Astros Roster Moves: A.J. Reed Optioned to Triple-A

Astros Prospect A.J. Reed Optioned to Triple-A

The Houston Astros will promote Alex Bregman tomorrow, all we are waiting for is an official notice from the Astros. The fact that he has played left field for the past two days is a sign that he will be called up after all. Does that mean that he will be playing left field for the Astros? Not necessarily, I firmly believe that he will be playing third base for now.

Brian McTaggart sent out a Tweet earlier tonight that A.J. Reed was optioned down to Triple-A, but he was told that it had nothing to do with Bregman. I wrote earlier that Reed was the future, but he was not ready for the big leagues yet. Reed will go down and work his butt off to get back to the big leagues. With Reed going down, someone else will be coming up. There are several options, depending on what they need the most.

With the pending Bregman promotion and Reed being optioned in a separate transaction, the writing is on the wall that Danny Worth will be optioned as well to bring up Bregman. Worth may have to go through waivers to be optioned, but he is not a big piece of this team’s future in my opinion.

With Bregman on the team, he will be playing third base or left field. In the beginning, at least, I see Bregman staying at one position so he can get comfortable against big league hitting. That will give the Astros five outfielders if he plays left, so they don’t terribly need an outfielder per say unless Bregman plays primarily third base. If that is the case, then Preston Tucker will get the call.

If Bregman plays primarily left field, then the Astros will need another infielder, so Tyler White would be the better add. That would leave the infielders down to Luis Valbuena, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, White, and Marwin Gonzalez.

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With the Astros reasonably set in the outfield, I think Bregman will come up to play third base right now and move Valbuena to first base. White or Tucker will split time with Evan Gattis at DH when he is not catching. The better platoon with Gattis would be Tucker because he bats left, but White has hit better this year in Triple-A. If it means anything, Tucker is not in the lineup for the Grizzlies tonight. Things could change when Yulieski Gourriel gets called up.

The Astros could also go against the trend with a sure thing at most positions and call up an extra reliever in James Hoyt. Hoyt has been one of the best relievers in Triple-A. However, the Astros already have 13 pitchers on the 25-man roster. If Hoyt is added, a pitcher would have to be removed, and Worth stays.

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The Bregman era with the Houston Astros is about to begin, and he could be the piece the Astros need to get past the first round of the playoffs in 2016. However, let’s not put too many expectations on the young star. He has excelled at every level in the minors. This will be just a different level.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***