Astros Third Base Options
As I alluded to here Aaron Boone’s premature end to his season leaves a wide open hole at 3rd base and presumably 80+ starts to compliment Geoff Blum. Now that a few days have passed and Ed Wade has had time to scan the market we’ll look at the potential suitors for the vacancy.
Chris Johnson- Quickly emerging as one of the Astros top prospects, Chris Johnson has clearly impressed management and specifically Cecil Cooper this spring. Cooper and Wade have both acknowledged to letting Johnson attempt to win the spot. That said, Wade also implied that he would like to fill the spot through a player not currently within the Astros organization. Johnson will likely start the season in Round Rock as the full time starting third baseman and will most likely be promoted to the Astros by the summer. Johnson has earned himself a chance sometime this season to prove himself, and the Astros being required to add him to the 40-man roster for 2010 (or else risk losing him via the Rule 5 Draft) will give the Astros even more of an incentive to purchase his contract and give him a look by the end of the year. That said, he’s likely not going to be Ed Wade’s solution to filling the spot for opening day.
Jeff Baker- Colorado has a logjam in the infield. Between Atkins, Helton, and Stewart at least one will be on the bench as they rotate in and out. Add Clint Barmes and likely Omar Quantanilla to the mix of bench infielders, and there most likely is not room for Baker. Thus, rumors have begun to spread about the potential departure of Baker, who is notably out of options. Ken Rosenthal supports the idea that the Astros (among other teams) are inquiring about him. I personally speculate that Baker would require a depth pitcher in return; something the Astros perhaps have a surplus of.
Jeff Keppinger- Another player out of options, the Red could look to trade the soon to be 29 year old utility infielder. Though Keppinger was primarily brought up as a second baseman he also has ample experience at both shortstop and third base. Keppinger is a solid fielder who also is a streaky but effective hitter. Through 243 games he has an intriguing .287 avg and .338 OBP, including a respectable .266 avg and .310 OBP last year. The major setback for Keppinger is his lack of power, with a peak of 5 home runs in any single season. He does display gap power, however, with 24 doubles last year. Keppinger might not be Wade’s ideal solution but could very well be an Astro if Wade finds the price for alternate options to be too steep.
Mark Teahan- The most appealing option in makeup alone. Teahan, like the others mentioned, is yet another former prospect with high expectations and underwhelming production. In 2006 Teahan put up an impressive .290 avg .357 OBP with 18 HR and 69 RBI in only 105 games, but as expectations rose he underwhelmed a bit with a .285 average but only 7 HR in 144 games. With the emergence of Alex Gordon Teahan was tried in left field last year, and plummeted in value. This year the Royals experimented with putting him at 2nd base, but that was admitted to be a failure. With that, it’s likely that the Royals would trade him for a solid deal. It’s probable that Teahan is the best option out there and would be a solid addition to the Astros to be productive enough this year. What could easily prevent him from being an Astro is the Royals’ potential asking price; if they want too much then Wade will probably move on to other options.
Juan Uribe: The free agent infielder once put up very productive numbers in Chicago but has faded. The acquisition of Orlando Cabrera last year limited his time and the emergence of Alexei Ramirez finalized his departure from Chicago. Still unsigned, Uribe is at this time the most realistic target if Wade pursues free agency to find his suitor. Uribe has spent most of his career at shortstop but does have 68 games at third base. Uribe would be a potential power threat, averaging 18 HR per season in his career. He is probably not one of Wade’s top priorities but if he is not successful in finding a reasonable trade that fits then he might not have a choice but to at least look into signing Uribe.
With the season arriving in less than two weeks the Astros are going to have to find their third baseman soon. At this time the Astros seem open to giving Chris Johnson a chance to win the job but it’s more likely that Ed Wade finds a match via trade. There are other players who could conceivably be acquired but this group is most likely containing our future 3rd baseman. As of right now Jeff Baker seems the favorite. He is likely not going to find a place on the Rockies’ roster and reputable sources out of Colorado insist that the Rockies are taking inquiries for him. We’ll monitor the market and wait to see what Ed Wade decides to do.
By: Adam Herman on Mar 25th, 2009
Tagged as: Astros News
[...] In a previous post I named Keppinger as a potential Aaron Boone replacement, claiming that Keppinger would be a likely target if Jeff Baker (the most likely candidate) was too costly. According to multiple sources out of Colorado, was not inspiring offers from teams that Colorado wanted. It is likely that the Astros were one of those teams, and as a result indeed turned to Keppinger as their next target. [...]