Jonah Keri had a piece over at FanGraphs on Friday where he looked at the best projected players at each position who are still completely under team control salary-wise. Those zero-to-three year players are the lifeblood of teams other than the Yankees and Red Sox, as they provide the most surplus value of any players on the roster.
↵None of the Astros were on Keri's list. Let's look at the Astros candidates and how they stacked up to each of the players on Keri's list:
↵C - Jason Castro .304 wOBA (Buster Posey, .360)
↵1B - Brett Wallace .313 wOBA (Ike Davis .349)
↵SS - Tommy Manzella .280 wOBA (Starlin Castro .343)
↵SS - Angel Sanchez .308 wOBA (Castro .343)
↵3B - Chris Johnson .341 wOBA (Pedro Alvarez .344)
↵LF - Brian Bogusevic .320 wOBA (Logan Morrison .349)
↵SP - JA Happ 4.17 FIP (Jamie Garcia 3.57)
↵SP - Bud Norris 4.04 FIP (Garcia 3.57)
↵RP - Jeff Fulchino 3.96 FIP (Zack Braddock 3.49)
↵RP - Fernando Abad 4.08 FIP (Braddock 3.49)
↵That's pretty bleak. The only guy who comes close here is Chris Johnson, but he's also got Casey McGehee ahead of him on the bench of Keri's team. The pitching is also disappointing, as both Happ and Norris are a ways behind the fifth-best starter on this list.
↵Some youth movement, huh?
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