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Roster Implications of the Astros Trade for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers

By Eric Huysman

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The Houston Astros are going all in for the 2015 season as they traded four highly regarded prospects in Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, Josh Hader, and Adrian Houser for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers. While these two players are not rental players, they did cost a lot in terms of prospects. You can read more about the Astros trade here: Houston Astros Strike A Deal With Brewers For Gomez and Fiers. I’m not going to focus too much on the players we traded away, because as everyone knows I am Phillips number one fan. However, as the wise Luhnow says, you have to trade talent to get talent.

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The Astros are adding two players to the 40-man roster and 25-man roster.  The 40-man roster is already settled with the DFA of Thatcher and the subtraction of Santana; it sits at 40 right now. However, the 25 man roster is not settled, and the Astros have some serious decisions to make and quickly. The most obvious decision is to send down Jon Singleton and Vincent Velasquez, which would open the two roster spots needed.

Jon Singleton

Singleton, unfortunately, has become a victim of the return of Jed Lowrie to the Astros. Not because they play the same position, but Luis Valbuena has been pushed to first base with Lowrie taking over third base. Lowrie was aware of the situation when he signed the three-year deal with the Astros, Carlos Correa would eventually become the everyday shortstop, it just happened sooner than most people thought. This leaves Singleton without a position for now, unless he can be moved for something before today’s trade deadline.

Vincent Velasquez

Velasquez is the victim of his past injury history in the minors, and the Astros are very cautious with his arm. They already removed him for the rotation post-Scott Kazmir trade, to limit his innings because he has only pitched more than 100 innings in one year. You can read more of Velasquez’s innings restrictions here: The Astros plan to limit innings, Velazquez to Corpus Christi. According to Jon Morosi, the Tigers were looking to trade for Lance McCullers Jr. or Velasquez, which is why the Astros did not win the David Price trade. He is still part of the future for the Astros, but could be used out of the bullpen down the stretch.

These two players will be sent down to the minors unless the Astros decide to make one or two of the following tough decisions to open up the roster spots.

Chris Carter

The most likely thing that could happen with Carter is that he could be DFA and claimed by another team. The Astros could try to trade him, but other teams know that the Astros will just release him, and they can get him for nothing. The writing might have been on the wall in last night’s game after Carter was pinch hit for in the 7th inning by Gonzalez after striking out his first two at-bats. Either Carter was involved in a trade or manager A.J. Hinch just lost his patience with the struggling slugger.

2015 Stats: .184 Avg/ 17 HR/ 45 RBI/ 123 K.

Luis Valbuena

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Valbuena might have some value to other teams with his 19 home runs and the way he plays defense. However, his .198 batting average will scare off many buyers who would give something for Valbuena, and might waiting until the Astros DFA him and claim him on waivers. Valbuena started off hot, but it’s been a while since his last homer. Maybe this is who Valbuena is, a streaky player who doesn’t strikeout a lot.

2015 Stats: .198 AVG/ 19 HR/ 40 RBI/ 80 K.

Scott Feldman

With the acquisition of Fiers, Feldman is the 6th wheel in the rotation who mostly likely will be moved to the long relief role on the team. I don’t see the Astros trying to DFA Feldman because they would be on the hook for the ten million dollars plus this year and next. Times have changed in Houston, and they don’t need an average pitcher in the rotation as they push towards the playoffs. The Astros could try to trade him, but I don’t see too many teams getting in line to trade for the pitcher. If anyone can find a taker for Feldman, it is Jeff Luhnow.

2015 Stats: 4-5/ 4.54 ERA/ 41 SO in 73 2/3 innings.

Releasing any of these three players will be tough, but the Astros have to do what’s best for the 2015 team.

By the way, Jeff Luhnow said that he’s not finished trading. Could he be out for a back-end bullpen pitcher, check back a little later for CTH’s continuing Astros trade coverage?

Next: Are the Houston Astros going after Ross and Kimbrel?

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