Way too early for any final rosters, but I wanted a place to record the news that Tyler Brown was claimed off the Hooks roster by Cleveland in the AAA phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
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And I missed this one earlier – Marty Costes to the Marlins (AAA).
Don’t forget Astros also lost Kervin Castro who they just signed as a minor league FA 2 1/2 weeks ago.
No clue how good he is/would have been.
Yes — That was a late add on the transaction page, and I guess I missed it live. I find it odd that we did not add him to the AAA roster after signing. Especially since we just added three new arms.
Astros released a bunch of bus riders today.
There were a few minor surprises among them. Dauri Lorenzo could never get the bat to work. Ricardo Balogh couldn’t find a spot in the field. And I thought a couple of the pitchers might still have another year to make an impression.
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A few more releases today. Also five pitchers put on the long-term IL. Cristian Gonzalez, who spent all of last year on the IL, is again in the 60-day IL too.
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Looks like we have the position players now at least:
https://x.com/AstrosFuture/status/1772028155764617674?s=20
I am a little surprised by …
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Daniels in Sugar Land (at the expense of Corona?)
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Corona, Cerny, and Espinosa in Corpus
I was happy to see so many of last year’s draft class start at Asheville, though.
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We’re attending a game on the 3rd. I’ll be sure to post an at least partially sober review.
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Looks like Dixon Machado was still standing when the music stopped. Also, I assume that either Julks took the last spot in Houston (bye bye Singleton) or that hulks will join the Sugar Land crew for their opener on Friday.
Pitching assignments were announced just before the position players:
Couple of quick thoughts…
Fayetteville - Probably the most excited about this group of prospects. I’m really keen to see how Bush, Gomez, Hernandez (whom Dana Brown specifically called him out a few weeks ago in an interview), Jaworsky, Luciano, and Ochoa fare on the position player side. None of them are over 20 years old, which is crazy. Pitchers I’m watching are Mercedes, Pecko, and Santa.
Asheville - Baez and Matthews are biggest names to watch amongst the position players. Loftin could be a sleeper (late round HS pick in the 2022 draft). Really interested to see if Whitaker can finally put it all together. Bellozo, Bloss, Cobos, Dombroski, Foggo, Taylor and Urias are pitchers to keep an eye on. None of them scream elite, but Bloss seems like a Bielak type with (much) better stuff; if you’re looking for a sleeper, he could be the guy.
Corpus Christi - Melton (obviously) is the big name here. How long does he stay in AA? Barber wasn’t claimed in the Rule 5 draft, so I wonder if the shine is off of him as a prospect. Some interesting pitchers to keep an eye on: Blubaugh, Fleury, Knorr, Melendez, and Santos.
Sugar Land - Loperfido and Arrighetti. Otherwise it’s mostly a few somewhat interesting lottery tickets like Cabbage, Coleman, Leon, Kuhnel, and Strotman. That said, Gusto and Tamarez are pitchers who could certainly surprise. Wagner strikes me as Grae Kessinger Part II - i.e. another lightly regarded prospect who develops into a useful AAAA player.
ETA - forgot to include Corona; huge upside if his bat is catching up to his glove.
Injuries - Really keen to see what Houston does with Alonzo Tredwell (who never pitched more than 47 innings in college but is talked about as one of the best prospects in the system based on stuff alone). The two Zachs, Dezenzo and Cole, real bummer they’re both starting the season injured. Both have some very loud tools along (and equally big question marks).
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