Kelley L Cox – USA TODAY Sports
It’s going to be an exciting offseason for the Houston Astros. With a healthy financial commitment and a bunch of prospects in the waiting, there will be plenty of movement throughout the system. One of the main things to look forward to is cutting deadweight and replacing their roster spots with new, promising players.
The first two casualties in the Houston roster were Jorge De Leon and Trevor Crowe – two guys who rarely factored into the Astros’ season.
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Crowe was a guy much like Brett Wallace, a former first-round pick who hit the ball incredibly well at Triple-A (.304) but could never seem to translate that to the MLB level (.218). He did put up one home run and 13 RBIs for the Astros and had some brief glimpses of hope, but he simply did not factor into the Astros’ future. At 29 years old, he had to have known all along that he was just a spot-filler and nothing more.
De Leon was the other cut. He gave up six earned runs in 10 innings of relief. Again, his 3.46 ERA in Triple-A just didn’t translate to the pro ball club.
That’s what the 2013 season was for, giving guys who had potential at one point in time a chance to prove they could still perform. Those who couldn’t, failed their auditions and would not be on the roster come 2014. The Astros are just going through the motions now. The only questions that remain are who will fill the holes.
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