read it.
If Lee is the future everyday catcher, he needs to be in the bigs getting work with the pitchers. Last year the Astros’ backup catcher(s) caught almost 500 innings, over a third. About the same number of innings Lee caught in the minors, and I expect even more will be available this year. There’s plenty of playing time in Houston. He doesn’t need “reps” in the minors he could be getting in the Majors. I read this as “he’s not the player we hoped he would be”.
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You are closer to the situation than I am, so you may well be right. I interpreted that Lee is well thought of within the organization because he had a productive spring training this year, but that might be too reductive.