WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Last season, only six teams extracted a lower OPS from their outfield than the Houston Astros, a byproduct of injuries and an insistence to break in two rookies. General manager Dana Brown’s attempt to reinforce the group during the trade deadline ended in disaster, which he admitted last week by shipping Jesús Sánchez and his $6.8 million salary to the Toronto Blue Jays.
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Moments after doing it, Brown declared the Astros were “not done yet.” Doing so may have lost the straight-shooting executive some leverage, but signaled the organization’s uneasiness surrounding an outfield that lacks experience. Brown’s trading the one outfielder with some experience — while shedding his salary in the process — made a countermove seem almost guaranteed.
None has manifested, leaving a murky outlook on the eve of Grapefruit League play. The team remains open to trading displaced third baseman Isaac Paredes, but discussions surrounding him have stalled, according to one team source. One phone call — or, perhaps, one injury elsewhere — can reignite them, but it’s worth remembering why Paredes is available in the first place.
Part of Houston’s rationale in pursuing a trade is to add a more established outfielder and lessen the burden on its cadre of inexperienced outfielders. Landing Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals, as the Astros discussed this winter, would’ve accomplished the goal. Donovan could’ve become the team’s primary left fielder and allowed for either Cam Smith or Zach Cole to perhaps start the season in the minors.
“I want some of these young players, if they’re not going to have the at-bats at the major-league level, going to Triple A and getting at-bats so we can finish their development,” manager Joe Espada said on Friday, reiterating a refrain he’s sung throughout his three-year managerial tenure. “I think that’s important.”
Houston’s current roster construction may not allow for such a luxury. Smith, Cole and Joey Loperfido — whom the Astros acquired in exchange for Sánchez — all have an inside track to the Opening Day roster, barring a total collapse during spring training. The three players have combined for 911 major-league plate appearances.
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Sánchez boasts a career .774 OPS in 1,681 plate appearances against right-handed pitching alone. He endured profound struggles as an Astro and became almost unplayable by the end of his brief tenure, but Sánchez did have a track record. Trading him was first and foremost a salary dump, but it also indicated Houston’s baseball operations department had little hope he could replicate his past.
Still, the scant experience of the remaining outfielders in camp made it sensible to keep Sánchez as an expensive insurance policy. Coupled with the continued insistence that Yordan Alvarez will spend the majority of his season as the designated hitter, it leaves the outfield in flux.
“(Alvarez) is going to play left field. I’ve said that from the very beginning, but going into the season with a hard number of games I’m looking for? No, because I learned that things can change once you go into battle,” Espada said.
Even if Espada changes his tune, Alvarez has never started more than 56 games in left field in any season. Expecting that number to double or triple isn’t realistic — and would run counter to the team’s preference for a more athletic, defensive-minded outfield.
“We do have a lot of guys that are very similar when it comes to what they can do and the athleticism they can bring to the field, but not all of them cover the same areas of the plate when it comes to offense,” Espada said.
So, the upcoming slate of Grapefruit League games will double as an audition. Center fielder Jake Meyers is perhaps the only player with any assurances, but Espada has stopped short of naming him the team’s everyday starter.
It’s difficult, though, to envision anyone but Meyers manning center field regularly, especially after an offensive breakthrough last season. Smith, Cole, Loperfido and Brice Matthews will all see Grapefruit League playing time in center field, Espada said, but more as part of a plan to increase the roster’s versatility.
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“I’m really going to be spending some time trying to get those guys some at-bats, creating some competition,” Espada said. “You’re going to see some guys starting the game and me moving them during the game (to) different outfield positions, just to see how they react and adapt to that.”
Relying on these 33 exhibition games to make decisions is a dangerous gamble, but one Brown and his baseball operations team have been willing to wage. Smith’s superb showing in spring training games weighed heavily in Brown’s decision to include him on last year’s Opening Day roster, multiple team sources said.
Smith is the perfect personification of Houston’s outfield predicament. His upside is unquestioned, even if he sported a .546 OPS across his final 227 plate appearances of last season. If Smith actualizes it, he can calm many of these concerns.
Ditto for Cole and Loperfido, both of whom have stretches of major-league success, but have failed to sustain it long enough to feel comfortable. Cole spent the winter adjusting his posture and now stands more over the plate in hopes of better covering the outer half of the strike zone. He struck out 35.1 percent of the time in the minor leagues last season, numbers he must pare if he is to play a real role on Houston’s major-league team.
Loperfido lowered his strikeout rate by 10.1 percent last season with the Blue Jays, but received a boost from an unsustainably high .431 batting average on balls in play. Bear in mind, too, he took just 104 major-league plate appearances — a number that, given this roster construction, could skyrocket this season.
“It’s going to take some time to figure out,” Espada said.
