Houston Astros: Nori Aoki? What The Hell Are They Doing?

The World Series is over and the Houston Astros are hot to trot in light of hopefully an eventful off season in terms of making this team better.

As I watch the Chicago Cubs secure their first championship in 108 years, I thought to myself as far as when it’d be OUR turn.

I know it’s coming but will it be soon?

I used to think that aside from Cleveland, Houston has had the most disappointment in its sports franchises — at the very least, within the last 20 or so years.

But it gets deeper than that.

Other than the Houston Rockets 1994-95 back-to-back championships, there’s nothing to hang our hat on other than World Series appearances and a whole bunch of shoulda-coulda-woulda’s.

We’re the new Cleveland as they’ve had it quite good in 2016 with LeBron James leading the Cavaliers to their first-ever championship.

The Indians, of course, came came within a just a few runs of clinching such a title themselves but it’s a funny thing how fate has an effect on someone.

But Indians’ fans shouldn’t fret, they’re going to have a great team for awhile and they’ll regularly be in contention.

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But what about us?

As far as all of our professional sports teams, the Houston Astros are closest to earning that prize.

The CORE is there, the SUPPORT is there but we’re missing those TRADEMARK players to get us to the mountaintop.

I’m positive Jeff Luhnow and Co. is doing their utmost to put a winner out on the field in 2017 but will they spend the big bucks or will it be needed?

That remains to be seen.

The Houston Astros first off season move was to claim outfielder Nori Aoki off waivers.

This is the sort of move that would impose a yawn on me but I understand why it was made.

Aoki had a solid season with the Seattle Mariners — he can still hit exceptionally well, has a knack for getting on base and does his job on defense in a respectful manner.

His slash line was .283/.349/.388 in 467 plate appearances, striking out just 9.6 percent of the time.

But he can be streaky.

Aoki was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma back in June because his hitting had dipped to a .243 batting average while his on-base percentage nose-dived to a .323.

But he came roaring back after being called up, hitting .317/.363/.468 in his final 136 PAs.

At least we know that this guy can handle adversity, rise above the fray and make the most of it.

Aoki had an team option for 2017 that was worth $6 million and with him being placed on waivers, that’s not something he’d be expecting.

He is still under team control for one more season and the Houston Astros can negotiate his salary through arbitration.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, with his approximate service time of 4.148 years, he will likely be eligible to receive about $6.8 million in compensation for 2017.

Now hear me out on this…

In two separate moves yesterday, the Houston Astros traded reliever Pat Neshek to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named or cash and picked up Evan Gattis’ $5.2 million option for 2017.

Neshek had a team option that was worth $6.5 million this season — with the Houston Astros sending him packing, this frees the money they have wanted to pay Neshek to give to Aoki.

Yes, it sounds like marginal move as if their was a salary cap imposed but we all know that this is how the Astros do business.

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But will they spend more this off season than other?

I doubt it but I’d love to be surprised.

What position Aoki could play is an interesting concept.

Although it’s likely he’ll be playing left field — with Colby Rasmus cashing out his $15.8 million 2016 salary — there’s a possibility that George Springer may move to center field, a position that he has fielded for the majority of his career leading up to the majors.

This could put Aoki at right field while Springer takes center and Jake Marisnick or a possible free agent will man the left side.

This is quite intriguing because of Aoki’s versatility so we’ll have to see how this pans out.

Aoki, who will be 35-years-old by season’s start, will likely get a modest pay bump from the $5.5 million he made with the Mariners last season if all goes as planned.

This is the Astros’ first move of the off season so let’s see what else is in store!

Go Astros.

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