Houston Astros: Top four options to replace Marwin Gonzalez
Player #3: Howie Kendrick
Try this idea on for size. Howie Kendrick back to the AL and the notion of him being a part the Houston Astros. It honestly would not be a bad idea for the short-term. Even at age 35, he’s still getting the job done and was on track to have a solid year for the Washington Nationals. However, his season was truncated after sustaining a season-ending Achilles’ injury back in mid-May.
Kendrick can play first, second and left field although the Nats primarily keep him in the outfield in the nation’s Capital City.
Howie hit .303/.331/.474 along with 12 RBIs, four home runs and 46 hits through 160 plate appearances last season. His UZR for 2018 was a below-average -1.0 which has been the case for him in the latter stages of his career.
Kendrick has one more year left on a two-year, $7 million deal he inked this past off season.
Certainly he’s a guy that could be traded for but he would have to be part of a bigger haul of prospect packages that the Nats would have to make to bring him to H-Town. It’s just not prudent to trade for a positional player of his age solely as there’s a tremendous chance the likely return on investment would sour.
But if returns back to his old self — and that’s a big if — I think he could provide some stability in the utility role for at least two seasons for the Astros before he decides that he wants to hang it up. Adrian Beltre is still cranking it out at age 39 so who’s to say that Kendrick can’t have that innate ability as well?
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He doesn’t necessarily convert well with runners in scoring position but when the game is on the line and one needs that key hit in a close situation, Kendrick’s the guy. He bats a whopping .284 when his team is within one run, .272 when the game is late-and-close and .278 when the game is tied.
To compare, Marwin’s stat line is .262/.221/.250 so this is an area where Kendrick can still excel at with the Astros.
Although an unlikely option, it’s definitely something the team should consider if they want to table solving this issue — if Marwin walks — for a couple of seasons.