Basically everybody on Twitter got the press release at the same time that the Astros have claimed lefty-hitting outfielder Alex Presley off waivers from the Twins and designated Raul Valdes for assignment.
Presley will be 29 at the end of July, and was the Pirates' 8th Round pick in the 2006 draft. He was traded on August 31, 2013 to the Twins for Justin Morneau. Presley played in 52 games in 2011 and hit .298/.339/.465, earning him more regular playing time in 2012. That season he played in 104 games (370 PAs) and fell to a .237/.279/.405 slash line. Between Pittsburgh and Minnesota in 2013, Presley played in 57 games (195 PAs), hitting .276/.313/.373.
ZiPS projects a .256/.309/.391 line for Presley with a 19.4% K-rate and a 6.7% BB-rate. Three of the four projection systems on FanGraphs has Presley between 1.2 and 1.7 WAR in 2014.
The Astros didn't have much in the way of outfield depth, seeing as how there were four outfielders listed on the roster - Fowler, Hoes, Grossman, and Krauss, and Krauss is going to spend some time at 1B. Nobody needs to see Marwin Gonzalez running around the outfield.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
