In addition to getting a new general manager, the Astros can now set their sights on the Rule 5 draft, in which Baseball America says Phillies' (of course) prospect Jiwan James is said to be in the Astros' crosshairs:
He's athletic, he's a major league-caliber defender right now, and his speed and defense could buy time for his bat to develop. One scout compared him to Dewayne Wise, whose long big league career started when he was Rule 5'd back in 1999.
BA also says that talk pretty much stopped when Luhnow was hired, and nobody has any idea what the Astros will do with their two open roster spots.
However, Subber10 - the Juvenile Court Clerk's counterpart at TCB says:
the dude is SOOO raw, I don't see him lasting the full season on a 25 man roster.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
