With the signing of 32 year old Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel, the Astros have not only made an enormous splash on the international Major League market, but they have also completely changed the expectations we had for any of their potential mid-season transactions. Gurriel is a third baseman with an exceptional bat and at 32 would instantly become one of the elders in the young Houston Astro clubhouse. With such a crowded infield full of top tier talent like Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, we’ve already been debating what the Astros will do with a resurrected Luis Valbuena and the skyrocketing Alex Bregman. Throw “El Yuli” in the mix now and Jeff Luhnow and AJ Hinch have even tougher decisions to make heading into the the home stretch towards the playoffs. It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.
Make no mistake that this is a “this year problem.” Gurriel will be called up soon. Word is the Astros want to keep him close by so he will get some AB’s for Corpus Christi before getting called up, probably by August. During last year’s Cuban League season Gurriel hit .500 with 15 homers, so yeah, he’s got some pop and having played against top talent and won with Cuba in virtually every international competition, the 5 year $47.5 million price tag is not a stretch. Yoenis Cespedes, Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez; we’ve seen what Cuba’s best can do in MLB.
So what about the tough infield decisions? How do the Astros fit a world class third baseman into their lineup? First we look at the current occupant in the hot corner, Luis Valbuena. Valbuena started off slow but in the last two months has been playing at a career year pace and has had a few epic moments of late in game heroics. Valbuena has played himself into being a valuable piece if the Astros are going to consider a trade on August 1st’s deadline, but Valbuena’sbat shifting to 1st base would instantly improve the production Houston has gotten from that position from AJ Reed, Tyler White, and Marwin Gonzalez.
Then there is the guy we’ve all been waiting for. We keep getting teased and teased with the debut of Alex Bregman as he tears through the minors like Ghegis Khan through the Orient. This is not the kind of player you trade without seeing him play on your big league club first. So for those of you who are nervous that Alex Bregman will now be traded because the Astros have wrapped up $47.5 million in a 32 year old Cuban 3rd baseman, take a step back and collect your CENSORED FOR RADIO and get it together. Get your CENSORED FOR RADIO together! One Astros source was already quoted as saying “we’re not trading him, we look at him as a big part of our future.” I believe that that because A) El Yuli’s contract will be over by the time Bregman is in his 3rd year of arbitration and 2) The Astros can always save Bregman for next season where they could make a variety of position changes for either him or Gurriel. Gurriel can move to 1st, Bregman can move to the outfield where Carlos Gomez won’t be anymore giving you an outfield of Springer, Rasmus, and Bregman. Not too shabby. I could mention that Rasmus becomes a trading piece if Bregman gets playing in the outfield down, but that is too sad to think about. All hail the Possum King!
All in all, this move is not something to freak out about, at least in a negative way. If you want to freak out, then freak out at the fact that the Astros were able to make a huge move mid-season without trading a prospect. Houston scored a top international prospect in the prime of his career as your team is ascending the standings in the American League. That sounds pretty damn good to me, especially when that prospect hails from Cuba; a place that is known for producing cigars and ball players. In a sellers market, this is almost as good of a move as you can make.