Jon Heyman mentioned on Twitter last night that the Astros and Twins were among the teams interested in former Rays SS/2B Reid Brignac.
Brignac, a 27-year old lefty could be a stopgap at short in the wake of the departure of Jed Lowrie (and if the Astros feel he could be an upgrade over Tyler Greene, Marwin Gonzalez, or Jake Elmore). But he might not be. Brignac played in a career-high 113 games in 2010, and has played in 108 games since. In his Major-League career, Brignac has hit .227/.268/.317. How does that stack up to the internal candidates?
Greene: .224/.292/.356
Marwin: .234/.280/.327 (came in 2012, his only ML experience).
Elmore: .191/.247/.250 (also in 2012, where he only played 30 games in Arizona).
Brignac is better known for his glove, however. But when he was optioned to Triple-A in 2011, Joe Maddon said:
"There's no question Reid is a Major League caliber shortstop. And I
don't like the idea of him not playing defense for us. But moving down
the road we have to get better on the offensive side of the ball."
Given that the Astros likely need more offensive help, we'll just have to see what numbers the front office comes up with. But he does fit the mold of recent acquisitions: Cheap, AL-familiar players.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
