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Houston Astros: Carlos Gonzalez may be on the move soon
By David Miniel
With the trade deadline set for the end of the month, we here at Climbing Tal’s Hill have been running through a list of names that the Houston Astros could make a deal for.
From James Shields, Johnny Cueto, David Price, and Jeff Samardzija – would the front office consider plugging another veteran bat in this home run heavy lineup like maybe Carlos Gonzalez from the Colorado Rockies?
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Now that may be a stretch, but it’s obvious the Rockies are looking to move some of their top veterans. There are a couple such as Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado who may end up being safe – at least for the time being.
Colorado might begin to build their future around Arenado which would result in Tulowitzki being dealt sometime either this upcoming offseason or before next year’s trade deadline. I’m sure American League clubs will be blowing up Jeff Bridich’s line when the time comes.
Gonzalez, 29, had a four-year stretch of 22+ home runs and 70+ RBI for a team who made the postseason once during his seven-year tenure back in 2009 when they lost in the N.L. Division Series to Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies.
Since then, he’s battled several injuries but still has the pop in his bat to pick up enough attention from a handful of organizations across the league. He’s currently hitting .258/.313/.448 with 13 home runs, 36 RBI, 17 doubles, and one triple through 306 at-bats – which is almost identical to last season’s stat line.
CarGo is currently under team control through the 2017 campaign and is due $16 million for this season. Colorado signed him to a whopping seven-year, $80 million deal back in early January of 2011 – so he’s still owed a huge chunk of the contract which could be a reason why Houston may weigh their options if they do, in fact, have him on their radar.
If they do, however, acquire his services, Houston will have to pick up $17 million in 2016 and another $20 million in his final year of the contract when he turns 31-years-old in 2017.
While it appears Colorado is set with a handful of young starting pitchers who are ready to reach the big league level, they could always look for extra help either around the diamond or in the outfield.
Either a couple of guys with big league experience and or up-and-coming prospects that wouldn’t hurt their farm system could be on the table like Domingo Santana, Michael Feliz, Reymin Guduan, Jon Singleton and or Danry Vasquez fit well with what the Rockies may be looking for.
In all honesty, I believe it would be worth a shot rolling the dice with Gonzalez if I were Jeff Luhnow. Despite having only one season with 34 big flies and 117 RBI, he’s capable of playing all three spots in the outfield as he picked up 419 starts in left, 187 in center and another 175 in right with a combined 856 games played.
This type of experience is something that could come in handy for skipper A.J. Hinch. Center fielder George Springer was placed on the disabled list in early July with a fractured wrist and isn’t expected to return until mid or late August pending any setbacks.
After a slow start to the fresh season, the 29-year-old has picked things up in both June and July. He finished June with six home runs, 15 RBI, and 26 hits with a .280/.317/.548 line and three home runs, eight RBI and 18 hits while slashing .340/.364/.623.