Jimmy Paredes claimed by Marlins

This apparently happened yesterday, so you can see how much attention I was paying. The Marlins claimed outfielder/human cannonball Jimmy Paredes off waivers from the Astros yesterday. And thus ends one of the saddest eras in Astros' history.

Paredes, 22, was acquired from the Yankees with Mark Melancon in the 2010 Lance Berkman trade. Keith Law wrote at the time that Paredes was a "Toolsy, athletic infielder without a clear position. He could end up in centerfield long term, but he is still very crude overall and his swing and body don't point to future power. He needs to learn to take a walk more than once every week and a half."

Jonathan Mayo wrote that "His hands and feet don't work well enough to stay in the middle infield, but with a plus run tool, plus arm and plus body, there's still plenty to like about this high-ceiling prospect."

Following the 2010 season Mike Newman at Scouting the Sal said that Paredes' "best case scenario leaves Paredes as a passable second baseman with a solid combination of gap power and speed. Worst case, he’s little more than a very good athlete with a baseball skill set in which the pieces just never seem to fit together." Perhaps this is an indication of the Astros' farm system at the time, but Paredes ranked 7th on the Hardball Times' 2011 Astros prospect list.

For Corpus in 2011 Paredes hit .270/.300/.426, with 36 extra-base hits in 93 games, but 15 walks in 407 Plate Appearances. He made his Major-League debut in 2011, where in 179 PAs (46 games), he hit .286/.320/.393, good enough for a 97 OPS+. Not terrible, certainly encouraging for his Age 23 season, and he was expected to challenge Chris Johnson for the 3B spot in the 2012 season before getting sent to minor-league camp in Spring Training, where he was moved to the outfield.

For OKC in 2012, Paredes hit .318/.348/.477 (22 walks in 536 PAs) and in 24 games for the Astros, "hit" .189/.244/.230. In 2013 he again got some playing time in Houston, hitting .192/.231/.248 and giving him a 2012/13 OPS+ of 32. His .216 wOBA in 2013 was the 4th-worst among all MLB hitters with at least 130 PAs (out of 420 hitters). Of course he ran into Jose Altuve in a May game that derailed Altuve's season, and then ran into (some infielder) causing him to drop the ball, allowing the game-winning run to score.

Bye bye, Jimmy Paredes.