Houston Astros: Roster Impact of Carlos Gomez Part 2

The Houston Astros Will be Welcoming Carlos Gomez Back Today.

Yesterday, Cody at CTH wrote about Carlos Gomez‘s impending return to the Houston Astros 25-man roster today. While he predicted either Tony Kemp or Jake Marisnick would be returning to Triple-A, I was pretty sure that it would be Colin Moran who gets sent down to Fresno. I get his thinking, why keep six outfielders and only five infielders?

We have to remember that Kemp could play second or short (in a desperate situation) as well as Marwin Gonzalez‘s flexibility to play everywhere. Moran just didn’t show enough in his first stint with the Astros, one point for J.D. Davis and Alex Bregman as the future third basemen for the Astros. Moran had two hits in 19 at-bats with the Astros while Tyler White and Luis Valbuena has started to heat up more at the plate.

Something else that most Astros fans tend to forget about, Marisnick has been hot recently making it quite a decision to make for Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch on where all of these outfielders will play to get playing time for all. With Gomez returning, the loser could be Kemp, who will see his playing time dwindle with the reemergence of Marisnick.

Over the last six games, Marisnick has started four of those while hitting .278 with a homer and two runs batted in. Yesterday, he had a big double and scored two runs. He is still batting .169 on the year, but Gomez will be getting a majority of the at-bats from Marisnick. When Evan Gattis catches, one of the outfielders can play DH to take a day off defensively.

“You have been warned,” this was the message sent by the Astros when they placed Gomez on the DL with his injury. I talked to some Hooks fans, and they said that when Gomez first got to the team, he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be there. As he started to play more with the Hooks, he opened up more to the fans and started enjoying playing. If Gattis could get back his confidence in Double-A, then Gomez may get back on track.

I’ve talked to several people who feel that he might not be able to play the same way he did during his All-Star years with the Brewers and even at times last season. I wrote about how to fix Gomez, but after watching him this weekend live in Corpus Christi, he still struggles with consistent swings. He might be transitioning from power hitter to a singles and occasional gap hitter, his legs are just not what they used to be.

The point is, Gomez may not be an everyday player anymore in the Astros eyes. They will give him every chance they can when he returns because of what he can mean to the team. I am pretty sure that Luhnow is still convinced deep down inside that should Gomez returns to what he is capable of, he could carry the 2016 Astros. Gomez is in a walk year, so his struggles could cost him millions of dollars next year if anyone gives him a chance.

With the Super 2 deadline approaching in the beginning week(s) of June, the Astros could be stalling until they bring up one of their megabats in A.J. Reed or Alex Bregman. Valbuena has been a streaky hitter in his history as has White in his limited experience in the big leagues. I’m not going to go too deep into this, but hopefully, Reed’s lollygagging in Triple-A doesn’t hurt his chances of reaching the Astros.

Next: The Suddenly Hot Astros Are 5-1 With Springer Leading Off

The Astros will have to try to find a way to win games as they have while Gomez has been gone, it should be easier now that more of the Astros are hitting. Here is an idea, move Gomez down to the ninth hitter, forget his ego, let him try to be the player that Kemp is versus George Springer. The Astros have a good thing going right now winning six of their last seven, and Gomez needs to add to the success.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***